Five years before she died from cancer at the age of 78, Berzon was admitted to a hospital. She wrote several books including a memoir, Surviving Madness, a Therapist’s Own Story, and Permanent Partners: Building Gay and Lesbian Relationships, which the LA Times says has been referred to “as a how-to manual for same-sex couples trying to stay together.”īerzon was a beacon of the gay community in Los Angeles and fought against prejudice until her death. With Terry DeCrescenzo, her life long partner, by her side, Berzon founded what’s now known as the Society for the Psychological Study of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Issues. But, just two years after our girl Berzon bravely shared her identity, the APA declassified homosexuality as a mental illness. It was a huge deal because at the time, homosexuality was still considered a disease by the American Psychoanalytic Association. A few years after that, the trailblazer publicly announced her sexuality at a conference called “Homosexual in America,” making her the first psychotherapist in the States to come out as gay. After suppressing her homosexuality for the majority of her life, at 40, Berzon came out privately as a lesbian. First up is badass Betty Berzon who is famously known for being one of the first psychotherapists to treat gay and lesbian patients.
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