Westerholm on the historical decision: "It was so natural for me"

"We are angry, not kind, we are gay, now the stamp of illness will be gone, otherwise the process will be short!"

That speaker met Barbro Westerholm when, as the new Director General, she stepped out in 1979 at the Social Board's stairwell on Banérgatan 87. The staircase was filled with occupants, who gathered in protest that homosexuality was classified as a mental illness.

"My co-workers had asked if they would call a police officer to drive them away, but I said that was not the solution, I have to know what they want," says Westerholm, today MP for the Liberals, when she thinks back 40 years later on event.

When she talked to colleagues, it emerged that it was not a new issue even though it was unknown to her. For five years, the National Board of Health had been required to change the classification. That she, as secretary general, also had the power to do so, was something that Westerholm knew.

- Can love between people, whether of the same or opposite sex, be a disease? It was obvious to me that this would be ironed out, she says.

- I didn't realize how big it was, because for me it was so natural.

When the occupants realized that it had no resistance to wait from Westerholm, it became a bit "boyish", she says herself. She promised regular meetings until the issue was resolved but some meetings did not, as it only took four weeks.

On September 27, 1979, Westerholm signed on and three weeks later, on October 19, the decision gained legal force.

When she compares to today, she says that basically all the legislation is needed. But homophobic prejudices still exist and if you scratch the surface a little, they show up, she says,

- I am proud of what we have done, but at the same time I realize that we must constantly be on our guard and defend it.

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