In Becoming Gay, Dr. Richard Isay draws on the varied experiences of his patients and his own odyssey to explore and illuminate the path from private acknowledgment of homosexual longings to open expression of a gay identity.

With unwavering candor and piercing insight, Isay examines the crucial role sexual identity plays in all stages of human development and the debilitating burden of adopting an identity at odds with one's true nature. His study takes him from the developmental crises of homosexual adolescents to the complex dilemma of homosexual men married to women and the often astonishing effects of HIV and AIDS on the psychological growth of both those afflicted and those who will survive them.

Written out of a deeply personal commitment and understanding, Becoming Gay is a timely, profoundly important account of what it means to live authentically, and a revelation of the harm done by those who would stigmatize the gay community for doing so.