Berzon, Betty

Author and gay/lesbian leader in Los Angeles.

From the guide to the Betty Berzon papers, 1972-1979., (Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections, Cornell University Library)

Biography

Betty Louise Berzon was born to a middle-class Jewish family on January 18, 1928, in St. Louis, Missouri. The family moved to Tuscon, Arizona when Berzon was young, and upon graduating high school she attended Stanford University, majoring in journalism and creative writing. In 1949, Berzon got a job in a bookstore, which turned into a short-lived career as a bookseller. She owned and operated Berzon Books in 1951 in Los Angeles, but it went out of business after one year.

In the following years, she experienced a bout of depression and sought treatment in a psychiatric hospital. After her release from the hospital, she got a job in a sanitarium and enrolled in the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) as a psychology student. While working on her degree, Berzon took a job as a caseworker for the American Red Cross Military Hospital Service, and later for the San Diego County Probation Department. By 1958, she had graduated with a Master's degree in Psychology from San Diego State College and hadbegan working for a psychotherapy research organization, Western Behavioral Sciences Institute (WBSI). There, she developed her psychotherapy career and created program materials for group therapy sessions called the Bell & Howell Encountertape Series . She evenually left WBSI and established herself as a consultant, developing workshops, training sessions and seminars in group therapy, personal growth and interpersonal relationships. She later received her Ph.D.

By 1971, Berzon had began specializing in work counseling gay men and lesbian women, as well as same-sex couples. Throughout the 1970s to 2000s, Berzon edited or wrote a number of books about gay and lesbian identity, relationships, and homophobia, including Positively Gay, Permanent Partners, Intimacy Dance, and Setting Them Straight . She also wrote an autobiography about her therapy career and experience coming out as a lesbian woman called Surviving Madness .

In addition to her psychotherapy and writing career, Berzon was an outspoken activist on behalf of gay and lesbian rights and awareness. Among her advocacy work, Berzon served as the National President of the Gay Academic Union; served on the boards of National Gay Rights Advocates and the Gay Community Services Center (later called the Los Angeles Gay & Lesbian Center); and was the founding Board Chair of the Gay and Lesbian Adolescent Social Services (GLASS). She also participated in the Lambda Literary Foundation and the Whitman-Radclyffe Foundation.

In the 1970s, Berzon met Teresa DeCrescenzo, who would be her partner throughout the rest of her life. Berzon and DeCrescenzo lived together in Los Angeles for 33 years. Berzon died of cancer on January 24, 2006.

Sources:

Box 1, Folder 1, Betty Berzon Papers, Coll2011-004, ONE National Gay & Lesbian Archives, Los Angeles, California

Box 4, Folder 22, Betty Berzon Papers, Coll2011-004, ONE National Gay & Lesbian Archives, Los Angeles, California

Box 33, Folder 1, Betty Berzon Papers, Coll2011-004, ONE National Gay & Lesbian Archives, Los Angeles, California

From the guide to the Betty Berzon Papers, Bulk, 1965-2005, 1928-2006, (ONE National Gay & Lesbian Archives)