He is most notably remembered for his impactful speech delivered anonymously at the 1972 American Psychiatric Association (APA) annual conference.

[3] Graduating from high school at the age of 15, he swiftly earned a bachelor's degree from Transylvania University in Lexington, Kentucky, where he was an active member of the Phi Kappa Tau fraternity.

[5][3] His psychiatric residency commenced at the Menninger Foundation in Topeka, Kansas, but he withdrew from it upon the advice of a psychoanalyst due to depressions, likely stemming from the need to conceal his homosexuality.

Established in 1948 by Gross and Henry,[8] the foundation aimed to assist individuals "who by reason of sexual deviation are in trouble with themselves, the law, or society.

"[6] Fryer was tasked with treating homosexual entangled in legal issues and providing court testimony on their behalf.

Utilizing a $5,000 grant, he established a group named "Ars Moriendi" to address issues surrounding professional responses to death and dying.

[3] Fryer as "Dr. Henry Anonymous" in 1972 Fryer was the first gay American psychiatrist to speak publicly about his sexuality at a time when homosexuality was still listed as a mental illness, a sociopathic personality disturbance according to the second edition of the APA Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-II), that was published in 1968.

[14][3] Later, Fryer said that the recent death of his father was one factor in his decision to accept the invitation, but his experiences at losing positions because of his homosexuality were the reasons that he did so, only after Gittings suggested that he could be disguised.

[3] Listed only as "Dr. H. Anonymous" (later expanded to "Dr. Henry Anonymous"), Fryer appeared on stage wearing a rubber joke-shop face mask – that sometimes was described as a mask of Richard M. Nixon, but which probably was altered from its original state,[6] – a wig, and a baggy tuxedo, and he spoke through a microphone that distorted his voice.

[Notes 1] In 2002, Dr. Jack Drescher, then the head of the APA Committee on Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual Issues pointed out "[t]he irony ... that an openly homosexual psychiatrist had to wear a mask to protect his career.

He later wrote: "In a democratic society we recognize the rights of such individuals to have widely divergent religious preferences, as long as they do not attempt to force their beliefs on others who do not share them.

[12][6][13] Homosexuality was removed from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual in 1973, a year after Fryer's speech[Notes 3] – leading the now-defunct Philadelphia Bulletin to print the headline "Homosexuals gain instant cure"[14][11] – and Fryer's speech has been cited as a key factor in persuading the psychiatric community to reach this decision.

[11][10] Later in his career, he began treating gay men with AIDS who were dying, seeing them in his home office rather than in his practice at Temple, for reasons of patient confidentiality.

[6] He was involved in setting up Physicians in Transition, Temple's Family Life Development Center, the APA International Work Group on Death, Dying, and Bereavement, and the Philadelphia AIDS Task Force.

[6] Toward the end of his life, Fryer was being treated for diabetes and pulmonary sarcoidosis, but he eventually died from gastrointestinal bleeding and aspiration pneumonia in 2003.

Anonymous," spoke against the American Psychiatric Association's classification of homosexuality as a mental illness at the APA's 1972 annual meeting.

Fryer's testimony convinced the APA to declassify homosexuality as a mental disorder in 1973, ending treatments such as chemical castration, electric shock therapy, and lobotomy and paving the way for advances in LGBT civil rights.Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission 2017[27][28]In 2022, Fryer’s house at 138 W. Walnut Lane, where he lived from 1972 until he died in 2003, was added to the Philadelphia Register of Historic Places.

The play explores Fryer and the circumstances around his 1972 appearance at the APA convention through monologues by three people who knew him: Alfred A.

[38] In May 2018, the play was revived by the Equality Forum for two weeks of performances at the Baryshnikov Arts Center in New York City, to coincide with the American Psychiatric Association's annual meeting,[39] and again at Transylvania University – Fryer's alma mater – in Lexington, Kentucky, in May 2019,[40] and at the UCLA Center for the Art of Performance in October, 2019.

[41] In June 2020, it was announced that Steven Canals would write and develop for the FX television channel 81 Words, a miniseries that would focus on the campaign to get the APA to remove homosexuality from the Diagnostic and Statistics Manual.

The miniseries will be based on "81 Words", the This American Life episode by Alix Spiegel, and Cured- a documentary by Patrick Sammon and Bennett Singer that was scheduled to premiere at the virtual Los Angeles Outfest in August 2020.