In the talks I give around the country, audiences often ask me about what being gay or straight really is. Most people believe that if you engage in—or even think about—certain homosexual sex acts, then that reveals your basic sexual orientation of being gay. Interestingly, the opposite is not true. If a gay or lesbian person [...]

COMMUNITY VIEWS WHATEVER FORM IT TAKES, INTOLERANCE HURTS JOE KORT SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS Anti-Semitism. Being Jewish, I knew of the concept growing up but never actually suffered from direct acts of it. I knew epithets like "Jew boy, "kike," and "Jew them down" existed but never had any of these words or phrases directed [...]

Joe Kort offers new workshop to help gay men integrate love, sex and intimacy—he calls it erotic intelligence. >>Click here to register for the workshop “You know how you say you can tell a lot about a person by knowing their friends,” asked popular psychotherapist and author Joe Kort. “Well, if you know a lot about [...]

Can't We All Just Get Along? It’s said that a prophet is without honor in his own country. We gays and lesbians don’t have our own nation, let alone recognized “prophets” in our communities. As a group—leaders, organizations and businesses— we dishonor each other. I hear gays and lesbians say things [...]

Creating Gay Childhood Heroes When I was in middle school, I fell in love with a singing trio that protected me for the rest of my school years. Nowadays, I have to wonder how Tony Orlando and Dawn (TOAD) became such a strong interest of mine and why I was [...]

An Open Letter to my 6th Grade Gym Teacher This is an open letter to my sixth-grade gym teacher, which I mailed on Sept. 3. I believe as gays and lesbians we should confront — when we can and when it is safe — those who harmed us for being different [...]

Are You Getting The Love You Want? Have you just begun a relationship that you want to keep? Want to resolve longstanding conflicts with your partner? Want to decide if your relationship can be saved? Want to make a good relationship even better? During the weekend of April 15–17, 2005 I am [...]

article appears in "In the Family Magazine" Summer Issue 2002. In the Family Magazine is a mental health magazine for Gays, Lesbians, Bisexuals and Transgender people and their loved ones. In 1978, when I was 15 years old, there were no gay role models. I remember going to a local bookstore and seeing pornographic magazines on [...]

Local therapist says reliving childhood can be empowering. By Jason Michael One of my most vivid childhood memories is of riding in the backseat of our family car, on the way to the circus - and crying. I was crying because I realized that our little circus outing was causing me to miss the "Sonny and [...]

Originally published in “In the Family” magazine Fall, 2003 Q: I've heard therapists say that a male adult who sexually abuses a boy isn't necessarily ‘homosexual.' This seems confusing: If he isn't homosexual, then why would he sexually molest boys, instead of girls? This is a very good question, and there are several ways to respond [...]