Richard A. Isay (December 13, 1934 – June 28, 2012) was an American psychiatrist, psychoanalyst, author and gay activist.
He was a professor of psychiatry at Weill Cornell Medical College and a faculty member of the Columbia University Center for Psychoanalytic Training and Research.
In an autobiographical chapter of his book, Becoming Gay: The Journey to Self-Acceptance,[6] Isay tells the story of how he spent ten years trying to change his homosexual orientation.
He began to write about homosexuality shortly after meeting his life partner and future husband, Gordon Harrell, in 1979.
In Becoming Gay, Isay recounts that with the help of the American Civil Liberties Union, he threatened to sue the APsaA, due to their discriminatory policies.
As a result, on May 9, 1991, the APsaA adopted a non-discrimination policy for the training of analytic candidates and changed its position statement on homosexuality.
[13] On November 12, 2011, Isay received the highly prestigious Hans W. Loewald award, from the International Forum on Psychoanalytic Education.
[16][17] Since 2014, the "Gay Grave Tour", as it is now called, has become part of Green-Wood Cemetery's annual summer program.