He left and took a seat at the front of the hall. This man’s face was covered by a rubber mask of President Richard Nixon, and he wore an oversized tuxedo and a curly wig. But as he began to speak, the unusualness of his attire faded.
“I’m homosexual,” he began. “I’m a psychiatrist.”
In the next 10 minutes, Dr. Henry Anonymous talked about the secret world of gay psychiatrists. Officially, they did not exist – homosexuality was classified as a mental illness.
“We all have something to lose,” he said. – It is possible that our candidacy for the position of professor will not be considered. The analyst across the street may no longer send us their data. The manager can ask us to take unpaid leave.”
“However, we risk even more by not living fully,” he said. “This is the biggest loss – our sincere humanity.”
The 10-minute speech, delivered 50 years ago, became a turning point in the history of gay rights. In the following year, the American Psychiatric Association (APA) announced that it would change its nearly century-old position. She declared that homosexuality is not a mental disorder.
With the removal of this diagnosis, the legal basis for various discriminatory actions was also removed: preventing homosexual people from getting a job, obtaining citizenship, housing and custody of children. Also allow them to be removed from the clergy, the military or the institution of marriage. The long process of reversing this practice could finally begin.
When referred to psychiatrists, homosexuals would not be referred for “treatment”: hormone injections, aversion therapy, or other tests. Instead, they began to be told that, from a scientific point of view, homosexuality was a fundamentally normal phenomenon.
“The day has passed, it has come and gone, and I am still alive. For the first time, I identified with a force that is close to my self-concept,” the mysterious wrote in the excerpts.
However, he didn’t say anything to his mother, his sister, his closest childhood friend. For 20 years, he told almost no one what he had done.
After his speech, the masked man, John Ercel Fryer, 34, flew from Dallas to his home in Philadelphia and wrote in his diary how terrifying but profound the experience was.
Desire to change your environment
Dr. John Fryer died in 2003. at the age of 65. He always stood out for his height (180 cm tall and weighed 136 kg), intelligence and the fact that he was obviously gay.
His friend Betty Lollis remembered him as a round-faced boy who his mother brought to second grade dressed in a sailor suit. He was a child prodigy and “just a boy who was laughed at or made fun of,” she said.
He excelled in his studies, entering university at 15 and medical school at 19. But when managers found out he was gay, his career path kept getting blocked.
The biggest of these setbacks came in 1964, when, a few months into his residency at the University of Pennsylvania, he revealed that he was gay to a family friend over dinner.
A friend immediately reported this to his father, who in turn reported it to the head of the department at the University of Pennsylvania, in 2002. Mr. Fryer said in an interview. The head of the department called him into his office and declared: “Either you resign or I will fire you.”
“If you came out as gay, you lost all power,” he explained. – And I wanted to be powerful. Therefore, being heterosexual on the outside allowed me to have power.”
in 1970 Astronomer Frank Kameny, discharged from the military for homosexuality, led a small group of gay rights activists. They protested at the APA’s annual convention, demanding the diagnosis be removed.
Mr. Fryer was a full member of Gay PA, a group of homosexual APA members. Mr. Fryer watched in disgust as the protesters invaded and harassed the convention attendees. “I was embarrassed and I wanted them to shut up,” he admitted.
But the following year, one of the activists, Barbara Gittings, asked Dr. Fryer’s help.
Younger, more progressive leaders emerged within the ranks of the APA, and activists sensed an opportunity. They came up with an idea: instead of picketing, they could shock everyone by confronting psychiatrists with their fellow gay psychiatrist. If only we could find someone who would agree to do that.
“My first reaction was, no way,” Fryer recalled. – I didn’t have any guarantees and I didn’t want to do anything that would harm the possibility of getting a teaching position somewhere. There was no way I could do it openly at the time.”
But over the course of several months Mr. Gittings kept calling. She shared the news with Dr. Fryer when he approached most of his gay colleagues, and every single one of them refused. The risk was too great.
Colleagues’ refusals disturbed Dr. Fryer. Mr. Gittings, he said, kept getting “more demanding.” What if she paid for his trip to Dallas? What if he disguised himself so no one would know it was him?
“She instilled in me the idea that I could do something,” he explained. “And to be able to do something that’s useful and doesn’t ruin my career.”
When he stepped on stage that day, he was proud that he was the only one of his colleagues who dared.
Mr. Fryer had a strong emotional impact on the psychiatrists gathered in the hall, said Dr. Saulas Levinas, who in 2013 became the first openly homosexual man to hold the position of executive and medical director of the APA.
“Obviously it shocked them a lot,” he explained. – There were many spectators here who saw a person who came out in a very strange costume. This left them a little confused, what the hell is going on here? And then this person gives such an expressive speech.”
Life on the Edge
Mr. Fryer watched as his colleagues received promotions. Gay PA. faded as a new, more active generation came forward. She founded the “Gay and Lesbian Psychiatric Association.” However, Mr. Fryer did not participate in it.
“I ran away again,” he explained. – I did not participate in the meetings. It’s like I just disappeared.” He said it was like “I’ve done my job and it’s over for me.”
He remained himself – this generous, this bossy, this charismatic, this sharp. He threw big parties where his famous friends sometimes showed up.
But he was overwhelmed by a sense of hurt, said Dr. David Scasta. He met Dr. Fryer while a medical resident at Temple University and in 2002. interviewed him about his life.
He felt isolated from the gay community, explained Dr. Scasta, former president of the Gay and Lesbian Psychiatric Association. He has never had a long-term relationship. He always felt that his career was not what it could have been.
“It was always sad that it wasn’t fully accepted,” he said. “John always felt like he was on the edge.”
It would be decades before gay rights historians fully understood Dr. The meaning of Anonymous’ speech was “similar to the meaning of the Stonewall riots,” added Dr. Scasta. The Stonewall riots are one of the most important events in the fight for LGBT rights in the United States. These riots changed the attitude of society at that time towards members of the LGBT community.
Monday in Philadelphia, which on May 2 declared John Fryer Day, speeches commemorated the 50th Dr. Anniversaries of Anonymous Speeches.
Public commemorations of this event began even before dr. Fryer’s death. in 2001 he spoke of it bitterly, saying that it “kind of got taken out as an exhibit every time somebody wanted an exhibit.”
At the time, he said, it was the secrecy that gave his action power.
“I could say whatever I wanted when I changed clothes,” he explained and added. “I took one single action that changed my life, helped change the culture of my profession, and I was gone.”
According to “The New York Times” info. prepared by Diana Kuklis.
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