The history of Psychiatry and sexuality is a complex one. In this session during the 2023 APA Annual Meeting, we are excited to bring everyone’s attention to Cured. This documentary chronicles the fight to get homosexuality taken out of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual as a mental illness.

This happened in the 1970s and came about after several listening sessions at the APA as well as activism from the LGBTQ community. It also came about due to sympathetic members of the APA and those outside the organization. This history was intimately intertwined with AGLP: The Association of LGBTQ Psychiatrists. It was created as the “GayPA” in the 1970s and still survives today in an allied organization capacity with the APA.

To illustrate this history more fully, we have presentations from several prominent voices in this story. First, we have the filmmakers themselves, Patrick Sammon and Bennett Singer. They will discuss making the film and what inspired them to tell this story.

We also have the current openly gay APA President-Elect, Petros Levounis. To add to the current state of LGBTQ rights and Psychiatry, we will also have Amir Ahuja, the current President of AGLP, and Fiona Fonseca, a non-binary Psychiatrist and AGLP Board Member.

Between all these prominent voices, the full story of the APA and LGBT rights will be told. We are excited to both show the audience this incredible film and provide some education and context that will deepen the experience and appreciation of this history.

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