Richard Colestock Pillard (born 11 October 1933) is a professor of

psychiatry Psychiatry is the medical specialty devoted to the diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of mental disorders. These include various maladaptations related to mood, behaviour, cognition, and perceptions. See glossary of psychiatry. Initial p ...

at the

Boston University Boston University (BU) is a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. The university is nonsectarian, but has a historical affiliation with the United Methodist Church. It was founded in 1839 by Methodists with its original c ...

School of Medicine. He was the first openly gay psychiatrist in the United States.Mass L (1990). Homophobia on the couch: A conversation with Richard Pillard, first openly gay psychiatrist in the United States. in ''Homosexuality and Sexuality: Dialogues of the Sexual Revolution—Volume I (Gay & Lesbian Studies)''. Haworth Press,

Early life and family

Pillard was born in

Springfield, Ohio Springfield is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Clark County. The municipality is located in southwestern Ohio and is situated on the Mad River, Buck Creek, and Beaver Creek, approximately west of Columbus and northe ...

. He briefly attended

Swarthmore College Swarthmore College ( , ) is a private liberal arts college in Swarthmore, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1864, with its first classes held in 1869, Swarthmore is one of the earliest coeducational colleges in the United States. It was established as ...

before transferring to

Antioch College Antioch College is a private liberal arts college in Yellow Springs, Ohio. Founded in 1850 by the Christian Connection, the college began operating in 1852 as a non-sectarian institution; politician and education reformer Horace Mann was i ...

, where his father Basil H. Pillard was an English Professor.Judson Jerome (Mar., 1958). Departure: Basil Pillard, 1895-1957. ''College English'', Vol. 19, No. 6, Poetry and Professors Issue , p. 240 Pillard received his

B.A. Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four ye ...

from Antioch.Paul E. Lynch (2003). An Interview with Richard C. Pillard, MD. ''Journal of Gay & Lesbian Psychotherapy'' Volume: 7 Issue: 4 He then earned his

M.D. Doctor of Medicine (abbreviated M.D., from the Latin ''Medicinae Doctor'') is a medical degree, the meaning of which varies between different jurisdictions. In the United States, and some other countries, the M.D. denotes a professional degree. T ...

from

University of Rochester The University of Rochester (U of R, UR, or U of Rochester) is a private university, private research university in Rochester, New York. The university grants Undergraduate education, undergraduate and graduate degrees, including Doctorate, do ...

, with his internship at

Boston City Hospital The Boston City Hospital (1864–1996), in Boston, Massachusetts, was a public hospital, located in the South End. It was "intended for the use and comfort of poor patients, to whom medical care will be provided at the expense of the city, and . ...

. Pillard married Vassar graduate Cornelia Livingston Cromwell in 1958, while he was in medical school. They later divorced when he was in his thirties, and Pillard now identifies as gay. He has three daughters. The oldest daughter, Victoria (Vicky) Pillard, is a pediatrician practicing in Holyoke, Massachusetts. His second daughter, Cornelia T. L. (Nina) Pillard, is a circuit judge for the

United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit The United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit (in case citations, D.C. Cir.) is one of the thirteen United States Courts of Appeals. It has the smallest geographical jurisdiction of any of the U.S. federal appellate cou ...

, and formerly a

Georgetown University Law Center The Georgetown University Law Center (Georgetown Law) is the law school of Georgetown University, a private research university in Washington, D.C. It was established in 1870 and is the largest law school in the United States by enrollment a ...

professor and assistant to Attorney General

Janet Reno Janet Wood Reno (July 21, 1938 – November 7, 2016) was an American lawyer who served as the 78th United States attorney general. She held the position from 1993 to 2001, making her the second-longest serving attorney general, behind only Wi ...

. His youngest daughter, Elizabeth Jane (Eliza) Pillard, is a social worker specializing in child psychiatric issues in Vermont. Chandler Burr reported that Pillard jokes "he is uniquely equipped to investigate whether homosexuality has a biological basis: he, his brother, and his sister are gay, and Pillard believes that his father may have been gay. One of Pillard's three daughters from a marriage early in life is bisexual. This family history seems to invite a biological explanation, and it made Pillard start thinking about the origins of sexual orientation."Burr, Chandler (June 1997)
Homosexuality and biology.
''The Atlantic Monthly''

Heritability of sexual orientation

He and biologist James D. Weinrich co-authored a paper which found that

homosexuality Homosexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or sexual behavior between members of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality is "an enduring pattern of emotional, romantic, and/or sexual attractions" to pe ...

runs in some families.Talan, Jamie (August 19, 1986). Of Gays And Gay Siblings. ''

Newsday ''Newsday'' is an American daily newspaper that primarily serves Nassau and Suffolk counties on Long Island, although it is also sold throughout the New York metropolitan area. The slogan of the newspaper is "Newsday, Your Eye on LI", and ...

