Visibility Matters
Southern Arizona Senior Pride to Screen Cured , a Film Highlighting an Important Chapter in LGBTQ History
By Sarah Bahnson , PCOA LGBTQ Community Liaison In the mid-20th century in the United States, the American Psychiatric Association sought to standardize practices creating the first Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM). Since then, the DSM has been used by clinicians, researchers, policymakers, et. al . to guide practices around mental and behavioral health. In the first edition of the DSM homosexuality was included and classified as a “sociopathic personality disturbance.” Already suffering from social stigma and discrimination from countless other institutions, inclusion in the DSM paved the way for brutal treatments of lesbian, gay and bisexual people who sought help from medical and mental health professionals. Treatments for lesbian, gay and bisexual people included electroshock therapy, castrations, hysterectomies, and Arizona Senior Pride celebrating, supporting and uniting LGBTQI+ older adults 520-312-8923; info@soazseniorpride.org; soazseniorpride.org All in-person events require masks and vaccinations, bring your card. lobotomies. Designating lesbian, gay, and bisexual people as “diseased” had long-lasting harmful effects that went beyond those that suffered brutalizing
On-going events: Registration is required for attendance - soazseniorpride.org GBTQI+ Mens Loss Group ; weekly on Tuesday; 1:30–3pm; in-person Elder Discussion/Support Group ; second Saturday; 1:30–3pm; in-person perspectives that are the guiding principles in care professions today. Immediate past Chair of the Board at PCOA and current Senior Pride Board Member, Robert Bell, states “This is the best film I’ve seen explaining the damage the American Psychiatric treatment but traumatized an entire generation of LGBTQ people and provided erroneous scientific weight to discriminatory practices nationwide. It took more than 20 years to remove the designation and the damage done to the LGBTQ community during that time. In the award-winning documentary Cured , this troubling time in LGBTQ history follows the champions of the movement and how they won a crucial victory toward equality and justice. Activist, Ron Gold, asserts in the film that mental health institutions do not “have the right to decide that perfectly happy people, are sick” – a sentiment that likely helped shape our current “person-centered” Association imposed upon the LGBTQ Community.” For organizations seeking
Aging with Pr i de
Southern Book Club ; third Wednesday; 2–3:30p; on Zoom Gathering in Himmel Park ; third Saturday; 10–11:30am; in-person There are more events each month. Stay tuned in on the website. process of researching and creating this film. A meet and greet with the filmmaker will follow the screening. Join Southern Arizona Senior Pride at The Loft, April 24th at 2pm, for this powerful true story of resilience, justice, and heroism. Admission is free. Masks and proof of vaccination are required. to provide meaningful services to older adults, including LGBTQ older adults, this history illuminates some of the barriers experienced by LGBTQ people and may help providers address those barriers. PCOA proudly sponsors Southern Arizona Senior Pride’s screening of Cured . Filmmaker, Bennet Singer (co-producer of Brother Outsider: The Life of Bayard Rustin and Electoral Dysfunction ) joins to discuss the
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Pima Council on Aging
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