Describe the events that led to removal of homosexuality as a diagnosis by American Psychiatric Association (APA)

What will be an ideal response?


?In 1970 and 1971, gay activists disrupted the conventions of the American Psychiatric Association (APA). The following year a gay psychiatrist was asked by the APA to speak, eventually leading to the establishment of a Nomenclature Task Force to review the diagnostic label of homosexuality. Ronald Gold, speaking at the 1973 APA meetings stated: "Your profession of psychiatry dedicated to making sick people well, is the cornerstone of a system of oppression that makes people sick." In December 1973, the APA removed homosexuality as a diagnosis. The change in diagnostic categorization occurred in a strongly contested vote by the American Psychiatric Association. Subsequently, gay people, formerly viewed as a deviant minority and in need of treatment, were transformed into a minority who needed assistance in coping with "the effects of the majority on an oppressed minority."

Social Work & Human Services

You might also like to view...

Define drug and drug abuse

What will be an ideal response?

Social Work & Human Services

Infanticide was practiced in order to

a. limit family size b. as a solution when children were born illegitimately c. to insure the abundance of a particular gender d. all of the above

Social Work & Human Services

The mission provides a sense of purpose without which the organization would lose all of the following EXCEPT:

A) needed staff B) its direction C) support D) legitimacy

Social Work & Human Services

The minimum number or proportion of members needed to legally transact business is a:

A) ?Filibuster B) ?Point of order C) ?Seriatim D) ?Quorum E) ?Proxy

Social Work & Human Services