Title
Proclaiming May 2, 2022 as John Fryer Day in the City of Philadelphia for his contributions to Philadelphia and the LGBTQ Community.
Body
WHEREAS, John Fryer practiced psychiatry in Philadelphia from 1967 to 2003; and
WHEREAS, John Fryer was a Professor of Psychiatry and of Family and Community Medicine at Temple University School of Medicine and had a private practice in Philadelphia; and
WHEREAS, The American Psychiatric Association classified homosexuality as a mental illness in its Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, DSM-II. As a result of that classification and prior therapeutic protocol homosexuals were subject to chemical castration, electric shock therapy, mental institutionalization, and lobotomies; and
WHEREAS, This classification was used to buttress homophobic statutes and regulations. This classification was utilized to demonize homosexuals as perverts to be feared and loathed. Most states would not grant professional licenses to known homosexuals and if licensed and later found to be homosexual, they could have their licensure revoked; and
WHEREAS, At the 1971 American Psychiatric Association (APA) Annual Meeting Gay Rights Pioneers Frank Kameny and Barbara Gittings successfully demonstrated for a homosexuality panel at the 1972 APA Annual Meeting. Kameny and Gittings wished to have a gay psychiatrist on the panel, but none would risk losing their license and professional standing. At Gittings request John Fryer agreed to appear on the homosexuality panel under the pseudonym of Dr. Henry Anonymous while in a mask and using a voice modulator; and
WHEREAS, His testimony on May 2, 1972 at the APA Annual Meeting was so powerful that the APA undertook to determine whether the homosexuality classification was based on science or prejudice. In 1973 after study and review the APA membership voted to declassifying homosexuality as a mental illness; and
WHEREAS, John Fryer was the first American psychiatrist to speak publicly about his homosex...
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