Lesbian Inclusion Research Articles

Inclusion of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Intersex, Asexual, and Other Related Identities Content in Australian Physical Therapy Curricula: Perceived Barriers and Priorities for Inclusive Education.

Providing culturally responsive, patient-centered care is crucial for ensuring safe and positive health care experiences for individuals with diverse gender identities and sexual orientations. Doing so requires adequate training and knowledge of the health professionals involved in those health care experiences. Individuals identifying as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, asexual, and other related identities (LGBTQIA+) experience significant barriers to health and positive health care experiences. In physical therapy, research has identified that individuals who identify as LGBTQIA+ experience discrimination, discomfort, and lack of practitioner knowledge about health needs. The aim of this study was to determine how, and to what extent, content related to LGBTQIA+ individuals is included in Australian physical therapy curricula as well as perceived barriers to inclusion. Physical therapy program directors (PDs) as of January 2022 for all Australian universities that deliver physical therapy programs (n = 24). A Qualtrics survey was emailed to PDs to collect quantitative and qualitative data regarding the inclusion and mode of delivery of LGBTQIA+ content, as well as the perceived importance, and barriers to inclusion, of LGBTQIA+ curricula. Twenty-four (100%) universities (PD or proxy) responded to the survey. More than 62% (15/24) of PDs reported that their programs included LGBTQIA+ content with 88% (21/24), indicating that LGBTQIA+ content is relevant to the physical therapy curriculum. Time devoted to LGBTQIA+ content ranged from 0 to 6 (median 2-4) hours across any year, delivered primarily in general or foundational courses (37%). Perceived lack of trained faculty (14/22; 64%) and time (13/22; 59%) were barriers to the integration of LGBTQIA+ specific content into the curriculum. Our results indicate that the physical therapy curriculum may be contributing to ongoing negative experiences of individuals identifying as LGBTQIA+ with physical therapy encounters. Although most (87%) physical therapy program leaders in Australia believe that LGBTQIA+ specific content is relevant to the training of new graduates, content is included in only 62% of curricula. Perceived barriers to inclusion of LGBTQIA+ specific curriculum were a lack of time and appropriately trained faculty. Externally developed content is available to address limited expertise within programs, but faculty may require guidance on how to overcome perceived lack of time (ie, space in the curriculum). Most Australian physical therapy programs include LGBTQIA+ content to a limited extent in their curricula, indicating a lack of perceived importance relative to other topics. In this way, Australian universities are maintaining the pervasive heteronormativity of the physical therapy profession and are complicit in the ongoing health disparities between the LGBTQIA+ and heteronormative communities.

Designing Implementation Strategies for the Inclusion of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Intersex, Queer, and Allied and Key Populations' Content in Undergraduate Nursing Curricula in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa: Protocol for a Multimethods Research Project.

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex, queer, and allied (LGBTQIA+) individuals encounter challenges with access and engagement with health services. Studies have reported that LGBTQIA+ individuals experience stigma, discrimination, and health workers' microaggression when accessing health care. Compelling evidence suggests that the LGBTQIA+ community faces disproportionate rates of HIV infection, mental health disorders, substance abuse, and other noncommunicable diseases. The South African National Strategic Plan for HIV or AIDS, tuberculosis, and sexually transmitted infections, 2023-2028 recognizes the need for providing affirming LGBTQIA+ health care as part of the country's HIV or AIDS response strategy. However, current anecdotal evidence suggests paucity of LGBTQIA+ and key populations' health content in the undergraduate health science curricula in South Africa. Moreover, literature reveals a general lack of health worker training regarding the health needs of LGBTQIA+ persons and other key populations such as sex workers, people who inject drugs, and men who have sex with men. This study aimed to describe the design of a project that aims at facilitating the inclusion of health content related to the LGBTQIA+ community and other key populations in the undergraduate nursing curricula of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. A multimethods design encompassing collection of primary and secondary data using multiple qualitative designs and quantitative approaches will be used to generate evidence that will inform the co-design, testing, and scale-up of strategies to facilitate the inclusion of LGBTQIA+ and key populations content in the undergraduate nursing curricula in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. Data will be collected using a combination of convenience, purposive, and snowball sampling techniques from LGBTQIA+ persons; academic staff; undergraduate nursing students; and other key populations. Primary data will be collected through individual in-depth interviews, focus groups discussions, and surveys guided by semistructured and structured data collection tools. Data collection and analysis will be an iterative process guided by the respective research design to be adopted. The continuous quality improvement process to be adopted during data gathering and analysis will ensure contextual relevance and sustainability of the resultant co-designed strategies that are to be scaled up as part of the overarching objective of this study. The proposed study is designed in response to recent contextual empirical evidence highlighting the multiplicity of health challenges experienced by LGBTQIA+ individuals and key populations in relation to health service delivery and access to health care. The potential findings of the study may be appropriate for contributing to the education of nurses as one of the means to ameliorate these problems. Data collection is anticipated to commence in June 2024. This research has potential implications for nursing education in South Africa and worldwide as it addresses up-to-date problems in the nursing discipline as it pertains to undergraduate students' preparedness for addressing the unique needs and challenges of the LGBTQIA+ community and other key populations. PRR1-10.2196/52250.

