FX has put in development a limited
series about the fight to declassify gay people as sexually deviant
in the American Psychiatric Association's (APA) Diagnostic and
Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM).
81 Words is based on an
award-winning episode of This American Life and the upcoming
PBS documentary Cured.
According to Deadline,
Pose co-creator Steven Canals wrote the script and will
executive produce the series.
The APA's DSM classified homosexuality
as a mental disorder until 1974. Gay rights activists Frank Kameny
and Barbara Gittings risked their careers to challenge the APA's
definition.
Canals, Ryan Murphy, and Brad Falchuk
co-created Pose, which explores
New York's vibrant ball scene of the 1980s. It features
television's largest cast of transgender actors in series regular
roles and the largest LGBTQ cast ever for a scripted series,
according to FX. It will return for its third season in 2021.