Glossary
Diagnostic and Statistic Manual (DSM)
The DSM is the American Psychiatric Association's standard reference for diagnosing mental disorders, notable in LGBTQ+ history for once classifying homosexuality as an illness before removing it in 1973.
The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), published by the American Psychiatric Association, is the standard U.S. reference for psychiatric diagnosis. It matters in LGBTQ+ history because its first edition in 1952 listed homosexuality as a mental disorder. After years of organizing by gay rights activists, the APA voted in 1973 to remove homosexuality from the DSM, a decision later called one of the movement's greatest victories. The DSM-5, released in 2013, replaced the stigmatizing "Gender Identity Disorder" with "Gender Dysphoria," framing the diagnosis around the distress a person may feel rather than their identity itself. The manual's evolution mirrors wider shifts away from pathologizing gender and sexuality.
Sources
Learn more: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homosexuality_in_the_DSM
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