The award-winning PBS documentary Cured chronicles a pivotal moment in LGBTQ+ history following the Stonewall Rebellion of 1969: the early 1970s campaign to remove the diagnosis of homosexuality from the American Psychiatric Association’s manual of mental disorders.
The APA designation of being gay as an illness had ramifications for every aspect of gay people’s lives — including employment, health care, legal rights, family, education, and overall human rights. It even hampered people’s ability to organize to change the designation since the credibility of LGBTQ+ people was questioned and their ability to meet publicly was limited. This makes the campaign to remove the diagnosis of homosexuality from the APA manual even more extraordinary, as the award-winning PBS film Cured so aptly documents.
In fact, the film can be used as a primer on how to organize in the face of repression, using a wide range of tactics. Cured is highly recommended for courses on 20th-century U.S. history, psychology, social movements, and LGBTQ+ history.
For classroom accessibility, the filmmakers have produced a 35-minute version and accompanying curriculum guide for high school teachers. Educators can sign up to receive free access to the material at this link. The full-length 80-minute version is streaming on major platforms. [Description adapted from Rethinking Schools.]
Request a link for the classroom version.
The full version is streaming on Amazon, iTunes, and Xfinity.
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