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Q&A | One gutsy psychiatrist has spoken out about homosexuality, but social and professional pressure has silenced others | Marvin Olasky

James Allen Walker for WORLD

Over the years I've interviewed extraordinary individuals ranging from Newt Gingrich to Michael Jordan, but none matches Jeffrey Satinover in his range of intellectual attainments. Satinover was a National Merit Scholar as an MIT undergraduate and subsequently attained master's degrees at Harvard and Yale and a medical degree at the University of Texas. He practiced as a psychoanalyst and psychiatrist from 1976 to 2003. Last year, at age 61, he received a degree in physics (summa cum laude) from the University of Nice in France.

But Satinover also has an unusual attribute among intellectuals: courage. In 1996 he came out with Homosexuality and the Politics of Truth, which argued against the contemporary theory that homosexuality is innate and, in a sense, predestined. It's probably the best book on the subject, and it brought vicious attacks from the gay lobby. Even the Amazon.com website includes 70 customer reviews, with 33 readers giving it a five-star highest rating, 25 giving it a one-star lowest rating, and only 12 in the middle.