Betty Berzon, Pioneering Gay Therapist, 1928-2006

[PalJoey]

Posted: 1/25/06 at 8:25am

Betty Berzon, the pioneering lesbian psychotherapist and author of "Positively Gay," "Setting Them Straight," "Permanent Partners" and "The Intimacy Dance," died in Los Angeles yesterday after a 20-year-long struggle with cancer.

Her Lambda Literary Award–winning 2002 autobiography, "Surviving Madness" should be read by all: it recounts her journey from forced shock treatments to "cure" her of her lesbianism to becoming the first openly gay psychotherapist in 1971. She and her partner of 33 years, Terry DeCrescenzo, have been mentors to several generations of young gays and lesbians.

Take a moment and acquaint yourself with the work and life of this wonderful woman.
Author and activist Berzon dead at 78

[DG]

Posted: 1/25/06 at 8:43am

Thanks for posting this, PJ. It's SO important that we remember those who have brought us this far in the journey.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 1/25/06 at 10:24am

From the AP:

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Gay activist-author Betty Berzon dies at age 78

GREG RISLING, Associated Press

LOS ANGELES - Betty Berzon, a psychotherapist and author who championed gay rights after struggling for more than half her life with her own sexuality, has died. She was 78.

Berzon died at her San Fernando Valley home early Tuesday, said her longtime partner Teresa DeCrescenzo. Berzon had battled breast cancer for many years, she said.

Berzon was considered a pioneer within the gay and lesbian community because she provided therapy to clients during a time - the early 1970s - when there were very few psychologists or psychiatrists willing to openly discuss homosexuality.

Her books also provided a roadmap for fellow homosexuals. In "Setting Them Straight," she suggested how to handle homophobia. In "Permanent Partners" and "The Intimacy Dance," she talked about building long-term gay relationships.

As a young woman, however, Berzon had problems dealing with her own homosexuality. In her 2002 memoir, "Surviving Madness; A Therapist's Own Story," she recounts a botched suicide attempt when she was in her early 20s.

It wasn't until she turned 40 that she said publicly she was a lesbian.

Born in St. Louis, her family moved to Arizona when she was young because she suffered from respiratory ailments.

She started at Stanford University but graduated from the University of California at Los Angeles in 1957 with a bachelor's degree in psychology. She also earned a doctorate at the International College in Los Angeles.

Berzon kept good company during her studies. She worked with Carl Rogers, who helped develop group therapy, and she was involved in the human-potential movement - the cultivation of extraordinary potential believed to be largely untapped in most people - at an institute in Big Sur.

In 1971, she helped start the first gay group within the American Psychiatric Association, which dropped homosexuality from its list of mental illnesses two years later. Soon after, she entered private practice and worked with gay men and lesbians.

Berzon co-founded the Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Center and wrote a relationship advice column for PlanetOut.com. She also served as the national president of the Gay Academic Union between 1977 and 1979 and served on several boards of directors for gay organizations.

She is survived by DeCrescenzo; a sister, Stephanie Miller; and her stepmother, Trude.
Gay activist-author Betty Berzon dies at age 78

[PalJoey]

Posted: 1/25/06 at 11:11am

A long, lovely obituary in the Los Angeles Times. Snippet:

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Her life was cleaved into two distinct halves: The first part was dominated by inner battles over sexual identity as a deeply closeted gay, and the second half by political and social battles she led as an openly gay activist.

Berzon was born in St. Louis on Jan. 18, 1928, to teenage parents, whose unhappy marriage encouraged her to seek solace outside her family from an early age. She started dating boys when she was 14.

She was aware of a strong attraction for other women but buried those feelings, explaining in her memoir that she "had heard of homosexuality … heard that it was a sickness" and wondered if she had "caught" it. When a woman in her dormitory at Stanford University tried to seduce her, Berzon fought her off and dropped out of school.

She moved to New York City, where she talked her way into a job at Gotham Book Mart, a legendary haunt frequented by such literary heavyweights as W.H. Auden, Marianne Moore, Gore Vidal and Eugene O'Neill.

Her job ended abruptly when its eccentric proprietor, Frances Steloff, threw a book at her head, but the overall experience of working there served Berzon well when she arrived in Los Angeles in 1950.

That year, she opened Berzon Books in Hollywood with a $10,000 gift from her stepmother. She quickly established the bookshop as a force on the local literary scene when she arranged an appearance by British poet Edith Sitwell, whose admirers swarmed the store.

Berzon later hosted a reading by Anais Nin, the avant-garde writer of fiction, journals and erotica, who adopted the bookstore as her headquarters and became a regular in Berzon's salon.

Betty Berzon, 78; Writer, Psychotherapist, Activist Helped Establish L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center

Updated On: 1/25/06 at 11:11 AM

[lildogs]

Posted: 1/25/06 at 1:56pm

Thanks for the mini-lesson, PJ--I had never heard of her. RIP, Betty.