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Making Gay History is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that addresses the absence of substantive, in-depth LGBTQ+-inclusive American history from the public discourse and the classroom.

By sharing the stories of those who helped a despised minority take its rightful place in society as full and equal citizens, we aim to encourage connection, pride, and solidarity within the LGBTQ+ community—and to provide an entry point for both allies and the general public to its largely hidden history.


Season 13

Dismantling a Diagnosis — a Making Gay History Miniseries

 

Until December 15, 1973, homosexuals were, in the official diagnostic manual for mental health professionals, mentally ill by definition. To be gay was to be pathological, no ifs, ands, or buts.

 

On the 50th anniversary of a seismic shift in the ongoing battle for LGBTQ acceptance, Making Gay History is releasing a new miniseries that tells the story of how early gay rights activists, allies, and closeted psychiatrists redefined what it meant to be gay in America.


Dismantling a Diagnosis — Episode One: A Kind of Madness

In the 1950s, psychiatrists diagnosed all homosexuals with a mental illness, and the sickness label created new forms of oppression for gay people in America.

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Dismantling a Diagnosis — Episode Two: The Cure

A half-century ago, millions of homosexuals were cured with the stroke of a pen when the American Psychiatric Association decided to change its diagnostic manual and remove homosexuality from the list of mental disorders.

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Dismantling a Diagnosis — Episode Three: Out of the DSM & into the Present — A Conversation about LGBTQ+ Mental Health

Eric is joined in conversation by Dr. Laura Erickson-Schroth and Dr. Ilan H. Meyer to delve into the past and present of mental health for LGBTQ people. 

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