Organizing Committee: Laura S. Brown

Donald K. Freedheim

Marvin R. Goldfried

Rich C. Savin-Williams

Wendy K. Silverman

If you are a psychologist who has a family member who is gay/lesbian/bisexual, or know of anyone who does, you might be interested in a network that is being formed within psychology.

The American Psychological Association is noted for having been a very strong advocate for g/l/b concerns, and many of its members have been personally supportive of their g/l/b children, brothers, sisters, nieces, nephews, cousins, aunts and uncles. This will be the first time, however, that a network of such family members within psychology is being formed.

In addition to providing open support for their own family members, the network would be very important in supporting the clinical and research work on gay/lesbian/bisexual issues within psychology. Moreover, by having family members come out in this fashion, it is likely to facilitate a kind of indirect contact with, or exposure to g/l/b people that others will have. This is extremely important, in that such exposure or contact has been found to be an important factor associated with positive attitudes toward g/l/b individuals. Finally, this network within psychology could prove to be useful to g/l/b advocacy groups in need of experts as a source of information, and to testify in court or before legislative bodies.

In our casual conversations with colleagues, we have been struck with how many have g/l/b family members. To a person, every one we have spoken with has agreed to be part of this network. If you would like to add your name, or would like to pass this information on to a colleague, please e-mail, fax, write or call:

Marvin R. Goldfried, Ph.D.

marvin.goldfried@sunysb.edu

Fax: (212) 988-4495

Psychology Department

State University of New York

Stony Brook, NY 11794-2500

Phone: (631) 632-7823