David B. Goodstein (June 6, 1932 – June 22, 1985) was the publisher ofThe Advocate and an influential spokesperson on behalf ofLGBT people and causes.[1]
Goodstein was born inDenver, Colorado in 1932. He graduated fromCornell University in 1954, spent two years in theUnited States Army, and went on to earn anLL.B. fromColumbia Law School. After practicing criminal law inNew York City briefly, he became aWall 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 theGrand Street Settlement and United Settlement Houses of New York. He was also an amateur horseman, owner and exhibitor ofAmerican Saddlebred horses, and avid art collector.
Goodstein moved toCalifornia in 1971 to work for a bank, but was fired once a bank executive learned that Goodstein wasgay. He became active in politics and thegay rights movement, going public with his sexuality. He was instrumental in the passage of theConsenting Adult Sex Bill, helped found theGay Rights National Lobby in 1976, and co-foundedConcerned Voters of California to help defeat the effort to ban LGBT teachers from public schools in 1978. Goodstein founded and chaired theWhitman-Radclyffe Foundation for LGBT individuals dealing with drug abuse and also built a national network of gay political fundraisers. He became the first openly gay appointee by GovernorJerry Brown after joining his Advisory Council on Economic Development. He also served on the National Democratic Finance Council, California State Democratic Central Committee, andHunger 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 historianRobert O. Self, Goodstein was among activists attacked as "a small cabal of elitists" by others 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 purchasedThe Advocate, growing it to be the most widely circulated and influential gay news magazine in the country. He was owner and president ofLiberation Publications, which ownedThe 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 theHuman Sexuality Collection atCornell University Library, one of the most important research collections of its kind. Goodstein was portrayed byHoward Rosenman in the 2008 filmMilk aboutHarvey Milk.
Goodstein died at age 53 atSharp 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]
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