Setting Them Straight: You CAN Do Something About Bigotry and Homophobia in Your Life

From singer Melissa Etheridge to Olympic champion Greg Louganis, from tennis great Martina Navratilova to the British actor Sir Ian McKellan, celebrities and notables have come forward to put a new face on gay and lesbian sexuality. At the same time, the religious right campaigns to legalize discrimination against gay people and promote an anti-gay prejudice in the general public. The result: cultural attitudes on this topic have never been so polarized—or so openly discussed. The battle is on! With all of this new visibility, tensions between gay people, their families, coworkers, and others have come out in the open as never before.

In Setting Them Straight, experienced therapist Dr. Betty Berzon, author of the classic bestseller Permanent Partners, provides a unique battle plan for confronting discrimination, whether it comes from strangers or beloved friends and family. Understanding why people hate, the origins of prejudice, how to channel anger, the answers to the rhetoric of bigotry, and how to prevail in homophobic encounters are all a part of Dr. Berzon's discussion. This book is a timely, important, and much needed resource for a community under siege.

Betty Berzon, Ph.D. was a psychotherapist who enjoyed tremendous esteem in the lesbian and gay community. She lived with her partner in Los Angeles, California. She died in 2006.