Psychologist Charles Silverstein made history in 1973, when he wrote and presented the argument that convinced the American Psychiatric Association to declassify homosexuality as a mental illness. Since then, mental health professionals have regarded homosexuality as a normal variation of human sexual orientation. In 1987 the American Psychiatric Association elevated him to Fellow for his contributions to this field.
In 1977 he co-authored the landmark book The Joy Of Gay Sex with Edmund White, a book that spawned two sequels, including the New Joy Of Gay Sex (1993), written with Felice Picano.
He is the founding editor of the Journal of Homosexuality, a member of Division 44 of the APA (Society for the Psychological Study of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Issues), the New York State Psychological Association (NYSPA), and the Committee on Ethical Practices of NYSPA.
He has written seven books including A Family Matter: A Parents’ Guide To Homosexuality (1977), Man To Man: Gay Couples In America (1981), Gays, Lesbians And Their Therapists: Studies In Psychotherapy (1991), and The Initial Psychotherapy Interview: A Gay Man Seeks Treatment (2011).
His eighth, For The Ferryman (2011), is an inspiring personal memoir. It focuses on his gay activism and his long-term relationship with the much younger William Borey. Although handsome and intelligent, Borey was a loner who had never held a job. The book tells how these two very different people somehow managed to fulfill a need in each other over a period of two decades, before Borey was taken by the plague.
Edmund White:
Dr. Charles Silverstein has written a memoir about the great love of his life – an eccentric, androgynous genius whom Charles adored and cared for despite all his flaws and addictions. Most writers idealize their lovers, especially if they’ve died young, but Silverstein presents his William with all his charm and sexual allure and intellectual brilliance – and all his maddening faults. I wept at the end of this brave, honest book—and I suspect you will too.
The title, For the Ferryman title comes from Greek mythology: Charon is the ferryman of Hades who carries souls of the newly deceased across the rivers Styx and Acheron that divided the world of the living from the world of the dead. A coin to pay Charon for passage was often placed in the mouth of a dead person. Silverstein’s book is his payment to the ferryman after the death of Borey.
