The laws were used to justify sweeps of suspected gay bars and public parks, and LGBTQ people risked public humiliation, job loss, and even criminal prosecution for their homosexuality. Homosexuality was classified as a mental disorder, and before 1961, every state criminalized sodomy. Zaps make their markįor most of its history, discrimination and anti-gay laws were the norm in the United States. Activists credit it with growing their ranks, too. Although the heyday of zapping was short-lived, it helped fuel a growing swell of support for LGBTQ equality. “That was a time when we were fighting for our lives,” Silverstein said, recalling the zap during a 2019 oral history interview at Rutgers University. Silverstein’s activism helped prompt the eventual removal of homosexuality as a medical disorder diagnosis. In Silverstein’s case, it was effective one attendee later invited him to give a presentation to influential psychologists. Organized on short notice, zaps were a way to confront discrimination directly and remind the public of the existence of the LGBTQ movement and the possibility of pride in a marginalized identity. Designed to instigate media coverage and disrupt the status quo, zaps were theatrical, boisterous, and impossible to ignore. If it interrupted business or an event, all the better. The speaker had just been “zapped.” Pioneered by gay liberation activists in the early 1970s, zapping combined protest with performance art. “We’ll give you 10 minutes to speak, and then we’re taking over.” He made good on his promise, prompting chaos in the presentation room as angry protesters and participants began to debate the issue. “We’re going to interrupt your presentation,” he told the speaker.
As a leading psychologist took the podium, Silverstein hurried to the front of the room and introduced himself as a gay activist. The topic was aversion therapy, a form of pseudoscientific conversion therapy in which gay men were administered electric shocks and other stimuli to “cure” their sexual attraction to other men.īut Silverstein wasn’t there to learn. Charles Silverstein was a grad student in psychology when he attended a workshop at a behavioral therapy convention in October 1972.