Culturally Competent Practice with Bisexual Individuals

Working with lesbian, gay, and bisexual individuals requires clinical social workers to demonstrate cultural competency with these populations. Although there are many common issues across these identities, bisexual individuals experience unique challenges that differ from lesbian and gay individuals. Bisexuality is sometimes misunderstood by heterosexual as well as lesbian and gay individuals, leading to experiences of marginalization from multiple sources. Moreover, clinical social workers may incorrectly assume that the treatment needs of bisexual individuals are the same as lesbian and gay individuals. This paper utilizes qualitative interviews with 45 bisexual-identified people to illuminate five prominent issues in clinical practice with bisexual people. They are: (a) biphobia, (b) practitioner attitudes about bisexuality, (c) identity development, (d) social relationships, and (e) sexual health. Findings illuminate clinical practice strategies that will facilitate culturally competent social work practice with this population.     

Including Curriculum Content on Lesbian and Gay Issues

Abstract

This paper presents a rationale for requiring content on lesbian and gay issues in the social work curriculum. Recent research suggests that a considerable percentage of social workers possess homophobic attitudes. Some support exists for making education a tool to reduce negative attitudes toward the gay population. However, students are unlikely to receive adequate information about this population before they enter the social work curriculum. The goals of including content on lesbian and gay issues are to decrease homophobic attitudes and to prepare students to provide effective social work practice with lesbian and gay clients. Methods and resources for incorporating content on lesbian and gay issues in human behavior, direct practice, policy, community organization and research courses of the social work curriculum are presented.     

Support for gay and lesbian rights among social work students in Greece

This study explores social work students’ level of support for gay and lesbian rights. Respondents were all the students (N?=?460) attending classes in a Social Work Department in Greece. While students were generally supportive of gay and lesbian rights, a significant percentage believed that social workers should support gay and lesbian rights only when lesbians and gay men do not offend or upset others and their rights do not contradict the prevalent religion and societal values. Religiosity was an important correlate of students’ level of support for gay and lesbian rights. Findings are discussed in relation with social work education.     

Sexuality,child care and social work education

Whilst it is important to acknowledge the holistic nature of sexuality and its relevance in all areas of social welfare and service provision, this paper is specifically concerned with lesbian, gay and bisexuality and child care. The issues discussed will be common to all service user groups but the insidious nature of the 'contamination or corruption' theories of homosexuality are particularly inflammatory for those working in the child care field and the young people with whom they work. This paper argues that the needs of lesbians and gay men, particularly young people, will continue to go unmet unless lesbian and gay issues are addressed explicitly in social work education and in a way which does not oversimplify what is an extremely complex task. Anti-discriminatory and anti-oppressive practice are central features of the academic and practice curriculum; however, it is not simply a matter of adding lesbian and gay issues to the ever-increasing list of oppressions. The ideology of heterosexism and a legal framework which endorses the discrimination of lesbians and gay men create additional challenges to working with this group of people. As social work education becomes increasingly government and agency led, with a competency model of assessment ruling the day, the realities of what social workers can achieve need to be acknowledged if we are not to be accused of perpetuating meaningless rhetoric; playing into the hands of those who refer to political correctness.     

Employment and Sexual Orientation:

Economist, sociologists, and other social scientists have begun to study the influence of sexual orientation on individuals in the labor market, particularly with respect to employment discrimination. The conceptual framework developed in this paper connects lesbian, gay, and bixexual workers' disclosure of their sexual orientation to the economic and social characteristics of the workplace. Disclosure creates the potential for discrimination by employers and coworkers. The framework shows how sexual orientation operates independently and in interaction with other important characteristics such as race and gender. A review of existing research supports the hypothesis that discrimination against gay workers exists. Both workplace groups for gays and lesbians and those who work gay and lesbian workers (such as supervisors, personnel managers, and counselors) need to understand the relationship between disclosure and discrimination in order to make workplaces supportive of lesbian, gay, and bisexual workers.     

Out of the Darkness: Three Waves of Family Research and the Emergence of Family Therapy for Lesbian and Gay People

Like family relationships themselves, the history and treatment of lesbian and gay people and their families is complicated. For this paper, three waves of research on the families of gay and lesbian individuals are described. During the first wave, gay and lesbian sexual orientation was seen as a disease and family dynamics were blamed for its genesis. Subsequently in the second wave it was believed that, fearing rejection many gay and lesbian people either distanced or were rejected from their own families and established friendship networks that have been described as families of choice. More recently, in the third wave, the family has been identified as a resource for lesbian and gay youth whereby open relationships with parents can help protect them from mental illness, substance abuse, and HIV risk. Furthermore, an increasing number of same-sex couples are choosing to become parents, overcoming biological and social obstacles. In this article these shifting views of the role of family in the lives of lesbian and gay people will be described along with case material that illustrates the historic influences, current developments and future directions of family treatment for this population. To be maximally effective with gay and lesbian people and their families, clinical social workers and other mental health professionals must understand how family therapy has been influenced by a progression of ideas that continue to evolve. In this paper, research examining the role of the family in the lives of lesbian and gay people will be described in three waves; as a source of blame, to an impediment to gay and lesbian happiness and ultimately a resource that can enhance lesbian and gay well-being. The influences of research on family therapy with this population will be described and case examples will demonstrate how to harness the strengths of family relationships identified in the most recent wave.     

