Cured: how a merry band of activists took gay from mental illness to alternative lifestyle in time for National Coming Out Day

REVIEW by Drew Rowsome

6 Oct 2021 - Photos of cured courtesy of publicist

Most people think they don't know anyone gay or lesbian, and in fact, everybody does. It is imperative that we come out and let people know who we are and disabuse them of their fears and stereotypes 
- Robert Eichberg, 1993

Monday, October 11 is National Coming Out Day, created by Eichberg and Jean O'Leary in 1988, commemorating the anniversary of the 1987 National March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights. According to Wikipedia:

the initial idea was grounded in the feminist and gay liberation spirit of the personal being political, and the emphasis on the most basic form of activism being coming out to family, friends and colleagues, and living life as an openly lesbian or gay person. The foundational belief is that homophobia thrives in an atmosphere of silence and ignorance, and that once people know that they have loved ones who are lesbian or gay, they are far less likely to maintain homophobic or oppressive views.

Though I am sure there are greeting cards available and it is a day that inspires some reflection and/or celebration, as a calendar event its impact has faded simply because so many of us have the luxury of coming out with minimal trauma. We should however never forget our history as there are still many queer folk who are unable to come out without fear. Closets were still a majority domicile in 1988. And even more so in the not-so-ancient historical period that was the 1950s, which is where the documentary Cured begins. A man speaks at a high school assembly warning the students about the evils of homosexuality. And even worse, the dire fate of anyone who becomes homosexual or even associates with a homosexual. He quite calmly and horrifyingly states that "you will be arrested," their parents will be told, and "the rest of your life will be a living hell."

Cured comes with a trigger warning and before reaching the inspirational part, there is a jolt of horror to experience. We all know that gay was, is, stigmatized, but it is a gut punch to be reminded that, as one of the extraordinary talking heads tell us, the church damned homosexuality as sinful, the government treated it as a criminal offense, and the medical community considered it a mental illness. The latter treated that mental illness talk therapy or "more aggressive treatments" like institutionalization, eclectro shock therapy, lobotomies and castration. All because the American Psychiatric Association listed homosexuality in its Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. Cured is a chronicle of the battle to have homosexuality removed from the manual and no longer considered a mental illness.

What could be a dry documentary has two great advantages built into the material. Firstly our guides are an astounding cast of characters. Listening and watching our elders speak is always an honour and in this case quite entertaining. Not to play favourites but the Rev Magora Kennedy, who was married off at 14 to avoid being sent to an asylum, is an absolute hoot whether sassing David Susskind or recounting her time at Stonewall. If we could all grow old so disgracefully. She almost upstages the inspirational Dr Frank Kameny (featured prominently in The Lavender Scare) as well as a sampling of psychiatrists who lived through the events that Cured chronicles. They are a delight and Cured could have been three times as long without ever losing our attention. 

The second advantage is that the activists used that potent blend of theatre, comedy and shaming that is the trademark of gay activism. The archival footage of protests brings tears of joy, the disruptions of the annual psychiatric conventions is rousing, and the wit of the gay press covering the events is sublime and drily vicious. Even the horror of a prominent psychiatrist having to defend his sexuality by disguising himself as a low-rent Leatherface is oddly, subversively queer. It is an incredible saga told simply and clearly by co-directors Patrick Sammon and Bennett Singer, building to an emotional climax where we were finally no longer classified as mentally ill, just insisting on an alternative lifestyle. At one point, the son of a villainous psychiatrist who planned to run a chain of aversion therapy clinics across the country, takes a bold stand and PBS's reasoning for showcasing Cured on National Coming Out Day is more than justified. 

It is well worth adding an hour of Cured to your National Coming Out Day celebrations and reflections.