David B. Goodstein

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For the American physicist and educator, see David Goodstein.

David B. Goodstein (June 6, 1932 – June 22, 1985) was the publisher of

The Advocate and an influential spokesperson on behalf of LGBT people and causes.[1]

Early life and career

Goodstein was born in

LL.B. from Columbia Law School. After practicing criminal law in New York City briefly, he became a Wall Street investment banker, co-founding Compufund, one of the first mutual funds to use statistical analysis with computers. He became active in social causes, serving on the boards of the Grand Street Settlement and United Settlement Houses of New York. He was also an amateur horseman, owner and exhibitor of American Saddlebred
horses, and avid art collector.

LGBT activism

Goodstein moved to

Hunger Project
Council.

Goodstein's approach to LGBT political activism was controversial in its own time for being class-based, narrow in its goals, and exclusionary, as well as projecting "a 'respectable' bourgeois image." According to historian Robert O. Self, Goodstein was among activists attacked as "a small cabal of elitists" by other seeking LGBT rights in 1973 for allegedly grounding their politics among wealthy lesbians and gay men who were "insulated from ordinary homosexuals." He sought to limit the breadth of inclusion in a campaign for federal gay rights by seeking "to suppress 'gay spoilers'" by keeping them off broadcast media.[2]

In 1975, Goodstein purchased

Liberation Publications
, which owned The Advocate and distributed other publications. With Rob Eichberg, he also launched a series of LGBT personal growth seminars called the "Advocate Experience," which was shortened later to "The Experience."

Goodstein worked to establish the Human Sexuality Collection at Cornell University Library, one of the most important research collections of its kind. Goodstein was portrayed by Howard Rosenman in the 2008 film Milk about Harvey Milk.

Goodstein died at age 53 at Sharp Memorial Hospital, San Diego in 1985 from complications related to bowel cancer. He was named one of the "100 Most Notable Cornellians" in 2003.[3]

References

  1. New York, New York
    . 1985-06-26. Retrieved 2016-08-04.
  2. OCLC 768728945.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link
    )
  3. ISBN 0-8014-3958-2
    .
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