- Welcome to Independent Lens.
I'm Pete Schwaba, host of PBS Wisconsin's Director's Cut .
Tonight, we present a story of inspiring activism
that led to a victory for the LGBT community
in the film "Cured ."
Until 1973, homosexuality was considered a mental illness
according to the American Psychiatric Association's Manual
of Mental Disorders.
How was it treated?
With electro shock therapy, hysterectomies for lesbians,
lobotomies, and in some cases, castration for gay men.
That was until a brave group of activists
decided that enough was enough.
This misguided clinical diagnosis of homosexuality
was dehumanizing to say the least.
But what made it so dangerous
was how it crossed over into everyday society.
The filmmakers provide scenes
showing how dangerous the psychiatric evaluation became
as it seeped into pop culture.
The film uses footage
from interviews by Mike Wallace and David Susskind
that perpetuated negative stereotypes.
Cured is directed by Patrick Sammon and Bennet Singer.
This is the first time Sammon and Singer
have directed together.
Sammon comes from a journalism background
and is an award-winning TV news reporter.
Before he founded Story Center Films,
he served for three years
as the President of the Log Cabin Republicans.
Bennet Singer has been making socially relevant docs
for over 25 years.
His films have screened
at The Kennedy Center, The United Nations,
and both the Democratic and Republican National Conventions.
Sammon says that it was big business and government
that benefitted from homosexuality
being labeled as a mental disorder
that was used to justify discrimination and bigotry.
The quote that possibly best sums up the plot of this film
is from activist Ron Gold, who said
to the psychiatric community,
"You don't have the right to decide
that perfectly happy people are sick."
Cured starts now on PBS Wisconsin,
your home for independent film.