Interpersonal LGBTQ Communication

Abstract

Interpersonal communication studies is a subfield within communication studies dedicated to the communication processes between two people or among small groups of people. Driven by social-psychological and interpretive approaches to communication studies, it began to take shape in the 1970s and is now one of the largest areas of study within communication studies. Interpersonal communication theories and framework largely presumed populations to be heterosexual and/or cisgender for decades. The specific lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, and queer (LGBTQ) topics studied by interpersonal communication scholars or by scholars who integrate interpersonal communication perspectives reflect social and political dynamics. The acronym LGBTQ here pragmatically serves as a commonly used identifier although other identifiers (e.g., LGBTQ2S, LGBTQI2SA, LGBTQ+) merit equal recognition. Earlier studies focused on stereotyping, discrimination, stigma, coming out processes of gay men and then lesbians, and same-sex romantic and sexual relationships; the invisibility of bisexual and trans people was highlighted thereafter. While the earlier focus laid on sexual orientation, more recent studies address transgender issues and gender identity effects in interpersonal communication. With social, political, and legal acknowledgment of LGBTQ family relationships, scholars began to include studying interpersonal communication within LGBTQ families and relationships and between LGBTQ family members and their heterosexual and/or cisgender relatives. In the last two decades, scholarship by and about Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC) has critiqued the dominance of whiteness in interpersonal communication studies, which also applies to LGBTQ interpersonal communication. BIPOC LGBTQ interpersonal communication dynamics remain understudied, as do other demographic groups within LGBTQ communities, such as people with disabilities, non-binary people, homeless people, veterans, or refugees. LGBTQ interpersonal communication studies appear disproportionately affected by a lack of keyword consistency. A wealth of studies in social sciences examines communication processes affecting LGBTQ people. However, these studies are conducted by scholars from a range of related disciplines and published in a transdisciplinary range of journals. They often omit interpersonal communication as a keyword so that the entirety of research knowledge in this area appears smaller than it actually is. This overview of key scholarly literature on LGBTQ people and topics represents scholarly literature that specifically mentions communication and that applies to interpersonal communication settings. Generally speaking, LGBTQ interpersonal communication scholarship could be characterized by a high number of pilot and single-case studies. Larger bodies of knowledge exist in very specific topic areas such as coming out, safer sex (often in the context of HIV/AIDS), and same-sex couple communication and parent-child communication. Examinations of the applicability and transferability of interpersonal communication constructs, instruments, and theories originating from heterosexual and cisgender samples are largely absent.