The Decision That Changed History: 1973 and the APA

On December 16, 1973, a quiet revolution took place within the medical community that would echo through decades of history. The American Psychiatric Association (APA) made the pivotal decision to remove homosexuality from its list of mental illnesses. The headlines at the time were clinical—simply stating that psychiatrists no longer viewed homosexuality as "deviate"—but the cultural impact was profound.

This was more than just an administrative update to a diagnostic manual. As noted by author and activist Anthony Venn-Brown, this decision effectively dismantled the medical justification for generations of stigma. It removed the clinical foundation used to justify discrimination, forced institutionalization, and the harmful practice of "conversion therapies."

The Battle of Ideologies: Bieber vs. Spitzer

While the 1973 ruling was a victory for human rights, it was not without its detractors. Venn-Brown highlights a fascinating piece of history from a New York Times article published the very weekend of the announcement, which featured two opposing forces: Dr. Robert Spitzer, who championed the change, and Dr. Irving Bieber, a staunch traditionalist.

Bieber represented the old guard. He had built his career on the theory that homosexuality was a pathology caused by family dynamics—specifically the trope of a "dominant mother" and a "detached father." For Bieber, the APA's decision was a rejection of his life's work. He refused to accept the new consensus, famously using a disturbing medical analogy to describe gay men.

"The analogy falls down only in that the injury of polio is irreversible. But what you have in a homosexual adult is a person whose heterosexual function is crippled like the legs of a polio victim." — Dr. Irving Bieber (1973)

A Legacy of Misunderstanding

Bieber claimed that through his methods, a significant percentage of his patients achieved "heterosexual functioning," yet his research was deeply flawed, lacking long-term follow-ups to verify these so-called success stories. Despite the science moving on, Bieber died in 1991 holding fast to his disproven beliefs.

Reflecting on this history, Anthony Venn-Brown notes that while the APA closed the book on the "illness" model over 50 years ago, echoes of these outdated theories persist in some religious and social circles today. The narrative that love is a sickness to be cured has been scientifically debunked, yet it survives among those unwilling to look at the evidence.

The 1973 decision affirmed a simple, powerful truth: Love is not a mental illness. For those still clinging to the rhetoric of the 1950s, the message from history is clear: it is time to wake up, educate yourself, and accept the reality that has been recognized by medicine for half a century.

This post was adapted from insights and research provided by Anthony Venn-Brown OAM. Anthony is one of Australia’s foremost commentators on faith and sexuality and the author of "A Life of Unlearning." You can read his original commentary and explore more of his work at Ambassadors & Bridge Builders International.