Case Presentation : Mary Raymond

Case Study 14.1: David’s coming Out Process 1. What are the developmental challenges for sexual minority youth, as articulated in David’s story? David’s story points out the complicated lives that LGBTQ youth experience, youth who identify as transgender, lesbian, gay, bisexual, or queer are more than twice as likely to attempt suicide, and studies show that that higher risk stems from their experiences of discrimination and victimization. David’s journey as a gay teen reveals the challenges some young people face just for being who they are.

The first step to any problem resolution is identify the cause of the problem. Mary was able to identify the origin of her problem, but what she could have done next was to seek for professional help, i.e. counselor, who are bound by confidential law, and also trained to help people like Mary Watson, cope with their problem. Getting a professional help would have reduce the impact of the problem on her job performance.

Mary reports that she has serious trust issues and does not feel as if she can open up to anyone. Mary does have a network of friends in the local gay community who she stays with on and off, but doesn’t use them for support she needs. Mary also does not communicate with her family and is not involved in a committed relationship. She struggles with intimacy and feels lonely and isolated even though she is “involved” in multiple sexual

For this week’s reading, we read “Sexualities, Queer Theory, and Qualitative Research” by Joshua Gamson. The author started out the reading by describing that sexuality is a very complex topic because it consists a lot of different categories. Besides heterosexuality, which people view it as a “norm”, we also find homosexuality (gay and lesbian) are gradually becoming more widely seen compare to the past, In the older days, people are afraid to appeal their real feelings and sexual orientation because they are afraid to “come out from the closet” and reveal their real self to the public. People think being homosexual is a shameful thing and should be kept as a secret in the past. Nowadays, people are more willing to discuss about this topic. As a result, researchers find it easier to collect information about this topic. Sexuality should be concerned to be more cultural and political, and people of homosexual should be encouraged to speak out their voices and let the world understand the inequalities that they had been through.

Before beginning this essay I would like to acknowledge my subject position as a queer woman of color and my privileges of being born cis-gendered, into the Roman-catholic faith with educated parents living in Toronto passable as “straight”. “Being in the closet” is a colloquial term coined to represent the lgbtq2iaa phenomenon of hiding their sexual or gender identities. There are a number of reasons that individuals choose to stay away from disclosing their orientation and from personal experience often the fear of being rejected by their social sphere due to lgbtq2iaaphobia is a key influence on that decision. Being closeted is a tough choice to maintain as it means not being able to showcase all aspects of a person’s personality to people that they may be intimately connected to. This paper will be focusing on some of the systemic social barriers that determine whether racialized queer people decide to stay in or out of the closet. It will be particularly concentrating on the intersections of race and sexuality and why these factors affect coming out of or staying in the closet. The barriers that will be explored include the social discourses of the normalization of heteronormativity, heterosexuality, and race.

Sexual scripts can be understood as ‘‘sets of socio-cultural expectations’’ through which individuals learn patterns of sexual conduct that are appropriate. Heteronormativity proclaims that heterosexuality is the only sexual orientation, and also states that sexual and marital relations are most (or only) fitting between people of opposite sexes. Therefore, adolescents in highly religious schools or backgrounds may not consider or may actively avoid accepting a lesbian or gay identity. There other alternative is that an adolescent that may identify as lesbian or gay may connect them with a community that can help and provide strength and support in coping with the shame and stigma that may come along with the identity.

Although being the coordinator allowed me to refine important research skills (e.g., methodology), ultimately, coordinating this project enhanced my desire to advocate for full acceptance for LGBT individuals through research so that carrying the burden of concealing one’s identity no longer feels

Over and over again it has been proven that the way parents or guardians raise their children can affect them in both positive and negative ways. In the case of many LGBTQ+ youth the support of a guardian is essential, especially in the case of transgender youth because they need parental consent to being transitioning under the age of 18. In the case of Leelah Alcorn, an Ohio teen who identified as transgender, her parents’ denigrated her for identifying as a woman because she was born a male. They sent her to conversion therapy, christian therapists, and would not let her officially start transitioning into a woman, let alone even call her by her preferred name or pronouns. Leelah was depressed, lonely, and heartbroken that unsupportive

As mentioned above, I learned about the process of why individuals may form an inherent distrust for their support system and environment. In learning this, I became more aware of the increased risks may represent for LGBT individuals who experience even slightly unaccepting attitudes in their support systems. These risks (increased substance use, risk of HIV/AIDS, suicide, self-harming behaviors, and mental health issues) present a certain danger, especially to individuals who have recently “come out” and are struggling to accept their orientation and/or identification. In the counseling process, these struggles may lead to an inability to form a positive therapeutic relationship if the counselor is not aware of their sexual orientation, heterosexism, and knowledge of the dialogue that involves the LGBT population. This lesson has made me more aware that my presentation of heterosexism- and my orientation as bisexual- may be a barrier in creating a positive relationship with LGBT individuals; this insight has made me more self-aware, in a way, to interactions that may occur with clients that I previously would have practiced ignorance to.

