Teaching Beyond the Deficit Model

Using a keyword search of the literature on minority gay and lesbian issues of the past decade, the authors identify 22 articles pertaining to African Americans, Latinos, and Asian Americans. Fourteen factors which are frequently discussed in these articles including discrimination issues, oppression, assimilation, rejection, and social support are summarized to address the common experiences among these three groups and unique factors affecting each of them. The selected literature focuses heavily on the deficit aspects and seldom identifies the strengths of these cultures.