Interview with Del Newbigging

Interview with Del Newbigging

oral history, relationships, psychiatry

In this oral history interview, Del Newbigging, 50 years old, discusses his experience with psychiatric therapy, marriage counselling, and sex therapy, as well as his constant thought of committing suicide before coming to terms with his sexuality and breaking up his marriage. He recounts how seeing doctors and therapists was instrumental in accepting his homosexuality and in his coming out. The interview covers Del’s growing up gay in an oppressive Southern Ontario small town, his early homosexual experiences, his thirteen-years-long marriage, his job as an art high school teacher, his then five-year-long relationship, his lack of interest in the gay bar culture, and his good relationship with his son and daughter. Del also narrates his life as a gay father and his participation in associations such as Gay Fathers Organization and in the “gay society.” He claims to cherish the friendliness, openness, and warmth of the gay community.

Foolscap Oral History Project

1984-11-11

John Grube

CLGA

PDF, WAV

English

Sound, text

2016-034

Toronto 1960s, 1970s, 1980s