Subject: Gay Medical Folks
From: Sam Damon <[email-masked]>
Date: Sat, 26 Aug 1995 06:56:55 -0400 (edt)

> I posted this on another list, but recieved no response.  I was 
> approached by someone doing a thesis on famous historical gay people.  
> This guy wants to know any famous people in the health care field who 
> were gay.  I'm a medical student, but know of no famous gay docs 
> throughout history (or nurses, dentists, psychotherapists, etc.).  If 
> anyone does, I'd be thrilled to pass the info along.  

They have to be famous, eh?  Hmmmmm ... that eliminates about 99% of the gay
medical folks I know, most of whom work in AIDS.  You might start with some
of the Greek and Roman pioneers since sexual orientation wasn't as rigidly
defined then and chances are good that many were actively bisexual.

1) Of recent history is Dr. Rob Eichenberger (sp?), a therapist (or was he a
psychologist?) who founded National Coming Out Day (Oct 11).  He was very
much involved in researching the mechanics of comng out, with much of his
findings published in the book, "Coming Out: An Act of Love." He just died
last week of AIDS.

2) Dr. Tom Waddell also died relatively recently -- last year, I believe, of
AIDS.  Waddell founded the Gay Games, which was first held in San Francisco
in 1982.  Interestingly, although openly gay, Waddell had a wife and
children.  I believe it was a legal maneuver of some sort.

3) Dr. Charles Silverstein is also relatively famous.  The psychotherapist
writes quite a bit about gay psychology in journals and such, and founded
The Institute for Human Identity.  He was also interviewed in PBS's
Innovation episode: "Homosexuality: Nature vs. Nurture." Silverstein may be
most famous for "The Joy of Gay Sex," which he co-authored with writer
Felice Pecano.

4) Then there is Dr. Simon LeVay, the respected  neurobiologist (or is he a
neuropathologist?) that now heads some gay lobbying group.  He perhaps
single-handedly ushered in the current age of gay biological research with
his landmark study on the Interstitial Nucleus of the Anterior Hypothalmus-3
(INAH-3).  This still-controversial study (there is debate as to whether
this region even exists) concluded that the area was smaller in gay men than
heterosexual men, with gays being more similar to those of [presumed]
heterosexual women.  He went on a media blitz after teh study was published.

 -- there are also several other famous doctors and biologists currently
working in the field of gay biology but none have achieved the prominence of
LeVay.

5) In terms of nurses, we have the late great African-American blues singer,
Alberta Hunter (1895-1984).  Although in no way famous for nursing, she
nevertheless became a nurse after retiring from singing in 1956.  Often
recognized as one of the greatest blue singers, she became one of the first
honorees in the Kennedy Center Honors program, and entertained in the WHite
House several times.  She returned to singing, which she did until her
death, when forced to retire from nursing because of her age.  Her hospital
was shocked by revelations of her previous fame because she kept it so
quiet; an area of the hospital was later named in her honor.  Hunter met
Lottie Tyler in 1919 and continued a lesbian relationship for many years.

6) Going back a little further in history, we find Dr. Magnus Hirschfeld,
famed German sexologist (1868-1935) who labeled homosexuality as "the third
sex," and hypothesized that gay men may have a specialized nerve that ran
directly from the anus to the brain (or am I confusing him with some other
German researcher?).  Beginning as a general practitioner, he concentrated
in gay studies after the suicide of a patient and Oscar Wildes trial.  In
1897, he founded the Scientific-Humanitarian Committee, which became a
lobbying group for gay rights.  In 1900, he created a landmark study which
involved wide range of sexual matters and over 10,000 participants, making
him Germany's leading expert in homosexuality and the first specialist in
psychosexuality.  Because he was gay and a transvestite (gay men called him
"Auntie Magnesia"), and modern research methods were not available yet,
Hirschfeld's objectivity is often questioned.  His archives were burned when
the Nazi's came to power.  His legacy can be seen in "Anders als Anderen"
(DIfferent From the Others), a landmark 1919 silent film that is often shown
on PBS stations (I have a copy if you want it).  The fictional film, which
starred COnrad Veldt (of "Casablanca" fame), hired Hirschfeld as an advisor,
and ended with a scene where he argued the government for tolerance.

7) Some claim that Florence Nightingale (1820-1910) was a lesbian.  She, of
course, founded the profession of trained nursing, making her the first
female Order of Merit honoree in 1907.  Her lesbianism is based on the fact
that she never married and this, which she wrote late in life: "I have lived
and slept in the same bed with English countesses and Prussian farm women
... no woman has excited passions among women more than I have."  There may
be more evidence but this is all I know.  You decide if she is a lesbian.

Here are some more controversial ones, with their possible lesbianism based
on transvestism.  I find their inclusion controversial (in _Lesbian Lists_
by Dell Richards) because cross-dressing may have been more indicative of a
determination to work where women were not allowed than sexual orientation.

8) Agnodice (4th Century BC, Greece) is the first female gynecologist in
recorded history.  She disguised herself as a man to study medicine and
continued to do so in her practice.  She was later charged with corrupting
young women, and her true gender was revealed at the trial.  Because she was
a woman. the charge was reduced to conspiring to work in a field restricted
to men.  Agnodice was acquitted.  Many scholars believe that the original
charge was brought about by other doctors jealous of her large clientele.

9) James Miranda Barry (1795, England) is the first English woman doctor. 
Because little is known about her, teh age at which she started medical
school is not known for sure, but estimated range from 10 to 15.  She became
a surgeon in only 2 years, and worked throughout the British colonies for
over 50 years.  She was also one of the first modern Western practitioners
of preventive medicine.  Because she passed as a man throughout her life,
it wasn't until a post-mortem autopsy that her true gender was revealed,
although many colleagues had suspicions before then.

10) Dr. Mary Edwards Walker (1823-1919, US) chose to wear male clothing on
and off the job because it was less confining.  Hints of feminimity were
reatined by wearing her hair in curls, even with a top hat over it.  She was
arrested several times for wearing male clothing.  She later became one of
the first female journalists, and founded an all-female colony named
"Adamless Eden." President Andrew Johnson awarded her the Congressional
Medal of Honor in 1866 for her work in the Civil War.

11) Dr. Sara Josephine Baker (1873-1945, US) was a cross-dresser who worked
for the NYC Dept of Health.  Her policies resulted in the lowest infant
mortality rate in the US and Europe.  Baker's detective work helped capture
the notorious Typhoid Mary.  Her long affair with I.A.R. Wylie is described
in Wylie's book, _My Life With George_.

12) Dr. Eugene C. Perkins (d. 1936, US) "Little is knowb of Perkin's life
except that the male doctor was revealed to be a woman on her death in 1936. 
Perkins had been married to another woman for 28 years prior to her death."

FYI, Scientific American had a short piece a few months ago on gays in the
sciences.  Medicine was included although the article was too short to be
comprehensive.  I had uploaded it here and it may be available in teh Queer
Resource Directory.  Ron Buckmire, PhD, an archivist for the QRD, was
quoted.  You should also be able to find the names of living gay clinicians
in The Journal of Homosexuality, and The Archives of Sexual Behavior (which
has many articles on homosexuality), although the clinician's orientation
may not be apparent.

Good luck with your research!