SOCIETY FOR THE PSYCHOLOGICAL STUDY OF SOCIAL ISSUES

SOCIETY FOR THE PSYCHOLOGICAL STUDY OF LESBIAN, GAY, AND BISEXUAL ISSUES

The Society for the Psychological Study of Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Issues was approved as Division 44 of the American Psychological Association (APA) by the APA Council of Representatives on August 26, 1984, by a vote of 80 to 26, with 8 abstentions (some of the other abstain-ing votes had left the room because a vote of two-thirds approval was required) (Kimmel & Browning, 1999).

‘The society originated as the Association of Gay Psy-chologists (AGP; subsequently Association of Lesbian and Gay Psychologists, ALGP), which was founded during the 1973 APA convention, which was where the first openly gay affirmative symposium was also held. The AGP organizing meeting of 75-100 people, about 20% women, approved a list of “demands” that were delivered to APA President Albert Bandura. The demands included the creation of a task force on the status of lesbian and gay psychologists and a request for APA to follow the lead of the American Psychiatric Association, which had rejected the idea that homosexuality is a mental illness; both requests were subsequently approved by the APA Council of Representatives.

A few days after AGP’s formation, 25 of its members staged a guerrilla theater drama to disrupt the screening of a film, Behavioral Therapy for Homosexuality, which included aversive conditioning to “cure” homosexuality. Such zaps were frequently held during the following years to raise consciousness about the stereotypes held about lesbians and gay men, and members of AGP often confronted the APA Board of Directors at open meetings (ALGP Newsletter, 1988). Eventually, a standing committee on gay concerns (now Committee on Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Trans-gender Concerns) was established with an office in the Public Interest Directorate of the APA dedicated to these issues.

‘The organization that became Division 44 began in 1981 as the Society for the Psychological Study of Lesbian and Gay Issues, during a period of moratorium on new APA divisions. Its members elected Stephen F. Morin as chair; Morin was elected the first representative for Division 44 to the APA Council, which subsequently elected him to the APA Board of Directors, Two other Division 44 presidents were subsequently elected to the APA Board of Directors, also as openly gay members: Douglas Haldeman and Armand Cerbone.