Questionably Queer: Understanding Straight Presence in the Post-Gay Bar

ABSTRACT

Gay bars have long been understood as havens from heteronormativity. However, a shift towards greater LGBTQ tolerance has led to more heterosexual involvement in these once marginal places. Such shifts towards ‘post-gay’ identity politics have called into question the queerness of many LGBTQ-oriented social outlets. This paper illustrates how rhetorical marketing and aesthetic choices lead some venues to develop reputations as questionably queer spaces—reputations that are created and negotiated by patrons as they evaluate these venues’ ultimate functionality in relation to their own increasingly uncertain ideals about the form and desirability of queer spaces. By examining how divergent configurations of queerness mediate the ambivalence many LGBTQ people feel about these places and the straight people who occupy them, we can further our knowledge about how queer space operates today without getting trapped within the homonormative/queer dichotomy that limits much pre-existing research.     

“Nobody Don’t Really Know What That Mean”: Understandings of “Queer” among Urban LGBTQ Young People of Color

ABSTRACT

Drawing from in-depth, semi-structured interviews with 40 urban LGBTQ young people of color, I explore their uses, understandings, and meanings of “queer.” With several notable exceptions—those who at least occasionally self-identified as queer—most of the young people avoided using the term altogether. Although the majority expressed confusion about what “queer” meant, many understood it to be somehow related to sexuality or being gay, but considered it potentially insulting. I discuss the relevance of these findings for work in queer fields, where research participants may not explicitly identify as queer or make use of the word.     

A Review of the Literature on LGBTQ Adults Who Experience Homelessness

ABSTRACT

Little is known about lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) adults who experience homelessness. The current review critically analyzes the scant literature on LGBTQ adults who experience homelessness, with a particular focus on: (1) pathways into homelessness; (2) support needs; (3) targeted programming; and (4) exits out of homelessness. A total of 143 articles were identified, and 16 articles met the criteria of appropriate age range, article quality, and relevance of topic. Results from this review demonstrate that homeless LGBTQ adults have unique physical and mental health challenges, largely concerning HIV and substance use. Transgender and gender non-conforming adults who experience homelessness encounter several challenges in the homelessness system, particularly in regard to safety and gender-affirming supports. Recommendations focus on practical implications for support and suggestions for future research.     

Overlooked and Invisible: Everyday Experiences of Microaggressions for LGBTQ Adolescents

ABSTRACT

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) adolescents face a number of challenges in their lives related to heterosexism and cissexism. Drawing on the microaggressions framework, we conducted two focus groups with LGBTQ adolescents (n = 11; ages 14–18, six trans/genderfluid, one person of color) to (1) explore the type and nature of microaggressions experienced by LGBTQ adolescents; (2) assess the relevance of existing LGBTQ microaggression taxonomies for this group; and (3) understand the impact of microaggressions on LGBTQ adolescents. Participants’ experiences of microaggressions reflected complex forms of discrimination emerging from the intersections of sexual and gender identity.     

Pathways Into Homelessness Among LGBTQ2S Adults

ABSTRACT

This article examines entries into homelessness among adults who identify as LGBTQ2S (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, two-spirit). Twenty LGBTQ2S adults who were currently or formerly homeless participated in one qualitative interview. The interview protocol included questions on the participants’ history of homelessness, causes of homelessness, and relationship of their gender and/or sexual identity to their homelessness. Data were analyzed using an iterative coding process. Results demonstrated that the participants listed both structural (i.e., discrimination) and intrapersonal (i.e., substance use) variables related to their homelessness. In particular, substance abuse was a common antecedent of their homelessness, and some participants linked their homeless experiences to discrimination and victimization based on their sexual and/or gender identity. The results are discussed in terms of interventions to prevent homelessness among LGBTQ2S adults and support their exits out of homelessness.     