There is a discernible relation between parental acceptance and alcohol or other drug use among members of the LGBTs community. According to a study by Padilla, Crisp and Rew (2010), more than 65% of adolescents of the LGBTs community reported having used alcohol and illegal drugs in the past 30 days. According to these authors, these individuals face the same developmental challenges as heterosexual adolescents but have the added stress of acceptance or rejection from their family members especially parents. Coming out is considered a stressful ordeal for thee adolescents. This is especially complicated

With her head nervously collapsed into her normally steady, but now fumbling hands, I watched as the confidence and maturity that had made a home on the face of my best friend melted into the anxious, frightened expression of a lost preschooler. Awaiting my reaction, she was suddenly so innocent, so pure, that I wondered how anyone’s response could vary much from my own, “I love and support you.” Sara confessing her attraction to women to me did not make her less of a person or friend in my eyes. In fact, the entirety of my being felt a rush of pure joy; I’d been waiting for months for her to finally come out to me! I still wonder why she had felt the need to keep her sexuality from me for so long, despite her knowing my stance on homosexuality

The first ones they open up to is going to be a family member or a really close friend. It is not always easy for families to accept and out of anger they get angry with the child. The adolescent now feels rejected from the family. Different studies have shown similar kinds and types of, lesbian, gay, and bisexual youth who reported higher levels of rejection in the family during an adolescence were 8.5 times more likely to report having attempted suicide, 6.0 times more reasonably to report high levels of depression, 3.5 more likely to use illegal drugs, and 3.7 times more likely to report having and likely to have unprotected sexual intercourse. Compared with other people from families that reported no or low levels of family rejection of being gay. As a result of rejection in the family, discrimination, criminalization, and a host of other factors, “LGBT” youth represent as much as 42 percent of the homeless adolescence population. Of those 39 percent, studies indicate that as many as 57 percent are most likely to attempt suicide. Positive family relationships are some of the most important factors for “LGBT” young children in reducing the risk of youth attempt in suicide. There is more of an urge to help adults to fully fund efforts and understand the situation. Also to support homeless youth “LGBT” and to ensure that out of home care, foster care, and inclusive adoption is an option, non-discriminatory, and culturally

Homophobia is one of the most significant realities in an LGBT teen’s everyday school life (Lock, 1999). Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) individuals are highly prone to bullying when they lack the correct understanding and support of those around them. The failure to understand and support individuals who are going through the stage of gender identity questioning is a major cause of psychological illnesses or self hatred and thus leading to suicide, alcohol and drug abuse, and homelessness (van Wormer, 2003). The norm for some of these late teens can be: the devaluation when their “dignity and worth are assaulted or denigrated” (Hardy & Laszloffy, 2002), secondly the disruption of community and social relations when they come out publicly, lastly the dehumanization regarding the loss of friendships, family support, a normal teenage dating experience, and economic security (Bernal & Coolhart, 2005). As a result there is often build up of

‘Coming out’ contributes a great amount to better health as their social/professional circles adjusts to this information that goes completely against the values they were brought up to know. LBG’s can live a denounced life where inclusion in a normal social function is limited because of the diversity. Many people or groups against LGB’s may openly direct disapproval, rejection, frustration may build up stress leading to low self-esteem and high levels of anxiety, which is likely to lead to major depressive disorders. The factors that severely impact these small, but potentially major disorders in LBG’s are being discriminated against, abused by control or repressed, bias opinions being out in the open, non-acceptance and rejection from peers, or even their loved ones. Most of these emotions are sent out from individual heterosexuals and anti-gay groups. “Over 50% of national youth servicing organizations report that they do not have services or resources in place to educate youth on sexual orientation or to support gay and lesbian youth.” We cannot expect society to understand if we don’t teach them to understand.

(2009)” Studies showed that these children and young adults are as popular as children reared by heterosexual parents; at school they have grades within average, the same level of stress as other kids. In general, they have normal relationships with peers and adults. Most of them accept their parent’s sexual orientation; some even get inspired by their parent’s courage to be different.