Homosexuality and American Psychiatry: The Politics of Diagnosis.

TLDR

In 1973 the APA removed homosexuality from its list of mental disorders after a bitter dispute that led to a referendum among its members. The book offers a political analysis of the psychiatric debate over homosexuality, tracing confrontations between gay demonstrators and orthodox psychiatrists. Bayer examines the debate through a political lens, detailing confrontations at conventions and the subsequent referendum. The analysis reveals how the debate highlighted key questions about social values, disease definitions, and sexuality. The paperback edition features a new afterword by Bayer.

Abstract

In 1973, after several years of bitter dispute, the Board of Trustees of the American Psychiatric Association decided to remove homosexuality from its official list of mental diseases. Infuriated by the Board's action, a substantial number of dissident psychiatrists charged the association's leadership with capitulating to the pressures of Gay Liberation groups, and forced the board to submit its decision to a referendum of the full APA membership. Ronald Bayer presents a political analysis of the psychiatric battle involved, from the first confrontations organized by gay demonstrators at psychiatric conventions to the referendum initiated by orthodox psychiatrists. The result is a fascinating view of the individuals who led the debate and the fundamental questions that engaged them: social and cultural values, the definition of disease, and the nature of sexuality. Available for the first time in paperback, the book includes a new afterword by the author.