Gregory M. Herek
Encyclopedia
Gregory M. Herek, Ph.D. is a researcher, author, and professor of psychology at the University of California at Davis (UCD). He has conducted extensive research on prejudice against sexual minorities, and coined the term sexual prejudice as a replacement for homophobia
to describe this phenomenon. Herek argued that using the term homophobia incorrectly assumes that negative responses to lesbian, gay, and bisexual people are founded in pathological, irrational fear (a phobia
), whereas psychological research indicates they are more accurately regarded as a form of prejudice
. Herek is an openly and prominent gay psychologist.
, but dropped out to devote himself to political activism. He later received his B.A. degree from the University of Nebraska at Omaha, and his M.A. and Ph.D. from the University of California, Davis
. He completed a post-doctoral fellowship at Yale University
, followed by a year of teaching at Yale. He then joined the faculty at the City University of New York Graduate Center. In 1989, he returned to UC Davis, first as a research psychologist and then, since 1999, as a tenured professor.
Herek was an early advocate for scientific research on hate crimes based on sexual orientation, testifying in 1986 on behalf of the American Psychological Association
(APA) for the House Criminal Justice Subcommittee's hearings on anti-gay violence.
In 1993 he testified before the House Armed Services Committee
on behalf of the American Psychological Association
, American Psychiatric Association
, the National Association of Social Workers
, the American Counseling Association
, the American Nursing Association, and the Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States
. Herek summarized the results of an extensive review of the relevant published research from the social and behavioral sciences that the research data show that there is nothing about lesbians and gay men that makes them inherently unfit for military service, and there is nothing about heterosexuals that makes them inherently unable to work and live with gay people in close quarters. He concluded that heterosexual personnel can overcome their prejudices and adapt to living and working in close quarters with lesbians and gay men and that lesbians and gay men are not inherently less capable of military service than are heterosexual women and men. "The assumption that heterosexuals cannot overcome their prejudices toward gay people is a mistaken one," said Herek.
In the 1990s, he conducted the first federally funded scientific study to compare gay and lesbian hate crime victims with gay men and lesbians who were victimized in crimes of comparable severity that were not related to their sexual orientation. He found that hate crime survivors had significantly higher levels of depression, anxiety, and stress, compared to the other crime victims. In recognition of this work, Herek was invited to participate in President Clinton's 1997 White House Conference on Hate Crimes, the only behavioral science researcher to be included among the invitees.
Herek's research on antigay employment discrimination was cited in 2007 congressional testimony on the Employment Non-Discrimination Act
(ENDA). His policy paper reviewing social science research relevant to the debate surrounding legal recognition of same-sex couples was cited by the Chief Justice of the New Jersey Supreme Court
in her 2006 written opinion in Lewis v. Harris
(ruling on the constitutionality of New Jersey’s marriage law). In 1993, he testified on behalf of the APA, the American Psychiatric Association
, and four other national professional associations for the House Armed Services Committee's hearings on gays and the U.S. military. He also assisted the APA in preparing amicus briefs in precedent-setting gay rights cases, such as Romer v. Evans
and Lawrence v. Texas
, and state court cases challenging current marriage laws. He testified in Perry v. Schwarzenegger
trial. Herek has also conducted research documenting the prevalence of stigma directed at people with HIV/AIDS in the United States, which has been widely cited by public health experts and legal advocates
Herek is a Fellow of the American Psychological Association
(APA) and the Association for Psychological Science
(APS).
He was the recipient of the 2006 Kurt Lewin Memorial Award for "outstanding contributions to the development and integration of psychological research and social action," presented by the Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues (APA Division 9).
In 1996, he received the APA Early Career Award for Contribution to Psychology in the Public Interest. His other honors include the 1999 and 1989 awards for Distinguished Scientific Contributions from APA Division 44, and the 1992 Outstanding Achievement Award from the APA Committee on Lesbian and Gay Concerns.
Herek writes an occasional blog, BeyondHomophobia.com.
Homophobia
Homophobia is a term used to refer to a range of negative attitudes and feelings towards lesbian, gay and in some cases bisexual, transgender people and behavior, although these are usually covered under other terms such as biphobia and transphobia. Definitions refer to irrational fear, with the...
to describe this phenomenon. Herek argued that using the term homophobia incorrectly assumes that negative responses to lesbian, gay, and bisexual people are founded in pathological, irrational fear (a phobia
Phobia
A phobia is a type of anxiety disorder, usually defined as a persistent fear of an object or situation in which the sufferer commits to great lengths in avoiding, typically disproportional to the actual danger posed, often being recognized as irrational...
), whereas psychological research indicates they are more accurately regarded as a form of prejudice
Prejudice
Prejudice is making a judgment or assumption about someone or something before having enough knowledge to be able to do so with guaranteed accuracy, or "judging a book by its cover"...
. Herek is an openly and prominent gay psychologist.
