Behind the movement that brought homosexuality — and psychiatry's power — to a vote 50 years ago
Fifty years ago, the nation’s psychiatrists effectively put gay people’s mental health — and their very place in society — to a vote.
Fifty years ago, the nation’s psychiatrists effectively put gay people’s mental health — and their very place in society — to a vote.
Five months prior, on Dec. 15, 1973, the 15-member board of the American Psychiatric Association had voted unanimously, with two abstentions, that homosexuality should no longer be considered a mental illness.
The epochal elimination of the homosexuality diagnosis from the APA’s influential bible, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, or DSM, made the front page of The New York Times and The Washington Post. The Chicago Gay Crusader ran the cheeky, if world-weary, banner headline, “20,000,000 Gay People Cured!”
Many outlets covered the APA’s decision to remove homosexuality from its list of mental disorders.The Chicago Gay Crusader / Windy City TimesBut the policy shift was met with dismay by prominent APA members who remained wedded to their conviction that homosexuality was a pathology warranting “reparative” treatment. They prompted a ballot referendum of the organization’s rank and file to repeal the board’s vote.
On April 8, 1974, the APA reported the tally: 58% of the more than 10,000 members to cast a ballot had supported upholding the vote.
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