Year of Award
2013
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Type
Master of Arts (MA)
Degree Name
Communication Studies
Department or School/College
Department of Communication Studies
Committee Chair
Sara Hayden
Commitee Members
Casey Charles, Steve Schwarze
Keywords
coming out, consciousness raising, constitutive rhetoric, Fryer, gay rights movement, homophile movement, homosexuality, Kameny, metaphor, queer theory
Abstract
This thesis offers a rhetorical criticism of two speeches delivered from a 1972 panel at the American Psychiatric Association (APA): Franklin Kameny’s “Gay, Proud and Healthy” and John Fryer’s “I am a Homosexual.” Both speeches seek to challenge heteronormative constructions of homosexuality through the construction of a positive homosexual identity. Kameny’s speech uses an extensive set of metaphors to deconstruct the sickness theory of homosexual, challenge the role psychiatrists should play in society, re-conceptualize sexuality, and empower homosexual identity. Fryer’s speech enacts a constitutive rhetoric through the use of consciousness raising strategies and a collective coming out narrative which creates a motivated subject position. Both speeches worked as part of a larger movement to try and delist homosexuality as a mental disorder.
Recommended Citation
Schneider, Dustin Vern Edward, "The Constitution of Queer Identity in the 1972 APA Panel, "Psychiatry: Friend or Foe to Homosexuals? A Dialogue"" (2013). Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers. 4179.
https://scholarworks.umt.edu/etd/4179
© Copyright 2013 Dustin Vern Edward Schneider