For both the Daughters of Bilitis and The Mattachine Society the publication of psychoanalyst Edmund Bergler’s book Homosexuality: A disease or a way of life in 1957 proved a step too far. This congeniality began to change, however, as the 1950’s wore on. 'We are the true authorities on homosexuality'
These 'conversion' therapies included aversion therapies and more traditional talking therapies. Socarides, an ardent critic of the removal of homosexuality from the DSM, claimed to have 'cured' homosexuality in numerous individuals. Conversion therapies were popular among many psychiatrists and homosexuals distressed by their orientation. If their orientation was an illness, then there could be a 'cure'. Additionally, the mission statement of The Daughters of Bilitis, a pro-lesbian group founded in 1955, stated the group's commitment to sponsoring discussions with psychiatrists and other professionals.įor many gay men and women, the presence of a diagnostic label was important for reasons other than just the shift it brought to society’s perspective on homosexuality. The Mattachines also frequently welcomed articles by those with such views in their journal The Mattachine Review. Formed in 1950, the male-centric Mattachine Society hosted talks from eminent psychiatrists such as Albert Ellis, who supported the notion of homosexuality as a phobic condition.
Many reasoned it was better to be viewed as ill than as a criminal, a position took by many early 'homophile' groups. Psychiatry had the ability to shift the perspective of homosexuality from a criminal and unnatural perversion to a genuine illness. By the time of the DSM-I homosexuality was sufficiently pathologised to be included as a 'Sociopathic Personality Disorder'.ĭespite what we might see as apparent hostility from the psychiatric community towards homosexuals, many gay men and women welcomed this diagnostic label. In the 1940s psychoanalysts such as Sandor Rado argued that homosexuality was a phobic condition. The story of the 1972 APA convention, or the story of how a man in an oversized tuxedo can change the world.īefore the formation of the DSM-I in 1952, homosexuality was already considered by many experts as an illness. The path to the de-medicalisation of homosexuality was a long and winding one, so this article will focus on one story in particular. Or as a headline from the Chicago Gay Crusader put it, '20,000,000 Gay People cured!'. In doing so it rid those gay men and women living in America and the western world (and wherever else the DSM found itself as the authority on mental health) from 'illness'. In 1973 the American Psychiatric Association removed homosexuality from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual.