Interviews
Sexual Orientation as a Youth
In terms of my sexual orientation, I don't think I realized it until I was in college. And when I looked back, I realized that some of the feelings that I had were related to me being lesbian. But I didn't know that when I was growing up because these were things that weren't really talked about in the sixties and seventies, early seventies when I was growing up.
Remember, until 1973, um same-sex sexual attraction was considered an abnormal in the abnormal psychological condition. It was considered an abnormality by the American Psychological Association, the Diagnostic and Statistic Manual, until DSM 3 in 1973. So that's when I was a senior in high school. So you could see why people didn't talk about these things.
But I really wasn't focused on that because—but I was dating boys—and but when I look back on it, I realize, you know, I would much have preferred spending time with my my friends, my girlfriends and so my friends that were girls.
And so when I look back on it, I realize that it was when in college, when I played basketball and there were, you know, athletes around me that were lesbian, I realized that this was this is why I have had felt the way I had. So, yeah, it was a little bit a different era in the sixties and seventies.
Date: July 14, 2022
Location: California, US
Interviewer: Lana Kobayashi
Contributed by: Watase Media Arts Center, Japanese American National Museum; Japanese American Bar Association
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