Two Short Stories: Danny in Transit & Columbia

While both stories were published in 1991, Jacquelyn Holt Park's "Columbia" is set in the summer of 1956, a time when homosexuality was still classified as psychiatric disorder by the American Psychiatric Association. Although this classification was discontinued in 1973, Park demonstrates how little social progress has been achieved by withholding the date of her story until the final sentence; "Columbia" could easily have taken place in present-day New

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dentity (p. 90). Behavior, in her definition, is less important that unexpressed erotic response. Identity becomes defined through behavior, and an individual may choose (or attempt to choose) behavior which contradicts more fundamental impulses. Yet the individual who attempts such denial risks an extraordinary degree of conflict and stress. Allen provides an intriguing example of this. Despite his homosexual orientation, he tried to make himself heterosexual. He courted and married a woman, had a child with her, and spent the early years of the marriage having romantic dinners with her, playing his role convincingly. Ultimately, however, he was denying a part of himself. The strain of this pretense destroyed the trusting relationship with his wife and led him, finally, to divorce her and come out of the closet. He appears to have suffered less from his actions than did his wife and son, who were unwillingly included in his lie and forced to play roles in his fantasy life. While a therapeutic program might have effectively helped Allen to come out, it is needed even more to help his family cope with the betrayal of trust that his initial denial caused them. Hetrick and Martin (1988) note that research has shown little ov
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Some common words found in the essay are:
Beatrix Hamburg, Greenwich Village, Pauline Boss, Indeed Allen, Sexual Orientation, Developmental Origins, Hetrick Martin, Psychiatric Association, Danny Transit, Hetrick Damien, sexual orientation, homosexual identity, hamburg 1974, danny transit, reiter 1989, homosexual orientation, antihomosexual prejudice, 1989 developmental origins, social worker, 1989 developmental, martin 1984, hetrick martin 1988, minton mcdonald 1985, homosexual identity formation, clinical social journal,
Approximate Word count = 2741
Approximate Pages = 11 (250 words per page)