Richard Isay

Dr. Richard Isay (1934 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania) is a professor of psychiatry at Weill Cornell Medical College and a faculty member of the Columbia University Center for Psychoanalytic Training and Research.

Dr. Isay graduated from Haverford College and the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry. Soon after completing his psychiatry residency at Yale University, he completed training at the Western New England Psychoanalytic Institute.

Dr. Isay has written widely on the subjects of psychoanalysis and homosexuality, including texts such as Being Homosexual. In an autobiographical chapter of his book Becoming Gay he tells the story of how he spent ten years trying to change his homosexual orientation. During his analysis, he married. When he finished his analysis, he found himself once again having homosexual desires. For many years, as a closeted gay man, he began to write and present about homosexuality in psychoanalytic journals and meetings. He eventually came out of the closet and he and his wife divorced.

In "Becomig Gay" Isay recounts that with the help of the ACLU he threatened to sue the American Psychoanalytic Association because of their discriminatory anti-gay policies. As a result, in 1991 the American Psychoanalytic adopted a non-discrimination policy for the training of candidates and then in 1992 in the promotion of teachers and supervisors. In his 2006 book "Commitment and Healing", Isay describes and explains the difficulty many gay me have sustaining romantic, loving relationships.

His son David Isay founded StoryCorps, an ambitious oral-history project. His youger son Joshua is a political consultant in New York. Dr. Isay lives with Gordon Harrell, his partner of thirty years.