Coming Out, Coming Home

Michael C. LaSala, PhD, is a nationally and internationally renowned expert on gay and lesbian youth and their families. He is currently the director of the MSW program and an associate professor at the School of Social Work at Rutgers University. His research interests are the couple and family relationships of gay men and lesbians, and his current work examines the role of gay and lesbian family relationships in coping with stigma and also parental influence on gay youth’s safe sex behaviors. Dr. LaSala’s published book, entitled: Coming out, coming home: Helping families adjust to a gay or lesbian child (Columbia University Press), describes the findings and practice implications of a National Institute of Mental Health–funded qualitative study of 65 gay and lesbian youth and their families. Other examples of Dr. LaSala’s work can be found in Social Work, Family Process, Journal of Marital and Family Therapy, Families in Society, Journal of GLBT Family Studies, and Journal of Lesbian and Gay Social Services. Dr. LaSala completed a Fulbright Fellowship during which he taught family therapy courses at Tallinn University in Estonia and where he also investigated the impacts of stigma on Estonian lesbians and gay men. He has been keynote speaker at national and international family therapy conferences and is also the author of a blog for Psychology Today entitled: Gay and Lesbian Well-Being. Dr. LaSala has practiced clinical social work for 30 years, is committed to practice-informed research, and continues to practice part-time as a licensed clinical social worker at the Institute for Personal Growth in Highland Park, New Jersey. Dr. LaSala can be reached at mlasala@ssw.rutgers.edu