Getting started. Tim Hammond, President and founder of GALDEF, is introducing the documentary, "CURED".
Medical professionals demonized and pathologized homosexuality. The parallels with the demonization and pathologization of normal male anatomy will be explored after the film, which lasts an hour.
Julie Sandler is here as well! Julie is part of the team that made CURED.
The film is starting now. CURED was supported by American Psyciatric Association and AARP among other organizations. Please note that there will be discussions of homophobia including violent/coercive treatment of gay men and boys.
The documentary begins with news and media reports demonstrating common beliefs that homosexuality is a psychological disturbance. But is being treated like a second class citizen good for mental health?
Children are indoctrinated from an early age that homosexuality is dangerous, a mental illness, not normal, and gives other people permission to coerce and control you, such as putting you in a mental institution or forcing you into heterosexual marriage.
The American Psychiatric Association (APA) was the most important, richest, most influential psychiatric organization on earth, and in 1952 the diagnostic and statistical manual (DSM) listed homosexuality as a mental disorder, under "sexual deviations", in the same general category as pedophilia.
You couldn't be out and have the social associations, jobs, and relationships you wanted.
Gay men were left to think "maybe I should be cured".
Talk therapy was the most common treatment, but some people were subjected to more intense actions. "We could castrate you, but let's try some treatments and go from there. Next thing I'm going to a mental institution getting shock therapy." Rick Stokes speaks about how he was treated.
"You would hope against hope that it wasn't your time yet, that it wasn't your turn to go into the little room."
Introducing the Daughters of Bilitis, founded in 1965 as one of the first national lesbian organizations. OMG these ladies are delightful and have a beautiful meet-cute story. These women weren't intimidated by the psychiatrists.
The Mattachine Society is part of this story as well. Franklin Kameny of the Mattachine Society joined forces with the Daughters of Bilitis to protest the stigmatization of homosexuality.
Freud had a benign view of being gay, but after his death, his pupils began to say he was wrong and that homosexuality could be cured. That was the status quo until 1948. Here comes Dr. Alfred Kinsey!
That's when gay people started saying, "Yes we can stand up, yes we can."
GAY POWER!
The movement became bigger, with different "young turks" helping to organize diverse groups together toward a common cause.
You have to have righteous anger. It's essential to get what you want. We had to rise above our differences. You're having a tough time cause you're gay? I'm having a tough time over here cause I'm black and gay!
Activists snuck into the 1970 APA convention, and then interrupted speeches by anti-gay hatemongers.
Aversion therapy is a polite term for genital shock paired with pornography. Psychiatrists were promoting aversion therapy as a form of conversion therapy.
"There is no cure for that which is not a disease."
In every major city, something happened. It was a national movement. Activists invaded a ceremony of psychiatrists and the psychiatrists beat the activists with their gold medals of psychiatric achievement around their necks, calling the gay activists Nazis.
Charles Socarides became the biggest proponent of curing homosexual while simultaneously saying he was for civil rights, but his writings represented the epitome of arguments used to deny gay people equal rights.
Now we are hearing from Charles's gay son. Very interesting!
Someone within the APA had to advance the idea that being gay or lesbian be not considered a mental illness. The APA reform efforts were undertaken mostly by people who were young and unknown. These people vetted more senior members of the APA and carefully voted for board members.
Activists pressed for meetings where we could challenge the sickness label.
The APA finally agreed in 1972.
Activists looked for someone who is both a psychiatrist and gay to testify about their experience of being a gay psychiatrist. "NO WAY! I'll lose my job and medical license. There is still a lot of homophobia in the APA."
Activists nominated vetted people to the board to get political change in the APA. Gay is good!
This was one of the most considered issues in APA history. The APA decided to change. Headlines showing doctors say homosexuality not an illness and the like.
But that's not the end of the story. Socarides led the anti-queer movement, demanding that the issue be revisited.
Socarides' gay son cornered him. Socarides put a gun to his head. "You can't do this to me!"
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