Shifting the Focus:

Agencies that serve survivors of sexual violence have frequently failed to make services accessible to lesbians and gay men. Similarly, agencies serving lesbians and gay men have frequently overlooked the problem of sexual violence in this community. One hundred fort-five lesbians, gay men and bisexuals responded to a survey about their knowledge of services for survivors of sexual violence, the services they need and want, their perceptions of sexual violence in the gay and lesbian community, and the extent of sexual victimization in the gay and lesbian community. Forty-one percent of respondents reported that they had been sexually victimized, and the majority believed that education programs were the most important service needed.     

SOUTHERN (DIS)COMFORT: SEXUAL PREJUDICE AND CONTACT WITH GAY MEN AND LESBIANS IN THE SOUTH

Recent surveys have found antigay attitudes and behavior to be commonplace. In this article, we use contact theory to explain these prejudicial attitudes. We contribute to the literature on contact and prejudice by expanding contact to include not only whether the heterosexual knows any gay men or lesbians, but also how many, for how long, and in what ways. To these, we add a new and unique measure of contact: a person's contact with the gay community. The data are from a survey of 956 undergraduate students at a large urban university in the southeastern United States. Ordinary least squares (OLS) regression analyses find that contact with gay men and lesbians significantly reduces prejudice toward them; although, only as contact with gay friends or the gay community. Contact has stronger effects on women's prejudice than men's prejudice; however, the attitudes of African Americans toward lesbians and gay men are unaffected by gay contact. The results suggest that contact intervenes between prejudice and sex, race, religiosity, and gender attitudes.     

African American Gay Men and Lesbians: Examining the Complexity of Gay Identity Development

Abstract

This article addresses the concept of gay and lesbian identity development with respect to African American gay men and lesbians. The authors suggest that the integration of one's gay identity and the coming out process are uniquely constructed for African American gay men and lesbians, who may be multiply challenged by racial prejudice, limited acceptance by the African American community, and a lack of integration into the larger, White gay community. Race, African American culture, a continuum of gay cultures, gender, and individual characteristics are suggested as salient variables that distinguish the gay identity experience of African American gays from that proposed by most gay identity models.     

Exploring the Gay Community Question: Neighborhood and Network Influences on the Experience of Community among Urban Gay Men

The reported declining significance of gay neighborhoods has raised questions about the role of gay enclaves as a locus for community building. Using Wellman and Leighton's community “lost,” “saved,” and “liberated” frameworks, we examine the degree to which gay enclave residence and network socializing are associated with experiences of gay community among men in the New York City area. Multilevel models indicate that enclave residence is neither directly nor indirectly associated with perceived community cohesion or community attachment. Increased socializing with gay men and heterosexuals were, respectively, positively and negatively associated with our community outcomes. Increased socializing with lesbians was associated with greater community attachment, while socializing with bisexuals was associated with greater perceived community cohesion. Our findings lend support for a “gay community liberated” perspective; experiences of gay community are shaped principally by network relations rather than residential proximity to gay institutions.     

Lesbian Desire in the Age of AIDS: From the Head of Medusa Sprung

In the age of AIDS, lesbians' sexualities were strangely protected from the epidemic spread of the HIV virus, even while many lesbians' social and political lives were deeply impacted by its catastrophic effects on the gay community. The “so close but yet so far” phenomenon defining lesbian experience during the AIDS crisis evoked mixed and complicated emotions unique to that sector of the gay community. This article highlights the manifold emotional experience for lesbians, which paralleled an equally complex web of identifications and disidentifications with gay men. Although this perpetuated a sense of invisibility for lesbians during the epidemic's crisis years, it may have contributed to opening a space for new possibilities of feminine sexualities and identities as the crisis receded.     

Sex differences in how heterosexuals think about lesbians and gay men: Evidence from survey context effects

Two experiments were embedded in a 1997 telephone survey of U.S. households to assess possible differences in how heterosexuals think about lesbians versus gay men. In each experiment, one half of the sample first responded to one or more attitude items about lesbians, followed by comparable items about gay men. The other half received the gay male item(s) first. Results are reported separately for White (N = 976) and Black (N = 479) heterosexuals. For White and Black men alike, self‐reported attitudes toward lesbians tended to be more favorable when they were assessed without reference to gay men (i.e., lesbian items presented first). White men's reactions to gay men tended to be less negative when assessed after the questions about lesbians were presented, but Black men's responses did not consistently show this pattern. For some items, women gave more favorable ratings of lesbians and less favorable ratings of gay men when the lesbian items were presented first. The findings suggest possible gender differences in the cognitive organization of heterosexuals ‘ attitudes toward lesbians and gay men.     

