VIFF review: Cured recounts momentous battle of gay rights versus psychiatry
The documentary looks at the decades when aversion therapy was common
Protest shown in documentary Cured in VIFF 2020. Photo from the American Psychiatric Association
Streams September 24 to October 7 as part of the Vancouver International Film Festival, via VIFF.org
LIVING IN ONE of the world’s most progressive cities when it comes to LGBTQIA2S+ rights and freedoms, it might be difficult for a lot of Vancouverites to grasp just how different the world was in the 1950s and ’60s.
It wasn’t uncommon for aversion therapy, electroshock therapy, or even lobotomy to be used to “cure” non-heterosexuals of their so-called mental illness. Although pivotal events in the gay rights’ movement like Stonewall are well-known, less awareness exists when it comes to its epic battle against the American Psychiatric Association. This is the focus of Bennet Singer and Patrick Sammon’s Cured, a compelling, disturbing, and vital documentary.
The association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Illnesses is considered the “bible” of mental illness. Topping the list of sexual deviations in the first edition, from 1952, was homosexuality—outranking pedophilia.
Led by activists Barbara Gittings and Frank Kameny, a small group of bold individuals tenaciously pressed the association to remove the label from the DSM. To achieve that landmark 1973 victory, they revealed scientific flaws in so much of the shabby research the association relied on. A turning point occurred after Ron Fryer, a gay psychiatrist, spoke his truth at an APA convention, disguised in a Richard Nixon mask and wig and going by the name Dr. H. Anonymous to protect himself and his job. He had previously twice been fired because of his sexual orientation.
Drawing on TV reports, newspaper clippings, and interviews with psychiatrists, activists, and more, the film reminds us that everyday heroes risked it all to help ensure that LGBTQIA2S+ people today can, in Fryer’s words, live their honest humanity. As recent anti-gay chants in Vancouver show, we still have a long way to go. Cured delivers a dose of inspiration to keep fighting.
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