The Views of Social Work Students Toward Gay and Lesbian Persons

Abstract

Since it is estimated that 2.5 to 9% of men and 1.5 to 4% of women in the U.S. population are gay or lesbian, it is very likely that social workers will encounter gay or lesbian people as clients, co-workers, and/or supervisors. The Council on Social Work Education stresses nonjudgmentalism and acceptance as important social work values and requires that undergraduate social work students be exposed to content concerning gay and lesbian persons. This study was designed to examine the differences between the views of students choosing a social work major and students choosing other majors. Generally, social work students exhibited more positive attitudes than did students in other majors, even after controlling for personal attributes such as religiosity, gender, age, race, and political affiliation.     

Economic Rights,Economic Myths,and Economic Realities

Summary

Although the myth is that gay and lesbian people, especially gay men, are affluent and are faring well in the workplace, research shows that they in fact experience wage discrimination and lack many other fundamental rights related to employment. This article reviews the literature addressing gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgend-ered people as workers, showing the ways in which their economic rights are still compromised in the United States today. The social work profession must understand these realities and seek ways to address them.     

Attitudes Towards Gays and Lesbians Serving in the Military

The purpose of the resent study was to identify correlates of attitudes towards permitting gays and lesbians to serve in the military. Two studies were conducted, one with 210 adults enrolled in classes at a university and one with 31 high school students, most of whom were enrolled in ROTC classes. Although the high school students were more conservative, both samples revealed the high school students were more conservative, both samples revealed the same general pattern of findings. Support for having gays and lesbians serve in the military was closely related to endorsement of arguments in favor of their service, and both samples revealed the same general pattern of findings. Support for having gays and lesbians serve in the military was closely related to endorsement of arguments in favor of their service, and both variables were related to a complex of other conservative values as well as to personal acquaintance with gays and lesbians and to factual knowledge about homosexuality. People with less conservative views on a number of issues, who knew more gay and lesbian individuals, who knew more about homosexuality, who did not belong to a traditional religion, who did not own guns, and who were female were more likely to agree that gays and guns, ands who were female were more likely to agree that gays and lesbian should be permitted to service in the military. The results imply that increasing knowledge and personal familiarity might lead to greater acceptance of military service for gay and lesbians. Ways in which social service providers can use these findings to improve service to gay and lesbian client are discussed.     

The Effect of Parental Gender Roles on Students' Attitudes Toward Lesbian,Gay, and Heterosexual Adoptive Couples

All of Canada's provinces and territories legally recognize the right of gay and lesbian couples to adopt children; however, widespread acceptance of this practice has not been documented. Using an experimental design, with 506 university students, the present study assessed (1) attitudes toward gay, lesbian, and heterosexual adoptive couples; (2) the sex of the child to be adopted; (3) gender role characteristics of the adoptive couple; and (4) predictors of attitudes toward adoption by same-sex couples. Using vignettes describing potential adoptive couples, the results revealed that gay and lesbian couples were rated significantly less favorably than heterosexual couples when asked about outcomes for the adoptive child. Participants were more likely to approve of child placements with lesbian adoptive couples whose gender role characteristics emulated the traditional masculine/feminine dyad as compared to lesbian couples in which both partners displayed feminine characteristics. Statistically significant predictors of negative attitudes toward adoption by lesbian couples were religiosity and non-essentialist beliefs about homosexuality as well as endorsement of modern homonegative attitudes predicted negative attitudes toward adoption by gay male couples. Targeted education for social workers and adoption agency workers should be developed to ensure objective assessments of prospective same-sex adoptive couples regardless of their gender role characteristics.     

Heterosexism and Social Work

Abstract

This study examined heterosexism among 409 Illinois school social workers. Heterosexism was found to be negatively correlated with “education about” and “positive contacts with” gay and lesbian individuals and positively correlated with “religiosity.” Most respondents showed some level of heterosexism with a few having very high levels. Only 15% were non-heterosexist. Respondents reported receiving little or no education about sexual minorities in their social work training. Most indicated that the training received was not adequate preparation for working with gay and lesbian individuals. Amount of education received increased with each of CSWE's educational mandates about sexual minorities but had no significant effect on heterosexism.     