'' Pillard feels this is some of his most significant work, and that paper won the

Society for the Scientific Study of Sexuality The Society for the Scientific Study of Sexuality (SSSS, or "quad-S") is a 501(c)3 non-profit professional membership organization "dedicated to advancing knowledge of sexuality and communicating scientifically based sexuality research and scholarsh ...

Hugo Beigel Award for the best paper published in the ''

Journal of Sex Research The ''Journal of Sex Research'' is a peer-reviewed academic journal covering the study of human sexuality and the field of sexology in general. It is published by Routledge on behalf of the Society for the Scientific Study of Sexuality. In 1963, th ...

''. Pillard is also well known for a series of studies he coauthored with the psychologist J. Michael Bailey, which examined the rate of concordance of sexual identity among monozygotic twins,

dizygotic Twins are two offspring produced by the same pregnancy.MedicineNet > Definition of TwinLast Editorial Review: 19 June 2000 Twins can be either ''monozygotic'' ('identical'), meaning that they develop from one zygote, which splits and forms two em ...

twins of the same sex, non-twin siblings of the same sex, and adoptive siblings of the same sex. In all studies they found rates of concordance variantly consistent with the

hypothesis A hypothesis (plural hypotheses) is a proposed explanation for a phenomenon. For a hypothesis to be a scientific hypothesis, the scientific method requires that one can testable, test it. Scientists generally base scientific hypotheses on prev ...

that homosexuality has a significant genetic component. The Council for Responsible Genetics and other researchers have criticized this work for using a self-selected sample, a problem which later studies have attempted to remedy.

Publications

*Lane HL, Pillard RC, Hedberg U (2011). ''The People of the Eye: Deaf Ethnicity and Ancestry.'' Oxford University Press US, *Dawood K, Pillard RC, Horvath C, Revelle W, Bailey JM (2000). Familial aspects of male homosexuality. '' Arch Sex Behav''. 2000 Apr;29(2):155-63. *Bailey JM, Pillard RC, Dawood K, Miller MB, Farrer LA, Trivedi S, Murphy RL (1999). A family history study of male sexual orientation using three independent samples. ''

Behav Genet ''Behavior Genetics'' is a peer-reviewed scientific journal published monthly by Springer Science+Business Media that is covering "research in the inheritance of behavior". It is the official journal of the Behavior Genetics Association. The journ ...

''. 1999 Mar;29(2):79-86. *Pillard RC, Bailey JM (1998). Human sexual orientation has a heritable component. ''

Hum Biol ''Human Biology'' is a peer reviewed scientific journal, currently published by Wayne State University Press. The journal was established in 1929 by Raymond Pearl and is the official publication of the American Association of Anthropological Geneti ...

''. 1998 Apr;70(2):347-65. *Pillard RC, Bailey JM (1995). A biologic perspective on sexual orientation. ''

Psychiatr Clin North Am ''Psychiatric Clinics of North America'' is a quarterly peer-reviewed medical journal covering psychiatry and patient management. It was established in 1978 and is published by Elsevier. The current editor of the journal is Harsh Trivedi. Publish ...

''. 1995 Mar;18(1):71-84. *Snyder PJ, Weinrich JD, Pillard RC (1994). Personality and lipid level differences associated with homosexual and bisexual identity in men. '' Arch Sex Behav''. 1994 Aug;23(4):433-51. *Pillard RC, Rosen LR, Meyer-Bahlburg H, Weinrich JD, Feldman JF, Gruen R, Ehrhardt AA (1993). Psychopathology and social functioning in men prenatally exposed to diethylstilbestrol (DES). ''

Psychosom Med ''Psychosomatic Medicine'' is a peer-reviewed medical journal published nine times per year by the American Psychosomatic Society. It covers all aspects of psychosomatic medicine.About ''Psychosomatic Medicine'' http://www.psychosomaticmedicine.o ...

''. 1993 Nov-Dec;55(6):485-91. *Bailey JM, Pillard RC, Neale MC, Agyei Y (1993). Heritable factors influence sexual orientation in women. ''

Arch Gen Psychiatry ''JAMA Psychiatry'' (until 2013: ''Archives of General Psychiatry'') is a monthly peer-reviewed medical journal published by the American Medical Association. It covers research in psychiatry, mental health, behavioral sciences, and related fields. ...

