Emery S. Hetrick (September 27, 1931 – February 4, 1987)[1] was an American psychiatrist and one of the founders of the Hetrick-Martin Institute (HMI), originally known as the Institute for the Protection of Lesbian and Gay Youth (IPLGY),[2] which in turn founded the Harvey Milk High School in New York City.[3]
Biography
editEmery Sylvester Hetrick as born on September 27, 1931, in Columbus, Ohio. He was born to parents Emery S. Hetrick Sr. and Alice F. Hetrick. He had an older sister, Virigina Hetrick.[4]
His partner, both personally and at the HMI, was A. Damien Martin.[1] In 2015, both were named Icons for LGBT History Month.[5] As a couple, they'd been together since 1975 and lived together on the Upper East Side of Manhattan.[6] They are buried together at Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn, with the inscription "Death ends a life, not a relationship."[7]
A 1953 graduate of Ohio State University, he went on to graduate in 1957 from the Cornell University Medical School.[1]
Hetrick was an assistant professor of clinical psychiatry at New York University Medical Center. He was also a member of the State Task Force on Gay Lesbian Issues, as appointed by Gov. Mario M. Cuomo.[8]
Hetrick had been an attending psychiatrist and supervisor at the Harlem Hospital Center and associate medical director of Pfizer's Roerig Division. He started working for them in 1979 and resigned in 1986 for health reasons.[1]
At Harlem Hospital, Hetrick had been chief of their psychiatric crisis and emergency treatment unit (1976-1979) and at Gouverneur Diagnostic and Treatment Center, from 1974 until 1976, was Acting Chief of the Psychiatry Department.[1]
He was the first psychiatrist hired by the Ackerman Institute for the Family.[9]
Hetrick died in of AIDS related respiratory failure at the age of 56.[1]
Founding of Hetrick-Martin Institute
editAfter hearing a story about a 15-year old boy being beaten and forcibly removed from his emergency housing because he was identified as gay, Hetrick and his partner Damien Martin they established the Institute for the Protection of Lesbian and Gay Youth in 1979.[10]
The Hetrick-Martin Institute is a service and advocacy institute for LGBTQ+ youth. They provide academic support, health screenings, job trainings, showers and meals.[10][11]
The institute was renamed in 1987 after Hetrick's death in his honor.[11]
Publications
editReferences
edit- ^ a b c d e f "Dr. Emery Hetrick, 56, Dies; Gave Care to Homosexuals". The New York Times. February 7, 1987. Retrieved 20 December 2022.
- ^ "Out and About: LGBTQ Life in NYC" (PDF). LaGuardia Community College. Retrieved 20 December 2022.
- ^ "Institute for the Protection of Lesbian and Gay Youth". NYC LGBT Historic Sites Project. Retrieved 20 December 2022.
- ^ "1940 United States Federal Census - Ancestry.com". www.ancestry.com. Retrieved 2024-02-03.
- ^ "Emery Hetrick & Damien Martin". LGBT history Month. Retrieved 20 December 2022.
- ^ Dullea, Georgia (10 December 1984). "HOMOSEXUAL COUPLES FIND A QUIET PRIDE". The New York Times.
- ^ "Coming of Age During the AIDS Crisis — Chapter 4". Making Gay History. Retrieved 20 December 2022.
- ^ "AIDS changes homosexuals' lives". The Salina Journal. July 28, 1985. p. 17.
- ^ Hunter, Joyce (23 July 2008). "Remembering Emery Hetrick, MD". Journal of Gay & Lesbian Mental Health. 12 (4): 421–433. doi:10.1080/19359700802197022. S2CID 216141844.
- ^ a b "HMI Commemorates 45 Years of Empowering Queer and Trans Youth" (Press release). Hetrick-Martin Institute. 11 January 2024.
- ^ a b Ocean, Justin (June 2009). "HOW TIME FLIES: NYC YOUTH CENTER HITS 30". The Advocate. No. 1027/1028. p. 22. ProQuest 2371024240.
- ^ "Media Watch Activities" (PDF). Caucus of Gay, Lesbian and Bisexual Members of the American Psychiatric Association Newsletter. Vol. 10, no. 3. Winter 1985. pp. 3–4.