Culturally Appropriate Career Counseling With Gay and Lesbian Clients

This article details the current knowledge regarding the provision of culturally appropriate career services to gay and lesbian clients. It is divided into 5 parts: history and context for the delivery of career counseling services to gay and lesbian clients, counselor self‐preparation for working with gay and lesbian clients, client‐focused interventions useful for counseling with gay and lesbian clients, program‐focused interventions useful for addressing the special issues that this group presents, and appropriate advocacy or social action interventions. Issues of multiple cultural identities and the intersection of lesbian and gay issues with race and ethnicity are also addressed.     

Psychotherapy with Lesbian and Gay Clients from an Adult Life Course Perspective

Abstract

A life course perspective of gay and lesbian adulthood enriches our understanding of clinical presentations and modifies our conception of psychotherapy. The author describes shifts in his psychotherapeutic orientation characterized by an increasing recognition of the importance of social, cultural, and historical forces that shape gay and lesbian mental health. Given the uncharted nature of many gay and lesbian lives across adulthood, existential questions about the meaning of life choices are often present in the consulting room. Therapists working with gay and lesbian clients embark on an empathic journey informed by treatment skills as well as our joint participation in a world of significant social change.     

Why Do Social Work Students Engage in Lesbian and Gay Rights Activism?

This paper considers the contexts and motivations as to why some social work students engage in lesbian and gay rights activism. To explain electoral and protesting modes of activism, this study utilized variables from resource, mobilizing, and framing theories of political participation to explain activism related to gay and lesbian rights. After gathering data on 159 undergraduate social work majors, regressions suggest that economic resources failed to explain participation in gay and lesbian politics. Instead, the predictors of gay and lesbian activism more closely aligned with four key variables: educational attainment, communicating with full-fledged activists, having an ability to recognize heterosexism, and maintaining a commitment to social justice.     

Adolescent sexuality: gay and lesbian issues

Dynamics and interventions with adolescents who express concern regarding gay/lesbian issues are described, with a focus both intrapsychic and social. Both psychological and emotional aspects of sexual preference, and cultural and social expectations for those who identify themselves as gay or lesbian are considered.     

Sexual identity development among gay, lesbian, and bisexual youths: consistency and change over time

A longitudinal report of 156 gay, lesbian, and bisexual youths examined changes in sexual identity over time. Fifty-seven percent of the youths remained consistently self-identified as gay/lesbian, 18% transited from bisexual to gay/lesbian, and 15% consistently identified as bisexual over time. Although youths who consistently identified as gay/lesbian did not differ from other youths on time since experiencing sexual developmental milestones, they reported current sexual orientation and sexual behaviors that were more same-sex centered and they scored higher on aspects of the identity integration process (e.g., more certain, comfortable, and accepting of their same-sex sexuality, more involved in gay-related social activities, more possessing of positive attitudes toward homosexuality, and more comfortable with others knowing about their sexuality) than youths who transited to a gay/lesbian identity and youths who consistently identified as bisexual. Contrary to the hypothesis that females are more sexually fluid than males, female youths were less likely to change identities than male youths. The finding that youths who transited to a gay/lesbian identity differed from consistently gay/lesbian youths suggests that identity integration continues after the adoption of a gay/lesbian sexual identity.     

Invisible students: experiences of lesbian and gay students in social work education in Greece

This article explores through semi-structured interviews the experiences of four lesbian and two gay students from the Social Work Department in the Technological Educational Institute of Crete, Greece. The complete absence of openly out lesbian or gay students or faculty members in the Department was considered reflective of the particular social and cultural context of Greece. Participants reported that lesbian and gay issues were marginalised in the curriculum and that heteronormativity often prevailed in the classroom. Consequently, same-sex sexuality was generally invisible and, when discussed, certain faculty members and peers often appeared to be uncomfortable. Within this context, participants stressed the importance of the professors’ role regarding the climate and content in the classroom. None of the participants considered that their sexual orientation had affected negatively their academic attainment; the lesbian or gay identities sometimes had a positive effect on participants’ academic attainment level exactly because of the negative impact these identities had on their social life. Most participants felt that their studies had not prepared them adequately for gay affirmative practice. Implications for social work education are considered.     

Clandestine existences and secret research: eliminating official discrimination in the Canadian military and going public in academia

The 1990s was a notable decade for lesbians and gays in the Canadian military. Two important changes were the 1992 elimination of the official policy permitting discrimination against homosexual service members, and the 1996 introduction of benefits to same-sex partners. These changes radically influenced the psychological day-to-day reality of lesbian and gay military members. Yet, given the military culture, lesbian and gay members only began to come out in significant numbers at the turn of the century. This article presents an overview of our experience with researching the history of lesbians and gays in the Canadian military during the late 1990s and early years of the new century. It reveals the early clandestine nature of our research, and recounts some of the trials, tribulations, resistance, and successes we encountered when dealing with ethics boards and funding sources. It also describes our relationship with the media and how the military actively took steps to stall our efforts. We draw parallels between our experiences as researchers, and those of the lesbian service-members we were interviewing.