CURED illuminates a pivotal yet largely unknown chapter in the struggle for LGBTQ+ equality: the campaign that led the American Psychiatric Association (APA) to remove homosexuality from its manual of mental illnesses. Before this momentous 1973 decision, the medical establishment viewed every gay and lesbian person as diseased and in need of a cure. Business and government used the mental-illness classification to justify discrimination and bigotry. As long as lesbians and gay men were “sick,” progress toward equality was nearly impossible.
Incorporating a trove of newly unearthed archival material, CURED takes audiences inside this riveting narrative to chronicle the strategy and tactics that led to a crucial turning point in the movement for LGBTQ+ rights. Indeed, following the Stonewall rebellion of 1969, the battle that culminated in the APA’s decision to remove homosexuality from the DSM, marked the first major step on the path to first-class citizenship for LGBTQ+ Americans. CURED sheds new light on this victory, while situating the APA story within the larger context of the modern movement for LGBTQ+ equality.