The Needs of Older Lesbians and Gay Men in Chicago

Abstract

The authors report results from a study assessing the social service needs of gay menand lesbians over 45 years of age in Chicago. Results suggest that this population is diverse and presents a wide range of needs. The authors advocate the use of a community organizing approach that involves older gay men and lesbians in the provision of services. The authors also highlight the need to consider the social context in which services will be provided.     

Attitudes Toward Gay Men and Lesbians and Their Relationship with Gender Role Beliefs in a Sample of Chilean University Students

ABSTRACT. This paper analyzes the relation between gender role beliefs and prejudice toward gay men and lesbians in Chile. Participants were Chilean university students (N = 283). Results indicate that men are more prejudiced than women and religious people are more prejudiced than non-religious people. On the other hand, gender role beliefs mediate sex differences in prejudice. The participants' more traditional gender role beliefs hold more negative attitudes toward gay men and lesbians. Men are more prejudiced than women, particularly in their attitudes toward gay men. In addition, sex differences in attitudes toward lesbians and gay men are mediated by gender role beliefs.     

Discrimination Against Gay Men,Lesbians, and Transgender People Working in Education

Abstract

This paper explores the workplace experiences of 120 gay men, lesbians, and transgender people who were employed as teachers, academics, and educators. The data, drawn from a larger collaborative research project, explored the workplace experiences of 900 gay men, lesbians, and transgender people. Homophobic harassment and treatment were widespread amongst the lesbian, gay men, and transgender teachers, academics, and educators. The paper will utilize the stories of those who experienced discrimination to explicate the issues confronting gay men, lesbians, and transgender people who work in the education system.     

Access to the labour market for gays and lesbians: Research review

ABSTRACT

This article reviews findings of scientific studies looking into the bias that gay men and lesbians face when accessing the labor market. Studies in this topic were scarce before year 2000, but a considerable body of literature appeared in the Western countries in the recent years. When summed up, the findings provide robust evidence that lesbians and gay men face negative bias when accessing employment. The magnitude of the bias varies considerably across contexts. Different labor market outcomes of gay men and lesbians are also partially caused by differences in household specialization between different-sex and same-sex households. Future research needs to address the contextual differences in bias against gay men and lesbians.     

Gender Gaps in Public Opinion about Lesbians and Gay Men

Using data from a 1999 national RDD survey (N = 1,335), thisarticle examines gender gaps in heterosexuals' attitudes towardlesbians, gay men, and a variety of topics related to homosexuality.Attitudes toward lesbians differed from attitudes toward gaymen in several areas, and significant differences were observedbetween male and female heterosexual respondents. Survey participantsgenerally were more likely to regard gay men as mentally ill,supported adoption rights for lesbians more than for gay men,and had more negative personal reactions to gay men than tolesbians. Overall, heterosexual women were more supportive thanmen of employment protection and adoption rights for gay people,more willing to extend employee benefits to same-sex couples,and less likely to hold stereotypical beliefs about gay people.Heterosexual men's negative reactions to gay men were at theroot of these gender differences. Of all respondent-by-targetcombinations, heterosexual men were the least supportive ofrecognition of same-sex relationships and adoption rights forgay men, most likely to believe that gay men are mentally illand molest children, and most negative in their affective reactionsto gay men. Heterosexual men's response patterns were affectedby item order, suggesting possible gender differences in thecognitive organization of attitudes toward gay men and lesbians.The findings demonstrate the importance of differentiating lesbiansfrom gay men as attitude targets in survey research.     

A Modern Conceptualization of Sexual Prejudice for Social Work Educators

The existence of bias against gay men and lesbians presents an issue for the profession of social work since social workers are committed to working with vulnerable populations without prejudice. Public opinion polls suggest a growing complexity in heterosexuals' attitudes toward lesbians and gay men and this article explores a modern multidimensional perspective to assist social work educators to improve the educational curriculum in this area. This more complex view of social workers' attitudes toward lesbians and gay men identifies overt, as well as subtle, forms of sexual prejudice.     

