American psychologist, writer and activist Charles Silverstein was BOTD in 1935. Born in Brooklyn, New York City, he studied education at the State University of New York, before becoming a school teacher. In later studied clinical psychology at the City College of New York, later pursuing a doctorate at Rutgers University. He joined the Gay Activists Alliance in 1972. The following year, he provided a key testimony to the American Psychiatric Association, advocating to stop the classification of homosexuality as a mental disorder. After completing his PhD, he established a private practice as a psychologist, specialising in sexual identity. He is best known as the co-author of The Joy of Gay Sex, written with his former patient Edmund White. Inspired by the bestselling sex manual The Joy of Sex and published in 1977, it became a landmark text in the emerging gay liberation movement, educating generations of gay men on how to enjoy sex and develop intimate relationships. (A revised and updated edition was published in 1992, co-authored by Silverstein with the novelist Felice Picano). His solo publications include 1977’s A Family Matter: A Parents’ Guide to Homosexuality, written to encourage parents to accept their lesbian and gay children. He also co-founded and edited The Journal of Homosexuality, working to break down academic prejudices associated with homosexuality and combat gay conversion therapies. In 2011, he received a lifetime achievement award from the American Psychological Association for “challenging the criteria of social morality as the basis for diagnosing sexual disorders”. He died in 2023, aged 87.