Sigmund Freud, the man who coined the phrase Oedipus Complex, and of course, is most famous for saying that men secretly want to marry their mothers, told a woman that she had nothing to worry about if her son was gay! In 2013, this doesn't seem like a big deal, but consider the world that Freud lived in!
Freud was living in Europe in 1935, just 4 years before the start of the Second World War. Hitler had already begun discriminating against Jews, homosexuals, and all mentally handicapped people. For Freud to say in an open letter that homosexuality was nothing to be ashamed of, that it wasn't a disease, and that homosexuality should NOT be considered a crime!
However, Freud also stated in the letter to the concerned mother that if she really wanted, she could travel to his office where he would try to treat her son, as there had been recorded cases of homosexual people becoming heterosexual through careful treatment. I wonder if she took him up on his offer!
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