Changing our minds: the story of Dr. Evelyn Hooker

This fascinating documentary is a biography of Dr. Evelyn Hooker, whose research into the psychological profile of homosexual men was instrumental in the eventual declassification of homosexuality as a mental illness. Prior to Hooker’s research homosexuals and lesbians endured a range of psychiatric treatment including lobotomies, aversion therapy and hormone injections to treat their “disease”. Hooker began her research in 1954, with encouragement from a gay colleague who convinced her that psychiatric definitions of sexuality had been under-researched. Over the next fifteen years her research convinced her that psychologically it was impossible to distinguish between heterosexual and homosexual profiles. In 1974, Hooker and other progressive psychologists - in tandem with lesbian and gay activists - succesfully petitioned the American Psychiatric Association to drop its definition of homosexuality as a pathological mental illness. This moving biography includes interviews with Hooker and archival documentation of the “underground” lesbian and homosexual communities in America during the 1950s and 1960s. “Changing Our Minds” was nominated for an Academy Award in 1993 for Best Feature Documentary. Narrated by Patrick Stewart.