117 SRES 574 IS: Designating May 2, 2022, as “Dr. John E. Fryer Day”. U.S. Senate 2022-03-31 text/xml EN Pursuant to Title 17 Section 105 of the United States Code, this file is not subject to copyright protection and is in the public domain.

III117th CONGRESS2d SessionS. RES. 574IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATESMarch 31, 2022Mr. Casey (for himself and Ms. Baldwin) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on the JudiciaryRESOLUTIONDesignating May 2, 2022, as Dr. John E. Fryer Day.

Whereas Dr. John E. Fryer practiced psychiatry in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, from 1967 to 2003, and was a professor of psychiatry and family and community medicine at Temple University School of Medicine;Whereas, beginning in 1952, the American Psychiatric Association (referred to in this preamble as the APA) classified homosexuality as a mental disorder in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (referred to in this preamble as the DSM) and in the revised DSM–II;Whereas, as a result of the classification and resulting therapeutic protocol, homosexuals in the United States were subject to chemical castration, electric shock therapy, mental institutionalization, and lobotomies;Whereas the classification was used to demonize homosexuals and other non-heterosexuals as perverts to be feared and loathed and to buttress homophobic statutes and regulations;Whereas many States would not grant professional licenses to known homosexuals and would revoke licenses from individuals who were later found to be homosexual;Whereas, in 1971, gay rights pioneers Frank Kameny and Barbara Gittings successfully petitioned the APA for a panel on homosexuality at the APA annual meeting;Whereas Kameny and Gittings sought to have a gay psychiatrist on the panel, but no one would risk losing their license and professional standing by admitting publicly to being homosexual;Whereas Dr. Fryer agreed to appear on the panel under the pseudonym of Dr. Henry Anonymous, while in a mask and using a voice modulator;Whereas Dr. Fryer’s testimony on May 2, 1972, at the APA annual meeting was so powerful that the APA undertook studies to determine whether the classification of homosexuality as a mental illness was based on science or prejudice;Whereas, in 1973, after study and review, the members of the APA voted to declassify homosexuality as a mental illness;Whereas, as a result of Dr. John E. Fryer’s courage and articulate presentation as the first psychiatrist in the United States to speak publicly about his homosexuality, the course of civil rights for individuals who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (referred to in this preamble as LGBTQ) was seminally advanced; Whereas, during the human immunodeficiency virus and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (referred to in this preamble HIV/AIDS) crisis, Dr. John Fryer was among the first, if not the first, psychiatrists to provide professional services to individuals with HIV/AIDS and individuals who had lost loved ones to HIV/AIDS;Whereas Dr. John Fryer’s contributions to the LGBTQ community have been adapted into the celebrated theater production entitled 217 Boxes of Dr. Henry Anonymous and the movie CURED;Whereas the Philadelphia Historical Commission has designated the John. E. Fryer House at 138 West Walnut Lane, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, as historic in the Philadelphia Register of Historic Places;Whereas the Philadelphia City Council proclaimed May 2, 2022, as John Fryer Day in the city of Philadelphia to mark the 50th anniversary of his testimony on homosexuality at the 1972 APA annual meeting and to commemorate his momentous and seminal LGBTQ civil rights activism; andWhereas Dr. John Fryer is a civil rights hero and was designated by the Equality Forum as an LGBT History Month Icon in 2016: Now, therefore, be it

That the Senate—(1)designates May 2, 2022, as Dr. John E. Fryer Day; and(2)encourages the Federal Government, States, and localities to continue supporting the teaching of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (referred to in this resolution as LGBTQ) history, including the contributions of Dr. John E. Fryer and other LGBTQ civil rights heroes.