Editor's Note Volume 5, Issue 2

Abstract

To our readers, welcome to the second half of 2022. Thank you to the readers for supporting us and our appreciation to the authors for continuing their passion of research within all topics concerning sexuality, gender policies, and reproductive justice. We are making sure your dedication never goes unnoticed. It is my pleasure to present Volume 5, Issue 2 of SGP, our second issue of the year joining this transition into the winter season. The current issue enlightens us with four additional scholarly works, three research articles and one book review. Introducing “Religion, Homosexuality and the EU: Grasping the Beliefs of Romanian Orthodox Priests,” authors Sergiu Gherghina, Sergiu Miscoiu, and Dragoș Șamșudean bring attention the contrast between the European Union and the Church. The article addresses that there are “very little [known] about how the priests perceive the relationship between homosexuality and the EU. The priests' beliefs and opinions can provide insights into what is beyond the official Church statements.” The authors analyze the ways in which the Romanian Orthodox priests link the EU and the topic of homosexuality, as well as address that gap in early “research illustrates that the Church opposes the EU as a promoter of homosexuality and brings a critique based on national identity.” Using a qualitative study method, the findings “indicate the existence of three main points of criticism against what the respondents perceive as an increasing pressure by the EU to adopt a favorable treatment of homosexuals.” Presenting “Sexuality Education as Developmentally Appropriate in the American Catholic Higher Education Curriculum” by Mark Levand, this research article delves into institutions of higher learning to include academy engagement with sexuality education in recent years, more specifically Catholic colleges and universities. Throughout this research article, Levland identifies “the breadth and complexity of what is meant by ‘sexuality’ followed by the social and cognitive developmental theories that substantiate the need for sexuality information at the college level.” We also present “Teachers as perpetrators of gender-based violence against girl-students within Schools: Voices of victims in Tanzania reveals” by Mgambi Msafiri, Antony Fute, and Amani Abisai Lyanga. The authors explore girls' experience of gender-related violent acts within schools. Through intensive interviews and document analysis have then revealed several incidents where teachers perpetrate gender-based violence against girls in schools through a qualitative approach. Msafiri's defining point shows that sexual harassment, especially male teachers who forcibly want sexual affairs with their girl-students, has been reported by most students. This new study informs the global community about the importance of following closely on girls' life in schools to achieve UNESCO's future agenda of 2030. Finally, in this issue, we include a review of Lawrence La Fountain-Stokes' news book, Translocas: The Politics of Puerto Rican Drag and Trans Performance (University of Michigan Press, 2021) by Javier R. Franco. Translocas studies migration, transvestism, and performance in Puerto Rico, proposing that drag culture not only challenges notions of gender and sexuality but also addresses commodification, diasporic displacements, cyberspace, and reenactments of home, race, ethnicity, class, poverty, racial passing, and politics. As in the previous issues, we have sought to structure and lay the groundwork for further debate on the fundamental issues of sexuality, gender, and policy. Thank you for your interest and your contributions as we continue to build this journal. We are eager for the continued development of research in the field for Sexuality, Gender & Policy. We are happy to communicate to our readers that starting in 2023, our journal will have four issues a year. Thus, we invite you to send your submissions to our editorial team. SPG, Editorial Team