Celebrating a Milestone: 50 Years Since the Declassification of Homosexuality as Mental Illness

Friday, December 15, 2023, marked the 50th anniversary of the removal of homosexuality from the DSM. This in itself was a drastic change and was followed by significant social progress. The Washington Post recently put out an article about the tremendous advocacy by community members as well as psychiatrists of the “Gay PA.”  This was an underground group at the APA, as at that time, it was incredibly difficult to be an openly gay psychiatrist, and almost certainly precluded one from being hired on the faculty or in leadership at most university departments and institutions across the country. The members of “Gay PA” were later formally incorporated as AGLP in 1985, making it the oldest professional LGBTQ organization in the country. The importance of advocacy and these changes are a very interesting and often forgotten piece of our professional and societal history. Read the full article: Psychiatrists decided 50 years ago being gay wasn’t a mental disorder – The Washington Post