An Intersectional Analysis of LGBTQ Online Media Coverage of the Pulse Nightclub Shooting Victims

ABSTRACT

This study illustrates the radical potential of intersectionality to offer a more deeply critical analysis of hierarchies in lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) communities. The author examines how 377 reports from the five most-trafficked LGBTQ Web sites represented victims of the Pulse nightclub shooting in Orlando, FL. Findings support previous scholarship that has emphasized Latinx exclusion, as the articles generally failed to present the victims in an intersectional way, focusing on their LGBTQ status and excluding their Latinx identities. At the same time, a significant minority of the reports emphasized Latinx queer people, most frequently in a way that continued to prioritize LGBTQ identification, sometimes even advancing stereotypical representations of Latinx communities as extraordinarily focused on faith, family, or “machismo.” Moreover, none of the articles considered xenophobia as a potential motivating factor in the shooting, and the reports typically presented policing agencies in a neutral, and sometimes even positive, way.     

“It’s Not About You”: Disappointment as Queer Pedagogy in Community-Engaged Service-Learning

ABSTRACT

Increasingly popular in the neoliberal university, community-engaged service-learning (CESL) courses offer rich yet contradictory opportunities for LGBTQ studies students to synthesize queer critiques of community and identity with experiences in LGBTQ communities. Much CESL scholarship has focused on the tensions between benefits to community and to students, prioritizing either radical social change or student satisfaction. Beside such debates, I propose the queer ethical, pedagogical, and political value of disappointment in the tedium and contradictions of community itself. Such queer disappointment, I contend, might enable students to cultivate the emotional and critical capacities to engage in community work on sustainable, dedramatized, and unentitled terms.     

When Queerness Meets Intersectional Thinking: Revolutionizing Parallels,Histories, and Contestations

ABSTRACT

Intuitively distinguishing the myriad of critically informed paradigms requires an in-depth analysis of genealogies, histories, and philosophical underpinnings grounding each paradigm. Despite significant parallels between queer theory and intersectionality theory, the distinction of these two paradigms acts in both complicated and complementary manners that necessitate a dialogue on the contributions emanating from both paradigms to LGBTQ studies. This article targets the following goals: (1) explicate genealogy, history, and philosophical tenets of intersectionality and queer theory; (2) dialogue about the complementary yet complex relationships between the two paradigms; and (3) illustrate the promise of the complex relationship and distinction for LGBTQ studies.     

Predator,Pet Lesbian,or Just The Nanny? LGBTQ Parents of Children With Disabilities Describe Categorization

How are lesbian/gay/bisexual/trans/queer (LGBTQ) parents of children with disabilities categorized by service providers, and how do parents anticipate, interpret, and respond to such categorizations? This intersectional study investigated the experiences of LGBTQ parents of children with disabilities with service providers in Toronto, Canada. Parents described pressures to “fit” into providers’ limited understanding of family. Some parents described facing overt discrimination, including one parent who was seen as a possible sexual predator. Some described being perceived as representatives of “diversity” for organizations, or “pet lesbians” in the words of one couple. Others described being misread as a non-parent, as in “just the nanny,” particularly in conjunction with their racial minority status. Parents described how their experiences of being “outside the mainstream” helped them challenge systems and normative beliefs. Findings suggest that a context of scarce disability resources shapes parents’ experiences of how LGBTQ identity comes to matter.     

The Last Closet: LGBTQ+ Studies and Social Class

ABSTRACT

This essay examines the intersection of queerness and social class as it impinges on the field of LGBTQ+ studies. Specifically, it considers some of the disciplinary aims of queer critique in relation to the challenges facing first-generation queer scholars; in so doing, it suggests how forms of difference operate in relation to the personal over time. As a discipline committed to intersectional frameworks, LGBTQ+ studies (and its ongoing evolution) might thus usefully foreground overlapping understandings of outsiderness: namely, how queerness might be experienced as a form of class, and how class might be experienced as a form of queerness.     

A Decade of Microaggression Research and LGBTQ Communities: An Introduction to the Special Issue

