Written by Josh Forman, Head of Science, Education & Outreach
There is a long and striking history of Jewish thinkers who challenged convention, individuals unafraid to question the status quo, think differently, and forge their own paths. Figures such as Albert Einstein, Sigmund Freud, and Niels Bohr reshaped entire fields by refusing to accept inherited assumptions.
One such individual, very much a giant in her own field and community is Betty Berzon. Although her work differs from the genetic focus that Jnetics typically explores, her life story is powerful and deeply relevant. It speaks to the value of conviction, the cost of repression, and the possibility of growth and change over a lifetime.
Betty Berzon was born in St. Louis, Missouri, in 1928. Her early life and career appeared largely conventional until a pivotal incident while she was a student at Stanford University. She had long been aware that she was attracted to women, but prevailing social attitudes led her to view homosexuality as a mental illness. When a woman sharing her dormitory expressed romantic interest, Betty rebuffed her and soon afterwards dropped out of university.
She later moved to New York, working in a bookshop before opening her own in Los Angeles, ‘Berzon Books’ in 1950. Initially, the shop showed promise, hosting well-attended readings and events. However, after about a year it closed. Around the same time, Betty’s views on same-sex relationships were beginning to shift. The end of a relationship with a woman coincided with the closure of her bookstore, triggering a deep depression that resulted in hospitalisation.
During her treatment, Betty became convinced, under the guidance of her doctor, that she did not have to be gay if she did not want to be. Paradoxically, this same doctor inspired her to pursue a new career in psychology.
At this stage, Betty was living with profound internal conflict. She felt unable to be true to herself, a reality that is both heartbreaking and, sadly, reflective of the experiences of many LGBTQ+ people at the time. Yet her later work would help ensure that future generations would not be forced into the same silence.
Betty enrolled in university to study psychology and went on to become an expert in group therapy, specialising in helping people “find love.” By her 40th birthday in 1968, she had to confront a painful truth: she had not found love herself. This realisation marked a turning point. Betty finally accepted that she was gay, a watershed moment that transformed both her personal life and her public mission.
From then on, she became a tireless advocate for gay rights. She founded the Gay Community Services Centre in Los Angeles, helped establish the Los Angeles branch of the Gay Liberation Front, trained counsellors specifically to support the gay community, and brought together professional psychologists, particularly those who were themselves gay, through organised networks. She also founded the Association of Gay Psychologists and emerged as a leading figure in the gay civil rights movement.
One of the most significant changes she helped bring about was the removal of homosexuality from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) in 1973. This was a landmark shift in medical and societal thinking that challenged decades of stigma and harm.
Around this period, Berzon met Teresa DeCrescenzo, another prominent gay rights activist. Together, along with others, they co-founded the Western Gay Academic Union in 1976.
In 1986, Betty was diagnosed with breast cancer. Following a mastectomy, she remained cancer-free until 2001. Even this diagnosis did not slow her advocacy. During her treatment, she noticed that hospital forms assumed all patients were heterosexual, asking only about marital status. After she raised the issue (refusing admission until it was changed), the hospital updated its paperwork to be more inclusive, an example of how Betty consistently turned personal experience into structural change even when suffering. Betty Berzon died in 2006. The following year, she became the first openly lesbian person to have a street in California named in her honour: Dr. Betty Berzon Place in Studio City. It stands as a lasting tribute to a woman whose courage helped reshape psychology, medicine, and society itself.
