This lay-led service will search for wisdom and inspiration in the 35 year struggle for homosexuality to be considered natural and healthy by the medical establishment.  Starting in 1952, a short paragraph in the American Psychiatric Association's influential Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders tragically listed homosexuality as a type of mental disturbance.  Through readings, poetry and music we examine why this happened and the great injustices it caused; and we celebrate and learn from the inspiring history of how a small number of people overcame powerful biases and entrenched institutional forces to prompt removal of homosexuality from the APA’s official list of mental disorders in 1973.  Though this was a pivotal moment, it was not until 1987 that the APA’s DSM fully aligned with the modern scientific consensus that homosexuality is a healthy normal variant of human sexuality.

Coffee Time in the Fellowship Hall after the service will provide opportunities for reflection and informal discussion.  At 11:30 folks from Centre LGBT+ will present a related workshop on  Becoming an Ally.

This event is part of the UUFCC IMAGINE & DREAM Lantern Festival:

•  gallery of event flyers at: tinyurl.com/LFestFlyers24

•  webguide with event schedule at: UUFCC.com/imagine-dream

Interesting facts:  

• In 2022, Petros Levounis was elected by colleagues and became the first openly gay president of the American Psychiatric Association

• There is a historical marker for John Fryer in Philadelphia

• In 1990, the World Health Organization removed homosexuality per se from the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-10)

Other resources for exploring this topic:

• SLIDES AND SCRIPT DOCUMENTS FOR PRESENTERS

• View the documentary film: "Cured" a documentary by Bennett Singer & Patrick Sammon (2020) 

• View the documentary film: "Changing Our Minds: The Story of Dr. Evelyn Hooker" (1992) 

• Listen to: This American Life, Episode 204 -  '81 Words'  (interviews many key people in the DSM nomenclature battle)

• Read the scientific paper: Out of DSM: Depathologizing Homosexuality (2015) by Jack Drescher

Drescher Recounts Long Journey for Gay Equality in Fryer Lecture (2018)

• View wikipedia page about the DSM

• Read a recent American Psychiatric Association Position Statement on Issues Related to Sexual Orientation and Gender Minority Status (April 2020)

• Browse the American Psychological Association's list of APA Policy Statements on LGBT Concerns

Photos below:  Temple University School of Medicine Psychiatrist John Fryer with and without the mask that he wore to a panel of APA National Meeting in 1972.