ABSTRACT

Though the Supreme Court of the U.S. legalized same-sex marriage in 2015, heterosexism and transphobia has continued to manifest through many systems in the US — from lack of federal protection in employment non-discrimination laws to polices that prohibit transgender people from using bathroom and public facilities that match their gender identities. Heterosexist and transphobic discrimination have also persisted through interpersonal interactions — ranging from more overt forms (e.g., hate crimes, bullying) to more subtle forms of discrimination, otherwise known as microaggressions. Since 2008, there have been hundreds of articles written on microaggressions, with dozens focusing specifically on experiences of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) people. Qualitative and quantitative studies have revealed that LGBTQ people who experience microaggressions have reported negative outcomes like depression, low self-esteem, and trauma. This special issue aims to further Microaggression Theory by providing theoretical and empirical papers that focus on the manifestation and impact of microaggressions on LGBTQ people. Using an interdisciplinary approach, articles range in topic from intersectional identities, to health and psychological outcomes, to advancing research methods. Future studies regarding microaggressions and LGBTQ people are discussed- highlighting the influence of the changing landscape of heterosexism and transphobia within general society, as well as new dynamics that have formed and developed within LGBTQ communities.     

Several Common Bonds: Addressing the Needs of Gay and Bisexual Men in LGBT-Specific Recovery Housing

ABSTRACT

Recovery housing is a promising way to augment the substance use continuum of care, but we know little about the experiences of members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) community who live in them or about residences specifically for them. Within the LGBTQ community, gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men (MSM) often experience co-occurring syndemic conditions (e.g., trauma, depression, HIV) that present unique recovery challenges. Using qualitative data gathered from residents living in a recovery residence specifically for gay and bisexual men and from community key informants, we examine the experiences of men living in the home and factors that facilitate operating it. Findings highlight the need for residences that can address syndemic burden among gay and bisexual men in recovery and identify programmatic and community-level factors critical to operating residences for this population.     

Primary Care Providers’ Attitudes,Practices, and Knowledge in Treating LGBTQ Communities

ABSTRACT

Cultural competency in lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) health care has been found to be lacking within various medical specialties, but no studies have compared competency among primary care providers. The authors compared 127 primary care providers’ cultural competency regarding LGBTQ health using a survey that assessed providers’ attitudes, practices, and knowledge. Overall, 78.0% of respondents agreed that they were comfortable treating LGBTQ patients. Yet many providers did not feel well informed on specific LGBTQ health needs (70.1%), on clinical management of LGBTQ care (74.8%), nor on referring patients with LGBTQ issues (78.7%). Overall accuracy on LGBTQ knowledge questions was 51.0%. This study revealed a lack of cultural competency and much need for improvement as primary care providers endorsed negative attitudes, biases, inconsistencies in clinical practice, and deficiencies in medical knowledge in specialty-specific ways. There is a need for greater LGBTQ-specific education to increase providers’ comfortability and competency in the needs, management, and referrals within LGBTQ health care.     

Welcoming Diversity? Symbolic Boundaries and the Politics of Normativity in Kansas City’s LGBTQ Communities

ABSTRACT

Using document analysis and ethnographic field work, this article examines the debate within the LGBTQ community of Kansas City over the decision to hold its Pride festival in the Power and Light District (P&L), a renewed downtown area with a controversial dress code. Despite the developers’ and city’s goals of creating a cosmopolitan urban space that welcomed diverse populations, the P&L acquired a reputation as an anti-Black, anti-queer space due to its dress code and redevelopment history. I argue that the debate surrounding this controversy reveals limits to notions of diversity and diverging approaches to sexual politics within the LGBTQ community that are normally obscured by political actors within the movement but that work to create symbolic boundaries that exclude “non-respectable” members of the LGBTQ population. Recovering queer perspectives allows us to imagine a more capacious definition of diversity and inclusion, both within the LGBTQ movement and in urban space.     

Intersectionality in the Lives of LGBTQ Youth: Identifying as LGBTQ and Finding Community in Small Cities and Rural Towns

This article presents an analysis of the views of younger bisexual and lesbian women and transgender youth living in a western Canadian small city on their sexual and gender identities. Data were collected through focus groups and interviews and analyzed thematically through an intersectional lens. The purposive sample was composed of 13 youth who identified as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or queer (LGBTQ) and whose average age was 19.8 years. The analytical themes of (1) living in a small town, (2) identifying and being identified, and (3) talking intersectionality indicate that the sexual identities and gender identities and expressions of LGBTQ youth change across time and context and are impacted by often overlooked factors including faith, Indigenous ancestry, disability, and class. Further, the size and character of the community significantly impacts LGBTQ youth identity development and expression. This research demonstrates the uniqueness of individual youth’s experiences—opposing notions of milestone events as singularly important in queer youth identity development.     

