Sexual Minorities

This paper will continue on, researching the societal change/acceptance in the gay and lesbian community as no longer being unorthodox and with the stigma coming from the gay community itself.

Greenan & Tunnel (2003) posit that the societal marginalization exerted on same-sex couples, translates into internalization of an inferior status (as cited in Wetcher & Bigner, 2012). Herdt (1989) describes the process of coming out as the process of introducing an individual’s sexual orientation to broader circles of people, commencing with the self. The fear of coming out is often associated with fears of emotional rejection by family members, or internal belief of disappointing one’s parents. To cope with this fear, often gay men resort to concealment of their identity (Herdt, 1989; Ramirez & Brown, 2010). The social construct of belonging to a minority community, the avoidant attachment style and the threat of conflict within the family of origin system acts as the reagent that evokes Steve’s emotional distress which he regulates by withholding disclosure. Brain’s feeling of insecurity and wanting reassurance could be attributed to the vast discrepancy between the interactions he has experienced with his family of origin and current family system he shares with Steve.

Introduction: The purpose of this essay is to give a clear understanding of gay and lesbian families. This essay will discuss relative information and problems of this client group focusing on the demographic, history, polices, issues faced by the group as well as relevant support groups and programs available. This essay will discuss these topics by drawing on existing published scholarly literature and relevant, credible published sources. The second part of this essay will be a reflection of an event that relates to the LGBTIQA Community. This reflection will discuss the event as well as thoughts and feeling of a participant in the event. For the purpose of this essay Gay and lesbian will be defined as “A person who is attracted primarily to members of the same sex. Although it can be used for any sex e.g. gay man, gay woman, gay person, “lesbian” is sometimes the preferred term for women who are attracted to women.” ("LGBT Terms and Definitions | International Spectrum", 2016).

LGBT is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bi-sexual, and transgender. It is intended to highlight a diversity of sexuality and gender identity-based cultures. Historically, LGBT people have had to deal with being brutalised and misunderstood because of the misconception that being gay is different and deserves different treatment. However, there are efforts being made daily by the community in order to educate people and ease their fears. The purpose of the following analysis is to deconstruct how people who fought back while growing up realizing they are apart of community help shaped and/or will shape them to become strong roles for LGBT people around the world.

Consider the frustrations of bisexual and/or transgender individuals when the LGBTQ community’s experiences are defined largely by the experiences of gay and lesbian individuals (LGBT Advisory Committee, 2011). Self-identified bisexuals make up the largest single population within the LGBTQ community in the U.S. (Egan, Edelman, & Sherrill, 2008; Herbenick et al., 2010; Mosher, Chandra, & Jones, 2005). However, both research on the LGBTQ community and funding for LGBTQ organizations tend to focus exclusively on gay and lesbian individuals, rendering bisexual individuals invisible and sidelining or eclipsing their particular needs (Miller, André, Ebin, & Bessonova, 2007). This invisibility has serious consequences for bisexual individuals’ sense of belonging within the LGBTQ community (LGBT Advisory Committee,

This paper examines the social aspects of the sexual identity in America, illustrating how sexual identities have progressed, evolved, and transformed. Social categories have been created as a tool used for social divide and control, inadvertently creating stereotypical facts and discriminatory opinions on sexes; while also helping create social and welcoming communities, whose goals are to diminish ideals such as those. Concluding, this paper will have explained the dichotomous categories of different sexualities and the divides within them. The already established sexual divide leaves no room for those stuck in the in between of today's society, especially one as progressive as America’s. Derived from the examples giving, this paper argues

Many heterosexuals in the military may discriminate homosexuals, but so many help them stay in the military. In the article, “Why Gays Must Be Allowed to Serve Openly in the Military” by Sean Coffey, shows a type of respect many have for each other in the military, especially between a homosexual and a heterosexual. As a homosexual, if they were recognized as homosexuals, they would be discriminated and dismissed of operations, but some looked out for them, “There are thousands of straight service members (including some unit commanders) who know or strongly suspect that a shipmate or platoon mate is gay, yet they choose to remain silent and ignore the policy in order to protect their brother- or sister-in-arms.” This shows how they looked out for each other no matter what their sexual orientation is. The discrimination towards the homosexuals is unfair because they are all supposed to be treated equally and should not be discriminated for the sexuality they chose. The military has dismissed many for the simple being of them being homosexuals, which expresses that they are discriminated for their

Sexual orientation is an enduring emotional, romantic, or sexual attraction that a person feels toward men, women, or toward both. Furthermore, sexual orientation is not the same as sexual activities. The grueling lifelong process of coming out involves recognizing, accepting, expressing, and sharing one’s sexual orientation with oneself and others. Moreover, research suggests that coming out of the gay ethnic minority person may be especially difficult because the individual may have to face two sources of prejudice and oppression. Furthermore, the client should consider the following before coming out. First the client has to understand own feelings about being gay, be well informed about homosexuality, and that the decision should be his/hers.

