Gay Courter

Courter was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to Leonard M. Weisman, an international businessman, and Elsie Spector Weisman, a social worker who studied at Carnegie Tech. She is the elder of two daughters. Her sister, Robin Madden, M.D., is a pediatrician. Her foster sister, Jennifer Chang Su, began living with the family while they were in Taiwan in 1952, and she has remained a close family member.

Courter attended schools in Taiwan and Japan, and was homeschooled by her mother during their travels. When in the United States, she attended public schools in Mt. Vernon, New York, and graduated from AB Davis High School. Following graduation, Courter attended Antioch College and received a B.A. in Drama/Film in 1966.   

She worked in the documentary and educational film business in New York with Harvest Productions, ACI Films, and Concord Productions from 1967 to 1970.  She co-founded Courter Films and Associates with husband Philip Courter in 1972.[11] Since then, they have produced more than 300 documentary, educational, and corporate films.  

Courter has been a vocal supporter of children's rights.[12] She was a Guardian ad Litem in the Florida Courts for 25 years. Her non-fiction book, I Speak For This Child: True Stories of a Child Advocate led to many television appearances including the Today Show, Good Morning America, and 20/20.

Courter currently lives in Crystal River, Florida, with her husband, Philip Courter.  They are the parents of Blake Courter, an engineer and specialist in 3-D printing; Joshua Courter, a filmmaker and furniture designer; and Ashley Rhodes-Courter, MSW, a motivational speaker, social worker, and author of the New York Times bestseller, Three Little Words (Simon & Schuster, 2008) and its sequel Three More Words (Simon & Schuster 2015).[13]

Courter is also a travel writer for Creators Syndicate[14] and other outlets.[15] She is a member of the North American Travel Journalists Association, The Authors Guild, and Writers Guild of America.

In February 2020, Courter was one of 3700 passengers and crew quarantined on the Diamond Princess Cruise Ship, which was held in port at Yokohama, Japan during the coronavirus outbreak. In an interview with The New York Times, Courter questioned the efficacy of keeping passengers quarantined on board the ship, where the virus was rapidly spreading.[16] The Atlantic published a piece by Courter, detailing her trip in Asia, her time on the Diamond Princess Cruise Ship, and her experience in quarantine once back in the United States.[17]

She and her husband spent time being quarantined on the ship before arriving to the United States and into quarantine in Texas. While on the ship she wrote a book proposal about life in quarantine, and said she fear she and her husband suffer from symptoms of PTSD.[18]

• Carol Eisen Rinzler, reviewing The Midwife in The Washington Post wrote: “It kept me up until four in the morning… the author, to use a timeless phrase, knows how to tell a story.”[19]
• “Why is Midwife such an important book?” commented Carroll Stoner in the Chicago Sun-Times. "Chances are slim that you have ever read a novel by a woman that also provides an impressive body of knowledge about a subject of special interest to us.”[20]
• Reviewing Flowers in the Blood in the New York Times, Janet Kaye wrote, “Compelling scenes of India and China… combine to make Gay Courter’s fourth novel both absorbing and informative.”
• “Gay Courter’s sensitive way with her material, combined with her good writing and vivid details of life in Brazil, where she has traveled, make River of Dreams a pleasant surprise for readers expecting just another historical novel," commented Jane Stewart Spitzer in The Christian Science Monitor.[21]
• Of Courter's child advocacy, Publisher's Weekly's reviewer wrote, “Inexperienced in the ways of the courts but fired with idealism and courage, Courter embarked on a mission to right wrongs for victimized children.”[22]
• In the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Misti Snow's review said, “I Speak for this Child will inspire indignation, not only for the children Courter has championed but for all the children in need of safe passage.”

Gay Courter works on her IBM System 6 while writing her book, The Midwife.

Courter has written novels in both the first person and third person narrative styles. Her literary landscape is varied, but she often writes about places and situations with which she is familiar. Many of her stories are based in places where she has lived, such as central Brazil and Israel; people she has known including her paternal grandmother, who was a Russian midwife; and Israeli spies, who were family friends. Her father notoriously helped the Israeli cause by procuring munitions[23] and purchased an aircraft carrier for their navy.[24] Her work features women who pioneer in their fields and who triumph over adversity. Courter has been said to use engaging narratives to make historical events, such as the transfer of obstetrical care from midwives to obstetricians and Israel's struggles for independence more accessible to the average reader.

Together with her husband, Philip, Gay has produced more than 200 documentary and educational films[25] for more than thirty years.[26]

Their PBS productions include Freedom From Famine: The Norman Borlaug Story (Mathile/PBS 2009),[27] Solutions Micro.doc series (WEDU/PBS, 1998), Where’s My Chance? The Case for America’s Children (WEDU/PBS, 1994),[28] and The Florida Water Story (WEDU/PBS, 1988).[29]

In 1995, Courter received special recognition from the Florida Chapter of American Women in Radio and Television, Inc. for her work on Where’s My Chance? The Case for Our Children, which also won an Emmy award. Courter accepted her second Emmy from the National Academy of Arts and Television Sciences, Suncoast Chapter, for a series of public service announcements called Solutions for America’s Children.

Gay Courter sits alongside Charles Gibson at ABC's Good Morning America in February 1995 with several youth Courter helped get adopted

Since becoming a Guardian ad Litem in Florida, Gay Courter has been advocating for children on a local and national level.[30] Her book, I Speak For This Child brought worldwide attention to the issues of children languishing in foster care. She and her husband Philip Courter turned the focus of their film company into documenting the plight of these children and offering solutions and best practices. They have produced over 75 films for public television, legislators, judges, child welfare workers, adoptive and foster parents, including ones specifically for state supreme court justices, state attorneys general, children's rights lobbyists, juvenile justice stakeholders, abuse prevention, and permanency planning. They have received support for these projects from major foundations including the Pew Charitable Trust, David and Lucille Packard foundation, The Dave Thomas foundation for Adoption, and the American Humane Association.[31]

Gay Courter has appeared, as an advocate, in the press,[32] on national television and spoken widely at conferences promoting Court-appointed Special Advocates (CASA), Guardians ad litem, foster and adoptive parenting.[33] She widened her advocacy to litigate for policy and statute change and also to represent the victims of systemic abuse in personal injury and civil rights lawsuits.[34]

• State of Florida Adoptive Parents of the Year, 2007.
• Altrusa International 10 Most Admired Women for Achievement in the Arts, 2007.
• U.S. Congressional Angel in Adoption, 2005.[35]
• National Academy of Arts & Television Sciences Emmy (Solutions for America’s Children), 1998.
• Florida Center for Children & Youth Sharon Solomon Child Advocate Award, 1995.
• American Women in Radio & Television award (Where’s My Chance?),1995.
• National Academy of Arts & Television Sciences Emmy (Where’s My Chance?),1995.
• Altrusa International 10 Most Admired Women for Making a Difference, 1999.

• Contemporary Authors Online, Gale, 2009. Reproduced in Biography Resource Center. Farmington Hills, Mich.: Gale, 2009. http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/BioRC
• Periodical entries about Gay Courter from the Biography Reference Bank
• Gay Courter at the Literature Resource Center

• Gay Courter
• Courter Films and Associates
• Books by Gay Courter at Library Thing