Is the Lack of Specific Lesbian,Gay, Bisexual,Transgender and Queer/Questioning (LGBTQ) Health Care Education in Medical School a Cause for Concern? Evidence From a Survey of Knowledge and Practice Among UK Medical Students

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer/questioning (LGBTQ) people frequently report negative health care encounters. Medical professionals may inadequately manage LGBTQ persons’ health if they have not received training in this area. An anonymous survey measuring efficacy in health situations among LGBTQ persons was answered by 166 medical students across all years of a UK university. Results show that 84.9% of participants reported a lack of LGBTQ health care education, with deficits in confidence clarifying unfamiliar sexual and gender terms, deciding the ward in which to nurse transgender patients, finding support resources, and discussing domestic abuse with LGBTQ patients. Most participants reported that they would not clarify gender pronouns or ask about gender or sexual identity in mental health or reproductive health settings. Participants reported infrequently observing doctors making similar inquiries. Participants held positive attitudes toward LGBTQ patients, with attitude scores positively correlating with LGBTQ terminology knowledge scores (r_s = 0.5052, p < .01). Addressing gender identity and sexuality issues within medical curricula may remove barriers to accessing health care and improve encounters for LGBTQ patients.     

“A Whole Bunch of Love the Sinner Hate the Sin”: LGBTQ Microaggressions Experienced in Religious and Spiritual Context

ABSTRACT

Research on microaggressions experienced by LGBTQ people has focused largely on a general understanding of this concept; however, no research exists that focuses exclusively on microaggressions that LGBTQ people face across religious and spiritual communities. The present study addressed this gap in the literature by using a qualitative method to allow LGBTQ people (N= 90) to directly report microaggressions that they have experienced within their religious and spiritual communities. Thematic analysis revealed three predominant themes: (1) LGBTQ identities as inauthentic; (2) religious/spiritual tolerance of LGBTQ Identities, and (3) LGBTQ and religious/spiritual identities as incompatible. Implications and future directions discussed.     

Measuring Adult Children’s Perceptions of Their Parents’ Acceptance and Rejection of Their Sexual Orientation: Initial Development of the Parental Acceptance and Rejection of Sexual Orientation Scale (PARSOS)

ABSTRACT

The Parental Acceptance and Rejection of Sexual Orientation Scale was administered to 256 self-identified lesbian, gay, bisexual, or queer adults who had been out of the closet to their parents for at least 1 year. Principal component analysis revealed a clear two-component solution: parental acceptance and parental rejection. Findings showed that perceived maternal sexual orientation-specific acceptance was higher, and perceived maternal sexual orientation-specific rejection was lower, for gay/bisexual sons compared to their lesbian/bisexual daughters. Results of regression analyses suggest that both perceived sexual orientation specific acceptance and rejection predicted adult children’s psychological symptoms after accounting for perceived global parental acceptance and rejection and the child’s gender. The scale’s utility for research and practice are noted.     

Same-Sex Marriage and the Assimilationist Dilemma: A Research Agenda on Marriage Equality and the Future of LGBTQ Activism,Politics, Communities,and Identities

ABSTRACT

This special issue of the Journal of Homosexuality, examines the impact of the marriage equality movement and the resulting landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision, Obergefell v. Hodges (2015) that legalized same-sex marriage in the U.S., on lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) activism, politics, communities, and identities. The articles in this issue examine the complicated ways in which the discourse used in same-sex marriage court cases is related to heteronormative discursive frames; the lived reality of married same-sex couples and the complex ways in which they think about marriage and heteronormativity; the ways that heteronormativity is racialized, which affects how African Americans perceive the impact of same-sex marriage on their lives; how same-sex marriage has influenced public opinion and the likelihood of anti-gay backlash; and the impact of same-sex marriage on family law. In this article, I draw on the empirical research from these articles to develop a theoretical framework that expands a multi-institutional (MIP) approach to understanding social movements and legal change. I build on and develop three conceptual tools: the assimilationist dilemma, discursive integration and cooptation, and truth regime. I conclude by laying out an agenda for future research on the impact of same-sex marriage on LGBTQ movements, politics, identities, and communities.