''. 1993 Mar;50(3):217-23. *Weinrich JD, Snyder PJ, Pillard RC, Grant I, Jacobson DL, Robinson SR, McCutchan JA (1993). A factor analysis of the Klein sexual orientation grid in two disparate samples. '' Arch Sex Behav''. 1993 Apr;22(2):157-68. *Bailey JM, Pillard RC (1991). A genetic study of male sexual orientation. ''

''. 1991 Dec;48(12):1089-96. *Tuttle GE, Pillard RC (1991). Sexual orientation and cognitive abilities. '' Arch Sex Behav''. 1991 Jun;20(3):307-18. *Pillard RC, Weinrich JD (1986). Evidence of familial nature of male homosexuality. ''

''. 1986 Aug;43(8):808-12. *Pillard RC, Poumadere J, Carretta RA (1982). A family study of sexual orientation. '' Arch Sex Behav''. 1982 Dec;11(6):511-20. *Pillard RC, Poumadere J, Carretta RA (1981). Is homosexuality familial? A review, some data, and a suggestion. '' Arch Sex Behav''. 1981 Oct;10(5):465-75. *Lane HL, Pillard RC (1978). ''The Wild Boy of Burundi: a study of an outcast child.'' Random House, *Pillard RC, Fisher S (1975). Chlordiazepoxide and phenobarbital in a model anxiety-inducing situation. '' Compr Psychiatry''. 1975 Jan-Feb;16(1):97-101. *Pillard RC, McNair DM, Fisher S (1974). Does marijuana enhance experimentally induced anxiety? ''

Psychopharmacologia ''Psychopharmacology'' is an international, peer-reviewed scientific journal covering the field of psychopharmacology. It is the official journal of the European Behavioural Pharmacology Society and is published by Springer Science+Business Media. ...

''. 1974;40(3):205-10. *Pillard RC, Rose RM, Sherwood M (1974). Plasma testosterone levels in homosexual men. '' Arch Sex Behav.'' 1974 Sep;3(5):453-8. *Pillard RC (1973). Shall we allow heroin maintenance? ''

N Engl J Med ''The New England Journal of Medicine'' (''NEJM'') is a weekly medical journal published by the Massachusetts Medical Society. It is among the most prestigious peer-reviewed medical journals as well as the oldest continuously published one. Hist ...

''. 1973 Mar 29;288(13):682-3. *Pillard RC (1971). Authors and editors: mutual responsibility. '' Am J Psychiatry''. 1971 Apr;127(10):1420-1. *Meyer RE, Pillard RC, Shapiro LM, Mirin SM (1971). Administration of marijuana to heavy and casual marijuana users. '' Am J Psychiatry''. 1971 Aug;128(2):198-204. *Mirin SM, Shapiro LM, Meyer RE, Pillard RC, Fisher S (1971). Casual versus heavy use of marijuana: a redefinition of the marijuana problem. '' Am J Psychiatry''. 1971 Mar;127(9):1134-40. *Pillard RC (1970). Marihuana. ''

''. 1970 Aug 6;283(6):294-303. Review. *Pillard RC, Fisher S (1970). Aspects of anxiety in dental clinic patients. ''

J Am Dent Assoc The ''Journal of the American Dental Association'' is a monthly peer-reviewed medical journal on dentistry published by the American Dental Association. It is freely available to the public after a one-year embargo. The journal was first published ...

''. 1970 Jun;80(6):1331-4. *Pillard RC, Fisher S (1967).Effects of chlordiazepoxide and secobarbital on film-induced anxiety. ''

''. 1967;12(1):18-23. *McNair DM, Droppleman LF, Pillard RC (1967). Differential sensitivity of two palmar sweat measures. ''

Psychophysiology Psychophysiology (from Greek , ''psȳkhē'', "breath, life, soul"; , ''physis'', "nature, origin"; and , ''-logia'') is the branch of psychology that is concerned with the physiological bases of psychological processes. While psychophysiology was ...

''. 1967 Jan;3(3):280-4. *Globus GG, Pillard RC (1966). Tausk's Influencing Machine and Kafka's In the Penal Colony. '' Am Imago''. 1966 Fall;23(3):191-207.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pillard, Richard 1933 births American psychiatrists American sexologists Antioch College alumni Boston University faculty Living people Swarthmore College alumni Psychiatry writers on LGBT topics University of Rochester alumni