Douglas Sadownick, PhD
Core Faculty and Director of LGBT Specialization in Clinical Psychology, MA in Psychology
Biography
Since he first came out in the Bronx, Douglas Sadownick’s life and career has been focused on a successive development of gay liberation ideas. The AIDS epidemic encouraged him to dedicate his life to gay activism. In 1989, Sadownick helped co-found Highways Performance Space in Santa Monica, a venue for gay, lesbian, alternative and community-based performance and visual art, where he has curated and performed in several events, serving on its board of directors for five years and as co-chair for three years. Sadownick has also worked as an award-winning journalist for more than two decades and is the award-winning author of two books, Sacred Lips of the Bronx (St. Martins, 1994) and Sex Between Men: An Intimate History of the Sex Lives of Gay Men, postwar to present (Harper San Francisco, 1996).
Sadownick’s activism took a decisive turn to introverted orientation when he embarked on a long-term gay-centered psychoanalytic process starting in 1989. He has been working since then to advance a vision of gay liberation within psychological terms. He has been an active member of the Antioch University teaching community for many years, which has supported the union of social justice with gay psychological development. First as an Associate, and now as a Core Faculty member, he has developed and helped found the country’s first Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Specialization (LGBT) in the Master’s of Arts in Clinical Psychology at Antioch University Los Angeles, serving as the program concentration’s director. Dr. Sadownick’s doctoral dissertation provided a gay-centered reading of 19th century German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche’s Thus Spoke Zarathustra. He is a private practice gay-affirmative Marriage and Family Therapist in Hollywood, California.
