“There Is No Perfect School”: The Complexity of School Decision‐Making Among Lesbian and Gay Adoptive Parents

Parents influence their children's educational experiences in part via school selection. This process is particularly complex for families with multiple minority, potentially stigmatized, statuses. This qualitative study examines middle‐class lesbian and gay (LG) adoptive parents' school decision‐making. Parents' economic resources provided the foundation for how parents weighed child/family identities (children's race, LG‐parent family structure, child's special needs) and school‐related concerns (e.g., academic rigor). For White gay male‐headed families in affluent urban communities, financial resources muted racial and sexual orientation consciousness in favor of competitive academic environments. Lesbian mothers of modest economic means prioritized racial diversity more centrally. Racial diversity overrode gay‐friendliness as a consideration in lesbian‐mother families; gay‐friendliness was prioritized over racial diversity among families in conservative communities; and special needs overrode all other child and family identity considerations. For LG adoptive parent families, school decision‐making has the potential for greater tensions amidst multiple intersecting identities and fewer economic resources.     

Victimization and Microaggressions Targeting LGBTQ College Students: Gender Identity As a Moderator of Psychological Distress

ABSTRACT

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer and questioning (LGBTQ) discrimination continues to be common on college campuses. While a number of studies have examined blatant victimization among students, little attention has been given to LGBTQ microaggressions. In this study, we examine both blatant victimization and microaggressions and their association with psychological distress among LGBTQ college students (N = 497) and look at whether gender identity moderates these relationships. Both forms of discrimination are associated with lower self-esteem and greater stress and anxiety. Victimization is more negatively associated with self-esteem among trans* students. Our findings emphasize the importance of addressing both blatant and subtle forms of discrimination targeting LGBTQ college students.     

Advocacy Evaluation for Counselors Serving LGBTQ Populations

ABSTRACT

Advocacy and social justice initiatives for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and questioning (LGBTQ) clients in counseling emphasize counselor and client collaboration in challenging discrimination and oppression and promoting LGBTQ inclusive sociopolitical changes. Although researchers have highlighted the counseling and advocacy needs of LGBTQ populations, few have yet examined processes for assessing the outcomes of advocacy efforts. Advocacy evaluation may provide counselors and counseling organizations with a framework for monitoring and assessing the outcomes of LGBTQ advocacy initiatives. The authors discuss the goals and elements of advocacy evaluation and review the LGBTQ Counseling Advocacy Evaluation Self Assessment.     

LGBTQ Youths' School Athletic Experiences: A 40-Year Content Analysis in Nine Flagship Journals

The majority of youth identifying as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) experience harassment in school athletics, which increases the risks of mental health concerns and less physical activity involvement. The authors conducted a systematic content analysis of nine flagship journals to assess the representation of this critical issue within the scholarly literature. Results demonstrate a dearth of academic research within flagship journals, which may deter appropriate school-based initiatives and interventions. Implications for counseling and directions for future research are discussed.     

Lighting,signing, showing: The circulability of Pink Dot's counterpublic discourse in Singapore

Pink Dot, a homegrown LGBTQ activist group based in Singapore, has been treated as a social movement since its inauguration in 2009, and they organise an annual event to advocate for LGBTQ individuals. In 2020, due to the coronavirus pandemic, the twelfth edition of the event (PD12) took place online as a livestream on YouTube. The highlight of PD12 was the unveiling of a ‘digital pink dot’ via a virtual map of Singapore, where the permeability of its discourse in virtual and physical spaces became much more apparent in comparison with previous physical iterations of the event. Approaching the data with counterpublic and citizenship theory, I outline the circulability of discourse as the key feature of a counterpublic, and argue that PD12 achieves this in two ways: (i) the semiotic fragmentation of its physical signs and online discourse; and (ii) the deployment of intertextual elements in a drag performance.     

An exploratory study examining needs,access, and competent social services for the transgender community in Phoenix,Arizona

ABSTRACT

Phoenix is the sixth largest city in the United States, with a vibrant yet underserved lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) population. Despite an extensive community presence, social service delivery bias persists among members of the LGBTQ community, but more often among transgender individuals. Existing research has examined social services from the perspective of either the client or the practitioner. This exploratory study specifically examines social services in the Phoenix metropolitan area for the transgender community. Data collected from interviews with participants and providers contributed to an assessment of the current level of social services for the transgender community, with a specific emphasis on identifying service gaps and recommendations for culturally competent and comprehensive services.     

Beyond resilience: Resistance in the lives of LGBTQ youth

Resilience has come to define a wide breadth of impactful research on marginalized groups, including lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) youth. This resilience framework shifted the deficit “at-risk” model of research on marginalized populations to a more nuanced strengths-based perspective. In this critical review article, we examine this research trend to understand how the shift to resilience has shaped patterns of LGBTQ youth research. In doing so, this piece calls for a more sophisticated engagement with operationalizing resilience–which is vaguely defined and often upholds dominant relations in society, such as capitalistic, heteronormative values of success and happiness. We show how a shift to understanding resistance, joy, and pleasure in LGBTQ youth's lives promotes a more dynamic and complicated look at how marginalized groups navigate their social worlds and exert power in shaping these worlds. Acknowledging and uplifting LGBTQ youth's resistance and power are necessary in pushing scholarly dialogue and the possible interventions informed by research towards a more fully transformative framework in changing and dismantling oppressive societal structures.     

“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.     

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.