18/06/2022
The University of Birmingham has issued a formal apology for the activities of researchers who were fixated with trying to find a ‘cure’ for homosexuality as late as the early 1980’s, long after the American Psychiatric Association had voted to formally recognise that samesex relations were not of themselves indicative of mental distress or disorder. In a report, two men were named and shamed as having conducted bizarre, cruel and – as we now know - utterly ineffective treatments for homosexuality. They were Dr Maurice Philip Feldman, who worked in the Department of Psychology at the University of Birmingham between 1966 and 1983, and psychiatrist Dr Malcolm J MacCulloch, who worked at the university’s Institute for Child Health in the Department for Paediatrics and Child Health between 1967 and 1971. Pink News reports that the current Vice Chancellor, Adam Tickell, issued a heartfelt apology for the damage caused by the pair, especially as the newly emergent gay liberation movement had persuaded so many of their colleagues to reconsider their attitudes to gay men and women. He said "We understand that many of our staff and students will be distressed and angered to learn of the findings of the research into these practices, today I formally acknowledge and apologise for the University’s role in the historical research and practices detailed in this report and the harm that they caused”.
