http://www.windycitymediagroup.com/gay/lesbian/news/ARTICLE.php?AID=34200Dr. Charles Silverstein is well known for his activism in the struggle for gay rights, including his 1973 historic presentation before the "Nomenclature Committee" of the American Psychiatric Association ( APA ) , which led to the removal of homosexuality as a mental illness from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders ( DSM ) .
He founded two gay and lesbian counseling centers in New York, Identity House and the Institute for Human Identity. He was also the founding editor of the Journal of Homosexuality and is best known for the groundbreaking The Joy of Gay Sex ( with Edmund White ) , and The New Joy of Gay Sex ( with Felice Picano ) . On Oct. 13, 2011, Silverstein will be adding a new volume to his personal bibliography—For The Ferryman: A Personal History.
Recently, Windy City Times had the opportunity to interview Silverstein about his life and his work.
Windy City Times: So why psychology?
Dr. Charles Silverstein: Well you know, I had been an elementary school teacher prior to coming to psychology. I liked what I did; in fact, my Larchmont kids are holding a reunion for me. Still, teaching was not satisfying a certain intellectual part of me. I enjoyed working closely with people so psychology seemed fitting.
WCT: In 1973 you convinced the Nomenclature Committee of the APA to remove "homosexuality as a mental illness from the DSM. How did that come about?
CS: The psychological community had always labeled homosexuality as a perversion and a derivation from the so-called "norm." These men considered it an illness and, therefore, curable. It was an illness because it violated the social norms of the day.
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