We're Normal, But You Must Pay To Fix Us

One of the first major successes of the “gay liberation” movement in the United States was the American Psychiatric Association's (APA's) 1973 decision to remove homosexuality from its Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (the “DSM”). Early activists in the movement knew they would never persuade the public that they were normal as long as doctors said they were sick. The fact that the decision was more political than scientific complicates the history, but the goal was clear.