About Dr. Herek

Gregory Herek, Ph.D., is a Professor Emeritus of Psychology at the University of California at Davis. Until his retirement in 2016, he regularly taught graduate and undergraduate courses on prejudice, sexual orientation, and survey research methodology.

He has published more than 115 scholarly papers on prejudice against lesbian, gay, and bisexual people; public attitudes toward transgender people; violence and hate crimes based on sexual orientation; HIV/AIDS stigma; and related topics.

A Fellow of the American Psychological Association (APA) and the Association for Psychological Science, he is a past recipient of the APA Award for Distinguished Contributions to Psychology in the Public Interest. His many other professional honors include the 2006 Kurt Lewin Memorial Award, presented by the Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues for “outstanding contributions to the development and integration of psychological research and social action.”

He has testified before Congress on antigay violence (1986) and on military personnel policy (1993), and has assisted in preparing numerous APA amicus briefs for court cases related to sexual orientation. Some of the more prominent cases were Lawrence v. Texas (2003), in which the Supreme Court ruled that state sodomy laws are unconstitutional, United States v. Windsor (2013), in which the Court struck down a key section of the federal Defense of Marriage Act, and Obergefell v. Hodges (2015), which resulted in the Court’s ruling that same-sex couples have a Constitutional right to marry.

He has also provided expert testimony and expert declarations about sexual orientation and sexual stigma in many court cases and legal proceedings, including Perry v. Schwarzenegger, the historic federal case that overturned Proposition 8, California’s voter-enacted constitutional amendment that prohibited same-sex couples from marrying.