Biography
Herek was born in 1954, the youngest of four children. He briefly attended the University of Nebraska at OmahaUniversity of Nebraska at Omaha
The University of Nebraska at Omaha is a four-year state university located in Omaha, Nebraska, USA. Founded in 1908 as Omaha University, the institution became the public Municipal University of Omaha in 1931. It assumed its current name in 1968 following a merger into the University...
, but dropped out to devote himself to political activism. He later received his B.A. degree from the University of Nebraska at Omaha, and his M.A. and Ph.D. from the University of California, Davis
University of California, Davis
The University of California, Davis is a public teaching and research university established in 1905 and located in Davis, California, USA. Spanning over , the campus is the largest within the University of California system and third largest by enrollment...
. He completed a post-doctoral fellowship at Yale University
Yale University
Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
, followed by a year of teaching at Yale. He then joined the faculty at the City University of New York Graduate Center. In 1989, he returned to UC Davis, first as a research psychologist and then, since 1999, as a tenured professor.
Career
Two principal foci of his original empirical research program are societal stigma based on sexual orientation and the social psychology of heterosexuals’ attitudes towards lesbians, gay men, and bisexuals. He has published at least 108 papers and chapters in scholarly journals and books, most of them related to sexual orientation, HIV/AIDS, or attitudes and prejudice. He also has edited or coedited five books and two special issues of academic journals on these topics, and he has made more than 85 presentations at professional conferences and meetings. He has received numerous federal and state grants for his research with combined budgets totaling more than $5 million. Over the 25 years, he has reviewed manuscripts on topics related to sexual orientation for a large number of scientific and professional journals spanning a variety of disciplines, including psychology, sociology, political science, sexuality studies, gender studies, and public health. He currently serves on the editorial boards of nine professional journals and he is frequently invited to serve as an ad hoc peer reviewer for others. He is also the Executive Editor Emeritus of Contemporary Perspectives on Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Psychology, a book series dedicated to scientific and professional works on sexual orientation and related topics, which is published by the American Psychological Association. He reviewed book proposals and edited manuscripts that addressed research on a variety of topics related to sexuality and sexual orientation. As a member of a peer review panel for the National Institute of Mental Health from 1992 to 1995, and as an ad hoc reviewer for NIMH and the National Science Foundation on multiple occasions since then, he has reviewed proposals requesting federal funding for projects addressing an array of research questions related to sexuality. From 1995 to 2007, he served as chairperson of the Scientific Review Committee of the American Psychological Foundation’s Wayne F. Placek Award competition, which funded empirical research in the behavioral and social sciences related to sexual minorities and sexual orientation. He oversaw the review of more than 200 research proposals from a large number of academic disciplines. At UC Davis, he regularly teach an upper-division undergraduate course on sexual orientation and has also taught graduate seminars on this and related topics.Herek was an early advocate for scientific research on hate crimes based on sexual orientation, testifying in 1986 on behalf of the American Psychological Association
American Psychological Association
The American Psychological Association is the largest scientific and professional organization of psychologists in the United States. It is the world's largest association of psychologists with around 154,000 members including scientists, educators, clinicians, consultants and students. The APA...
(APA) for the House Criminal Justice Subcommittee's hearings on anti-gay violence.
In 1993 he testified before the House Armed Services Committee
United States House Committee on Armed Services
thumb|United States House Committee on Armed Services emblemThe U.S. House Committee on Armed Services, commonly known as the House Armed Services Committee, is a standing committee of the United States House of Representatives...
on behalf of the American Psychological Association
American Psychological Association
The American Psychological Association is the largest scientific and professional organization of psychologists in the United States. It is the world's largest association of psychologists with around 154,000 members including scientists, educators, clinicians, consultants and students. The APA...
, American Psychiatric Association
American Psychiatric Association
The American Psychiatric Association is the main professional organization of psychiatrists and trainee psychiatrists in the United States, and the most influential worldwide. Its some 38,000 members are mainly American but some are international...
, the National Association of Social Workers
National Association of Social Workers
The National Association of Social Workers is a professional organization of social workers in the United States. It had over 150,000 members as of January 2008 and provides guidance, research, up to date information, advocacy, and other resources for its members and for social workers in general...
, the American Counseling Association
American Counseling Association
The American Counseling Association is a professional organization of counselors in the United States. It is the world's largest association exclusively representing professional counselors....
, the American Nursing Association, and the Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States
Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States
The Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States is a lobbying organization and advocacy group dedicated to sex and sexuality education, sexual health, and sexual rights...
. Herek summarized the results of an extensive review of the relevant published research from the social and behavioral sciences that the research data show that there is nothing about lesbians and gay men that makes them inherently unfit for military service, and there is nothing about heterosexuals that makes them inherently unable to work and live with gay people in close quarters. He concluded that heterosexual personnel can overcome their prejudices and adapt to living and working in close quarters with lesbians and gay men and that lesbians and gay men are not inherently less capable of military service than are heterosexual women and men. "The assumption that heterosexuals cannot overcome their prejudices toward gay people is a mistaken one," said Herek.
