Being gay is not a mental disorder

Disability inclusion. Women's rights activists. Mental illness. Public transport. Press freedom. World Bank. Freedom of expression. Development financing. Social media.

The American Psychiatric Association removes homosexuality from its list of mental illnesses

Throughout much of the 20th century in the United States, homosexuality was considered a mental illness by the medical establishment. This view created a cruel set of circumstances for gay people, as a lack of serious research into homosexuality allowed social institutions to discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation, and medical institutions could subject gay people to psychologically and physically damaging therapies.

The pioneering psychologist who proved that being gay isn’t a mental illness

When Homosexuality Stopped Being a Mental Disorder

This brief video essay explores the legacy of the late US psychologist Evelyn Hooker , whose groundbreaking studies of homosexuality would help lay the groundwork for the modern gay rights movement. Inspired by her friendship with a gay student she met while teaching at the University of California, Los Angeles in the s, Hooker began to study mental stability in straight and gay male populations.