Alfred Freedman, American psychiatrist, Dead at 94

Alfred Freedman, American psychiatrist, led effort to declassify homosexuality as a mental illness, died from complications following hip surgery he was 94.

Alfred Mordecai Freedman was an American psychiatrist died from complications following hip surgery he was , 94. A long-time educator and advocate of social justice, Freedman is known for leading the effort to have the American Psychiatric Association de-classify homosexuality as a mental illness.

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Removing homosexuality as a mental illness

In 1972, Freedman was approached by the Committee of Concerned Psychiatrists, a group of young reform-minded doctors, who encouraged him to run for the presidency of the American Psychiatric Association. He won the election by 3 votes out of some 9,000 that were cast.
In his position as president, Freedman immediately supported a resolution offered by Robert L. Spitzer to delete homosexuality from the list of mental illness diagnoses. On December 15, 1973, the APA’s board of trustees voted 13—0 in favor of the resolution, which stated that “by itself, homosexuality does not meet the criteria for being a psychiatric disorder” and that “We will no longer insist on a label of sickness for individuals who insist that they are well and demonstrate no generalized impairment in social effectiveness.” LGBT rights organizations have hailed this decision as one of the greatest advances for gay equality in the United States. Freedman himself believed that passing this resolution was the most important accomplishment of his one-year tenure as president. A second resolution called for an end to discrimination based on sexual orientation and the repeal of laws against consensual gay sex.

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