In the 1990s, he conducted the first federally funded scientific study to compare gay and lesbian hate crime victims with gay men and lesbians who were victimized in crimes of comparable severity that were not related to their sexual orientation. He found that hate crime survivors had significantly higher levels of depression, anxiety, and stress, compared to the other crime victims. In recognition of this work, Herek was invited to participate in President Clinton's 1997 White House Conference on Hate Crimes, the only behavioral science researcher to be included among the invitees.
Herek's research on antigay employment discrimination was cited in 2007 congressional testimony on the Employment Non-Discrimination Act
Employment Non-Discrimination Act
The Employment Non-Discrimination Act is a proposed bill in the United States Congress that would prohibit discrimination against employees on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity by civilian, nonreligious employers with at least 15 employees.ENDA has been introduced in every...
(ENDA). His policy paper reviewing social science research relevant to the debate surrounding legal recognition of same-sex couples was cited by the Chief Justice of the New Jersey Supreme Court
New Jersey Supreme Court
The New Jersey Supreme Court is the highest court in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It has existed in three different forms under the three different state constitutions since the independence of the state in 1776...
in her 2006 written opinion in Lewis v. Harris
Lewis v. Harris
Lewis v. Harris, 188 N.J. 415; 908 A.2d 196 , is a New Jersey Supreme Court case that held that same-sex couples are entitled to the same equal protection as heterosexual couples under the state constitution....
(ruling on the constitutionality of New Jersey’s marriage law). In 1993, he testified on behalf of the APA, the American Psychiatric Association
American Psychiatric Association
The American Psychiatric Association is the main professional organization of psychiatrists and trainee psychiatrists in the United States, and the most influential worldwide. Its some 38,000 members are mainly American but some are international...
, and four other national professional associations for the House Armed Services Committee's hearings on gays and the U.S. military. He also assisted the APA in preparing amicus briefs in precedent-setting gay rights cases, such as Romer v. Evans
Romer v. Evans
Romer v. Evans, 517 U.S. 620 , is a landmark United States Supreme Court case dealing with civil rights and state laws. It was the first Supreme Court case to deal with LGBT rights since Bowers v...
and Lawrence v. Texas
Lawrence v. Texas
Lawrence v. Texas, 539 U.S. 558 , is a landmark United States Supreme Court case. In the 6-3 ruling, the Court struck down the sodomy law in Texas and, by proxy, invalidated sodomy laws in the thirteen other states where they remained in existence, thereby making same-sex sexual activity legal in...
, and state court cases challenging current marriage laws. He testified in Perry v. Schwarzenegger
Perry v. Schwarzenegger
Perry v. Schwarzenegger is a federal lawsuit filed in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California challenging the federal constitutionality of Proposition 8, a 2008 ballot initiative that amended the California Constitution to restrict marriage to opposite-sex couples,...
trial. Herek has also conducted research documenting the prevalence of stigma directed at people with HIV/AIDS in the United States, which has been widely cited by public health experts and legal advocates
Herek is a Fellow of the American Psychological Association
American Psychological Association
The American Psychological Association is the largest scientific and professional organization of psychologists in the United States. It is the world's largest association of psychologists with around 154,000 members including scientists, educators, clinicians, consultants and students. The APA...
(APA) and the Association for Psychological Science
Association for Psychological Science
The Association for Psychological Science , previously the American Psychological Society, is a non-profit international organization whose mission is to promote, protect, and advance the interests of scientifically oriented psychology in research, application, teaching, and the improvement of...
(APS).
He was the recipient of the 2006 Kurt Lewin Memorial Award for "outstanding contributions to the development and integration of psychological research and social action," presented by the Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues (APA Division 9).
In 1996, he received the APA Early Career Award for Contribution to Psychology in the Public Interest. His other honors include the 1999 and 1989 awards for Distinguished Scientific Contributions from APA Division 44, and the 1992 Outstanding Achievement Award from the APA Committee on Lesbian and Gay Concerns.
Herek writes an occasional blog, BeyondHomophobia.com.
Selected works
- Out in Force (1992) ISBN 0-8039-4542-6
- Hate Crimes (1992) ISBN 0-8039-4542-6
- Stigma and Sexual Orientation (1998) ISBN 0803953844
- Basic and Applied Social Psychology (consulting editor)
- The Journal of Sex Research (consulting editor)
- Journal of HomosexualityJournal of HomosexualityThe Journal of Homosexuality is a peer-reviewed academic journal This forum for research into same-sex desire examines sexual practices and gender roles in their cultural, historical, interpersonal, and modern social contexts. In the fall of 2005, the Journal celebrated its 50th volume.- History...
(consulting editor) - Psychology of Men & Masculinity (consulting editor)