Following on from existing literature on the disparities in health care access, utilization and health outcomes among racial and sexual minority women, the current study seeks to address existing gaps and offer directions for health promotion and future research in this area. This is a retrospective comparison study, examining the

Sexual orientation is a topic that is very debatable and contains a lot of information. The information I have learned since beginning this research paper has been memorable and has taught me alot. The sociology of sexual orientation teaches us a lot without us being aware about it. Looking at

I believe that the greatest challenges that exist for service members is the stigma that is still associated with gay and lesbians in the military because of the military culture that has been instilled for so many years. Even with the Don’t Ask Don’t Tell Policy (DADT), military members still face discrimination if they are openly gay or lesbian. According to Bumiller (2012), “A large percentage choose to remain in the closet, and part of that is they are reading signals from their peers that it is still not O.K. to be out in the military”. Even though the repeal has made a positive impact in the legal barrier faced against gay and lesbians in the military, the harassment and discrimination has not

As stated by Dillon, ethnicity is understood by an individual’s patterns of association with others of similar ethnicity, and by the groups shared practices and meanings (Dillon, 2010, p. 363). Namely, homosexuals create their own culture and share common behaviors with other homosexuals. Common behaviors can be going to certain restaurants or bars that are considered “gay-friendly”, certain sexual practices, and ways of dress and mannerisms. There are celebrities, actors, and public figures that homosexuals consider to be symbols for the gay community. This common culture creates a schema for identifying homosexuals; a man who dresses and talks flamboyantly or a lesbian who acts masculine may be automatically labeled as a homosexual. In comparison, many people think of certain stereotypes when they think of certain ethnic groups and use those stereotypes to create a schema for those groups; for example, African-Americans are thought of being loud or “ghetto” and Asians are thought of being academically inclined. Of course, these stereotypes are not true for every member of that category, but society has a constant desire to impose rigid categorization. Both homosexuals and ethnic minorities may also be subconsciously adapting stereotypical behaviors in order to fit into a particular category. They may believe that they cannot fit in among people who are different from themselves so they learn to present themselves to others in a particular way, seek ties with others who they believe belong in a particular category, and create certain subcultures (Dillon, 2010, p. 363). People desire to be with others who are similar to them, which causes a need to create these certain categories. In today’s world, both ethnic and sexual minorities face a high level of discrimination; by belonging to these categories, individuals are able to find a place in the world where they understand that they will be

The most important piece of information that must be taken away from this chapter, is the Counselor’s understanding of their own limits in counseling a client struggling with sexual identity. The clients in this chapter are referred to as sexual minorities, which Sanders defines as “individuals with same sex attractions, or behavior, regardless or self-identifications.” (Sanders, 2013, p.252) A Counselor will want to understand most clients are not seeking help for the reasons of changing their sexual identity, but seeking help for issues that have arisen because of their struggle in understanding their sexual identity. In order to understand the issue itself, the Counselor will want to dive into the history of homosexuality and sexual identity. Etiology play an important role in understanding ones sexual identity, according to Sanders, research shows biological and environmental factors can contribute to homosexuality. (p.253,

Normally, it has been discovered that heteros who accept sexual minority status is naturally decided and unchanging hold more great mentalities toward sexual minorities, than the individuals who see it as uninhibitedly picked or learnt (e.g., Aguero, Block, and Byrne, 1984; Haslam and Levy, 2006; Haslam, Rothschild and Ernst, 2002; Hegarty and Pratto, 2001; Jayaratne et al., 2006; Whitley, 1990). Given the inescapable ness of homophobic disgrace and segregation, and the ensuing battles numerous LGB individuals confront in tolerating their sexuality, sexual introduction convictions may hold profound individual criticalness for some LGB people. Many additionally hold hostile to essentialist convictions, keeping up that sexual introduction is

The sexual orientation identity development is a theoretical model that conceptualized the resolution of internal conflict related to the formation of individual sexual identity. For sexual minority people, it is commonly known as the coming-out process (Bilodeau & Renn 2005). There have been many different models elaborated to explain such process. All of them share similar stages: awareness, crisis, and acceptance (Loiacano 1989). When individuals become aware of their queer feelings and attraction, they try to block these homosexual feelings by constantly denying and minimizing them. This mechanism of defense leaves negative sequelae in their overall psychosocial well-being (Bilodeau & Renn 2005). Individuals tend to pass by a