What You See Is What You Get: 30 Years of the HIV Epidemic

Abstract

The John E. Fryer, MD Award, an annual award given by the American Psychiatric Association and sponsored by the Association of Gay and Lesbian Psychiatrists (AGLP), honors an individual whose work has contributed to the mental health of sexual minorities. Dr. Fryer was the psychiatrist who appeared in a Nixon mask and fright wig as “Dr. H Anonymous” at a 1972 American Psychiatric Association presentation (Scasta, 2003; Barber, 2008) to talk about how the listing of homosexuality as a mental illness affected him and other gay psychiatrists. The talk was one factor in moving the organization to take homosexuality out of psychiatry's diagnostic manual the following year (Bayer, 1981).

The Fryer Award was endowed through a generous grant from the Gill Foundation, a bequest from the estate of psychiatrist and longtime AGLP member Frank Rundle, and contributions from AGLP members.

The first award in 2006 was given to Barbara Gittings and Franklin Kameny in New York City; other previous recipients include Freedom to Marry's Evan Wolfson (2012) and the Right Reverend V. Gene Robinson (2012). In 2012, Marjorie J. Hill, PhD, was presented the Fryer Award at the fall American Psychiatric Association Meeting in New York City.

Marjorie J. Hill, PhD is the Chief Executive Officer of the Gay Men's Health Crisis (GMHC), the nation's oldest AIDS service organization. She has been involved with GMHC since 1994 and has served as its CEO since 2006. GMHC provides a continuum of services to 11,000 men, women, and children annually and has a world renowned legacy of health care advocacy, promoting social justice and supporting lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender rights.

Prior to her tenure at GMHC, Dr. Hill was the assistant commissioner for the Bureau of HIV AIDS at the New York City Department of Health & Mental Hygiene. Dr. Hill was responsible for all aspects of federally mandated community planning and for the development of citywide HIV/AIDS policy.

Dr. Hill has been a champion for the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community for decades, and she has, throughout her career, contributed richly to the improvement of mental health in sexual minority communities through her activism, vision, energy, hard work, and visibility.