John E. Fryer, M.D.

Temple professor and psychiatrist John E. Fryer, disguised as "Dr. Anonymous," spoke against the American Psychiatric Association’s classification of homosexuality as a mental illness at the APA’s 1972 annual meeting. Fryer’s testimony persuaded the APA to declassify homosexuality as a mental disorder in 1973, ending treatments such as chemical castration, electric shock therapy, and lobotomy and paving the way for advances in LGBT civil rights.

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania · United States