John E. Fryer, M.D.
1937-2003
John Ercel Fryer, M.D. was an American psychiatrist and gay rights activist best known for his anonymous speech at the 1972 American Psychiatric Association (APA) annual conference where he appeared in disguise and under the name Dr. Henry Anonymous.
Fryer received his medical degree from Vanderbilt University and did his medical internship at Ohio State University. He began his psychiatric residency at the Menninger Foundation in Topeka, Kansas, but left – on the advice of a psychoanalyst – due to the depression caused by having to hide his homosexuality. He moved to Philadelphia, where he held a residency at the University of Pennsylvania but was forced to leave because of his homosexuality; he completed his residency in 1967 at Norristown State Hospital.
Homosexuality was still listed as a mental illness, a sociopathic personality disturbance according to the APA’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. In 1970, a protest at an APA event in San Francisco earned gay and lesbian activists a voice in the association. Protests in succeeding years led to a session in 1972 on homosexuality and mental illness. Entitled “Psychiatry: Friend or Foe to the Homosexual?; A Dialogue.” The panel included gay rights activists. Fryer agreed to join the panel only if he could be disguised.
Listed only as “Dr. Henry Anonymous,” Fryer appeared on stage wearing a rubber joke shop face mask, a wig, and a baggy tuxedo and spoke through a microphone that distorted his voice. At the time of his speaking, Fryer was on the faculty of Temple University, but did not have the security of tenure, so was in real danger of losing his position if he had been identified. Fryer’s speech began: “I am a homosexual. I am a psychiatrist,” and went on to describe the lives of the many gay psychiatrists in the APA who had to hide their sexuality from their colleagues for fear
of discrimination.
This event has been cited as a key factor in the decision to de-list homosexuality as a mental illness from the APA’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. The APA’s “John E. Fryer, M.D., Award” is named in his honor.