The Rainbow Minute, read by Dustin Richardson

Dr. Evelyn Hooker's Discovery

Psychologist Dr. Evelyn Hooker conducted research in the 1950s, challenging the notion that homosexuality signaled mental illness.

Having earned her doctorate from Johns Hopkins in 1932, she became a psychology researcher at UCLA. She decided to study gay men at the urging of a gay friend, Sam Fromm. He said, "it is your scientific duty to study people like us, homosexuals who function very well and don't go to psychiatrists."

In her study, she administered highly-regarded personality tests to heterosexual and gay men. Her research found that the two groups were psychologically indistinguishable.

At first, her conclusions caused heated debate amongst scientists. But in 1973, the American Psychiatric Association officially removed homosexuality from its list of psychiatric disorders.

And while there was still much work to be done to destigmatize what it is to be gay, Evelyn Hooker had shattered one enormous myth.

This Rainbow Minute was read by Dustin Richardson.

The Rainbow Minute is produced by Judd Proctor and Brian Burns and can be heard every weekday at 7:59 AM, 12:29 PM and 2:59 PM on WRIR – 97.3 FM in Richmond, Virginia, and webcast at wrir.org. It’s also heard internationally on over 200 stations.