Over a decade ago, I conducted
survey research about the psychological consequences of anti-gay politics on
lesbians, gay men, and bisexuals (LGB persons) who had been exposed to
Colorado’s Amendment 2.  One theme that
emerged in participants’ responses to the open-ended question at the end of the
survey was their gratitude at being able to take part in the study.  Respondents variously emphasized the
importance of having been asked and of having their say, on the one hand, and
the pleasure they took in being able to help to generate good research, on the
other. 

We see that theme repeated many
times in this collection of stories about research with LGB people.  Gay people, who have so often been invisible
to and ignored by researchers, are often enthusiastic about being the focus of
research interest.  They know that the
truth of their own lives is far superior to the myths that many in this
homophobic and heterosexist world hold about them.

The relationship between LGB people
and researchers is a complex one, full of both possibilities and shattered
promises.  Henry L.  Minturn’s book, Departing From Deviance:
A History of Homosexual Rights and Emancipatory Science in America,
captures both sides of this complex relationship.  Minturn offers a multifaceted view of some of the better-known
chapters in the history of LGB research, focusing on such pioneers as Alfred
Kinsey and Evelyn Hooker.  His
renditions of the work of even these more familiar figures offer new
information, partly because Minturn emphasizes the relationships between these
researchers and LGB people who are not so well known but who played significant
roles in facilitating the research.

In addition to the big-name
researchers, Minturn brings forward the contributions of unfamiliar gay and
lesbian researchers, people who worked to elucidate the lives of LGB
people.  The author writes extensively
of Jan Gay and Thomas Painter, both of whom made extraordinary efforts to
develop accurate data on LGB people and neither of whom has ever received
proper credit for her or his work. 
Minturn details the history of their contributions and the obstacles
they faced and he does so with an insightful understanding of social,
political, and scientific-psychological contexts.  Indeed, his interwoven commentary is one of the best parts of the
book, offering the reader a nuanced understanding of the complex meanings of
the events the author describes (occasionally in greater detail that might be
necessary).

Minturn’s book captures several
overarching themes, any one of which would have made his book well worth
reading.  He offers insightful
information about the relationship between scientific psychology and social
change, and his book serves as an excellent example of the social impact that
psychology can have (and has had).  At
another level, Departing From Deviance is a study in relationships
between individuals who are members of the socially denigrated group and their
allies.  Sometimes the relationship
works to both parties’ advantage; sometimes it does not.  At yet another level, the book represents a
study in the socially constructed aspects of homosexuality.  While the author does not necessarily intend
such an exposition, the careful reader will see that the historical changes in
widespread views of homosexuality influence psychological understandings of the
same phenomenon and, reciprocally, are themselves simultaneously influenced by
psychological understandings.

Finally, this book can be read as a
story of the situated nature of psychology as a discipline.  The field of psychology must struggle with
the culture it inhabits.  The struggle
is described in great detail here; the reader is able to see occasions when
researchers have moved out of overriding cultural views enough to see things
differently.  All too often, however,
the discipline is unable to see with any greater clarity than anyone else.  Painful though that is, we need constant
reminders of it; there are plenty in this book–none any better than the fourth
chapter in which Minturn describes how George W. Henry (a heterosexual
researcher) interpreted data gathered by Jan Gay (a lesbian researcher).  This chapter stands as a great example of
how biased interpretations can change research–as well as a stunning example
of intellectual colonialism of the worst sort.

Given the many major themes
that occur in this text, it is likely that it would be of interest to a
variety of readers.  Minturn has written a book of
testimony to hidden researchers and of what psychology, at its best (and
sometimes at its worst), can do. 

© 2003 Glenda M. Russell

Glenda M.
Russell, Ph.D. is a Senior Research Associate and Project Director at the
Institute for Gay and Lesbian Strategic Studies in Amherst, Massachusetts.  A psychologist and an activist, she is the
author of Voted Out: Psychological
Consequences of Anti-Gay Politics and co-author, with Janis S. Bohan, of Conversations About Psychology and Sexual
Orientation.

Categories: Sexuality, Psychology