The Perspectives of Latina Mothers on Latina Lesbian Families

The purpose of this study was to explore the attitudes and perceptions of 15 Latina mothers towards Latina lesbian parents. A semi-structured interview guide was used to collect the data. While most respondents reported that Latina lesbians' parenting children was normal, they were concerned that by being raised by the Latina lesbian mothers, the children would be confused about their own sexual preference and that they would be teased by their peers. Respondents also reported that children raised in a lesbian household without having a male figure might experience difficulties in adjustment. Respondents reported that religion, how they were raised, and the Latino culture impacted attitudes toward lesbians as parents. Implications of findings are discussed.     

Assessing lesbian and gay prospective foster and adoptive families: a focus on the home study process

Foster care and adoption by gay men and lesbians is not a new phenomenon. Children and youth have always been placed by states and public agencies in homes with gay and lesbian parents. Some gay men and lesbians have fostered or adopted children independently from private agencies or have made private adoption arrangements with individual birthmothers, while others have fostered or adopted through the public system. Drawing on research literature, practice wisdom from 31 years of child welfare experiences, and case examples, this article offers child welfare professionals guidelines for competent assessment with prospective foster or adoptive parents who identify as lesbian or gay.     

Institutional Religion and Gay/Lesbian Oppression

While gay men and lesbians have been consistently involved in the institutional forms of Judaeo-Christianity throughout history, those institutions have themselves failed to accept or support openly gay individuals or couples, either professionally, liturgically/pastorally, or doctrinally. Judaeo-Christianity has instead encouraged homophobia in society thereby fostering antigay oppression which dehumanizes gay individuals, undermines gay couplings, and exacerbates familial tensions between gay and nongay relatives. The United Methodist Church's struggle over the ordination of gays/ lesbians and Catholicism's most recent antigay promulgation provide two case studies for examining the dilemmas which institutional religion poses for gay/lesbian people.     

Playing BINGO with the Best of Them

Abstract

As the author explored different community programs for older gays and lesbians, he realized his own ambivalence as a middle-aged man about associating with older gay men. Gerontological differences and needs are explored in the context of these community programs.     

Family Relationships of Lesbians and Gay Men

The family lives of lesbian and gay people have been a source of controversy during the past decade. Despite prejudice and discrimination, lesbians and gay men have often succeeded in creating and sustaining family relationships. Research on same‐gender couple relationships, parent‐child relationships, and other family relationships is reviewed here. In general, the picture of lesbian and gay relationships emerging from this body of work is one of positive adjustment, even in the face of stressful conditions. Research is also beginning to address questions about individual differences among the family relationships of lesbians and gay men. Future work in this area has the potential to affect lesbian and gay lives, influence developmental and family theory, and inform public policies in the decade ahead.     

Romantic Attachment and Life Satisfaction in a Sample of Gay Men and Lesbians in Chile

ABSTRACT

This study intended to assess the relationship between romantic attachment and life satisfaction (LS) in a gay men and lesbian sample in Chile. It also aimed to identify the effect of attachment dimensions on life satisfaction for both gay men and lesbians. Through a cross-sectional study with a non-experimental design, a total of 460 homosexual adults completed the Experiences in Close Relationships and the Life Orientation Test, Revised Version. According to the results obtained, greater attachment insecurity (e.g., attachment anxiety and attachment avoidance) was linked to lower levels of LS in both gay men and lesbians. Furthermore, the model was found to be more predictive for lesbians than for gay men. Implication of these results are discussed.     

Being Pro-Gay and Pro-Lesbian in Straight Institutions

The issues of violence receives little attention in the gay and lesbian community and there are few services to address the problem. The purpose of this article is to educate social service professionals about bias crimes, domestic violence, and pick-up crimes, some of the most prevalent types of violence faced by gay men and lesbians. The article will discuss symptomatology and dynamics of violence, obstacles to service, and necessary tools for intervention with survivors.     

Issues of Gender in Promoting Tolerance for Homosexuality

Although a recent review suggests that students' attitudes toward homosexuality change as a result of taking a human sexuality course, research in this area has not adequately addressed the issues of gender of target and gender of respondent. Attitude measures rarely distinguish between lesbians and gay men; respondents are expected to hold more negative attitudes toward homosexuals of their own sex; and women are expected to be more readily influenced in some situations. This study shows that women and men did not differ significantly in their attitudes toward lesbians and gay men, but attitudes toward lesbians were more easily changed than attitudes toward gay men regardless of the gender of the respondent.