From left: The Chicago Gay Crusader reported on the American Psychiatric Association's board's decision to remove homosexuality from its list of mental disorders; a 1969 issue of the Mattachine Midwest Newsletter spotlighted two studies, including Hooker's research, that supported the legalization of homosexuality.
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In Chicago, some 50 years ago, Dr. Evelyn Hooker presented the groundbreaking results of her initial research to a conference of psychologists at the Sherman Hotel. Having accepted a challenge in 1953 from a student, Sam From, to do research on healthy homosexuals instead of the patients and prisoners who were the subjects of most studies, Hooker found their psychological profiles indistinguishable from comparable heterosexuals.
It was 1956. I was a senior in high school and was engrossed in the daily coverage of the Army-McCarthy hearings on my little Muntz TV. Sen. Joseph McCarthy was hunting for homosexuals and communists in every branch of the government and military. In retrospect, Hooker's pursuit of anything connected with homosexuality was an incredibly courageous venture. In an interview with Windy City Times in July 1994, she indicated that because of the witch-hunt mentality of the era, she had to destroy her research records: 'I promised the sample I would do this as a provision for their participation.'
Hooker took her findings, verified by independent experts, to anyone who would listen. She wrote prolifically for professional journals between 1957 and 1963, speaking at conferences and organizational meetings including those of Mattachine and Daughters of Bilitis chapters. She was a catalyst for action between her professional colleagues and her 'homophile' contacts. According to John D'Emilio ( Sexual Politics, Sexual Communities, 1983 ) , the man who later founded the Mattachine Society's New York branch met Hooker at a conference and was introduced to the Society by her. D'Emilio notes she declined an invitation to be on Mattachine's board of directors because she felt it might 'compromise her research in the eyes of her colleagues.'
Fast forward to October 1969 and the first front-page story I wrote for the Mattachine Midwest Newsletter was 'Doctors and NIMH Urge Law Change.' The Final Report of the National Institute of Mental Health Task Force on Homosexuality appointed by President Lyndon Johnson ( called the 'Hooker Report' after its chairman ) had just been released, finding that a different sexual orientation did not necessarily imply pathology. The Hooker Report urged the decriminalization of homosexual activity between consenting adults, further research into the origins and sociological effects of homosexuality, and changes in military and employment policies.
Following on that summer's Stonewall riots, the report set off a media explosion. Time, Newsweek and dozens of local newspapers covered the call for re-evaluating the status of homosexuals in society—the 'new' homosexual demanded equality and acceptance.
As anticipated by Hooker and her Task Force members, their recommendations were ahead of many of their colleagues and the general public. I reported on the 1969 Modern Medicine poll showing 67.7 percent of the 27,700 doctors responding ( 92 percent of them specializing in psychiatry ) were in favor of legalizing homosexual acts. But a Harris Public Opinion Poll of the same period 'showed that 63% felt homosexuality more harmful than helpful to American life.' The percentage was less than for college student demonstrators and atheists, but more than for Vietnam war protesters or prostitutes. Ultimately, Hooker's influence helped swing the decision of the American Psychiatric Association board to eliminate homosexuality as a psychological disorder on Dec. 15, 1973, and remove it from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders ( the general membership affirmed this vote in April of 1974 ) . The headlines on the Chicago Gay Crusader announced that 20 million homosexuals had been 'cured' overnight.
Hooker, a native of Nebraska, received her master's degree from the University of Colorado in 1930 ( where she first read The Well of Loneliness ) and her Ph.D. from Johns Hopkins. At the time she conducted her studies she was a research psychologist at UCLA. She was featured in an Academy Award–nominated documentary, Changing Our Minds, which also showed electric shock treatments for homosexuals and a gay man being lobotomized ( it destroyed his brain, but did not alter his sexuality ) .
Kinsey showed we were here by the numbers. Hooker showed we are no different from the rest of humankind. Many of us, especially the young, still need to hear that message.
Copyright © 2007 by Marie J. Kuda
NOTE: National Public Radio is running a series called 'The DNA Files,' about the search for a 'gay gene' Wednesdays in October. See NationalPublicRadio.org .
