On getting "help" to deal with their problem, lesbianism.

I went to a psychiatrist. I decided this was not any kind of life. It was obviously unacceptable. If a person had ambition, they were not going to get anyplace with this lifestyle. The psychiatrist said, "What did you plan to do instead?" I said, "Well, there aren't too many options, are there? You can be celibate or you can be married."
She had a brief kissing affair with another girl and they got caught. By the time I got there, they wouldn't let me near her.… She was forced into counseling and not allowed to be alone with any other females.
I found myself a therapist who was a lesbian and feminist who really helped me understand what was going on.… once I got beyond the stage of thinking I was sick. I believed what I had been told, that if you're a homosexual, you are mentally ill. But I had no evidence of my mental illness, and once I got to that point where I realized that it wasn't true, that what I was was me, and that it was right, and from my first sexual experience I felt like this is what I am supposed to be. This is what's been missing in my life. I felt whole.
I went into therapy with a psychiatrist and told him about my feeling about women and he said, "So? So why don't you live your life and enjoy it? Go find a good woman."…I'd also gone to an analyst… thinking I was sick because the American Psychiatric Association called homosexuality sick at that time.
My brother said he knew a psychologist and if I ever needed help along those lines, to just call. What the hell do you think? Just because I'm lesbian that I'm going to have psychological problems!
I just said, "What do you want me to do?" And the doctor said, "Well, you have the body of a woman, so we can get you changed around."

I started psychoanalysis… I went in to become heterosexual and never again be involved with a woman. I came out a feminist and a lesbian.
The therapists whole focus was to help me "resolve" my lesbianism by becoming more heterosexual, which, for me, meant I had to learn to keep my secret better.… Lesbianism was, indeed, looked upon by therapists as deviant behavior and, by doctors, as a disease.
…"Do you know why you are here?" I looked straight at him and said, "because I'm a lesbian." This was in 1954, and I don't think I'd ever used that word really that strongly about me. [It] was a declaration. That was like, "Leave me alone. This is who I am and don't fuss with me."… I was there about 30 days and I met with a psychiatrist off and on.… In the end, when he said I was going to be going home, he said something like, "You've chosen a very difficult lifestyle, and If you ever want to come back and talk, you're certainly welcome."… I was very lucky. I know of people who have gone through shock treatments and things like that.