Same-Sex Kissing and Having a Gay or Lesbian Child: A Bridge Too Far? Parent-Child Similarities in Homophobic Attitudes and Observed Parental Discomfort

ABSTRACT This study examined parent-child similarities in homophobic attitudes and observed parental discomfort with coming-out vignettes in interactions with their adolescent children (14–18 years old). Based on gender schema theory and the family process model we expected parent-child similarities in homophobic attitudes to be stronger in same-gender dyads. Further, we expected that observed parental discomfort with coming-out vignettes would occur and is stronger when the gender of the parent, child, and character in the vignette match. We used questionnaires and observation data from 199 White Dutch families in the Netherlands. Our results showed that parents’ homophobic attitudes were associated with their children’s homophobic attitudes. For same-sex kissing and (imagining) having a gay son, these associations were stronger between parents and children of the same gender. Further, parental discomfort with coming-out vignettes occurred and was stronger when parents and children had the same gender, regardless of the gender of the vignette character. In conclusion, policies aiming at gay and lesbian inclusion should not be limited to accepting gay/lesbian identities, but also pay attention to the acceptance of same-sex intimacy expressions, having gay or lesbian family members, and normalizing discussions about gay/lesbian lives.

Fostering Inclusive Approaches to Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) Healthcare on the Obstetrics and Gynecology Clerkship.

This article from the "To the Point" series prepared by the Association of Professors in Gynecology and Obstetrics (APGO) Undergraduate Medical Education Committee (UMEC) provides educators with strategies for inclusion of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender (LGBT)-related content into the medical school curriculum. With a focus on the Obstetrics and Gynecology (OB/GYN) clerkship, we also address ways to enhance visibility of these curricula within existing clinical and teaching experiences.

“My Ideal Is Where It Is Just Jane the Cricketer, Rather Than Jane the Gay Cricketer”: An Institutional Perspective of Lesbian Inclusion in Australian Cricket

The aim of this article was to develop a theoretical framework to aid the current understanding of social change practice. Drawing on concepts from institutional theory, the authors proposed and applied a theoretical framework to investigate social change at the intersection of gender and sexuality inclusion in Australian cricket. Qualitative techniques (interviews and document analyses) were utilized to investigate the trajectory of lesbian inclusion in Australian cricket over time. Starting from the perspective that institutional arrangements can be exclusionary (or biased) toward certain groups in society, this research investigated how the actions of institutional entrepreneurs can create more inclusive institutional arrangements. Theoretical and practical implications for future research are discussed.

Factors Predicting the Inclusion of Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Affirmative Content Taught in Couple and Family Therapy Courses

This study explored the relationship between Couple and Family Therapy (CFT) faculty members’ Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual (LGB) clinical competence and the level of LGB affirmative therapy content they teach in their courses. Hierarchical regression analyses of 117 faculty in accredited CFT programs suggest that faculty members’ own reported competence to work with LGB clients predicted their inclusion of LGB affirmative course content in the courses they teach. Important gender effects also emerged suggesting that women faculty are more likely than men to teach LGB affirmative course material. Results suggest important implications for CFT faculty, training programs, and accreditation standards.

Inclusion of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, and Intersex Health in Australian and New Zealand Medical Education.

This study aims at establishing the scope of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and intersex (LGBTQI) health in Australian and New Zealand medical curricula. We sent medical school curriculum administrators an online cross-sectional survey. The response rate was 15 medical schools (71%): 14 Australian schools and 1 New Zealand school. Respondents included program directors (n = 5; 33%), course coordinators (n = 4; 27%), Heads of School (n = 2; 13%), one Dean (7%), and three others (20%). Most schools (n = 9; 60%) reported 0-5 hours dedicated to teaching LGBTQI content during the required pre-clinical phase; nine schools (60%) reported access to a clinical rotation site where LGBTQI patient care is common. In most schools (n = 9; 60%), LGBTQI-specific content is interspersed throughout the curriculum, but five schools (33%) have dedicated modules. The most commonly used teaching modalities include lectures (n = 12; 80%) and small-group sessions (n = 9; 60%). LGBTQI content covered in curricula is varied, with the most common topics being how to obtain information about same-sex sexual activity (80%) and the difference between sexual behavior and identity (67%). Teaching about gender and gender identity is more varied across schools, with seven respondents (47%) unsure about what is taught. Eight respondents (53%) described the coverage of LGBTQI content at their institution as "fair," two (13%) as "good," and two (13%) as "poor," with one respondent (7%) describing the coverage as "very poor." None of the respondents described the coverage as "very good." Currently, medical schools include limited content on LGBTQI health, most of which focuses on sexuality. There is a need for further inclusion of curriculum related to transgender, gender diverse, and intersex people.

It’s Not in the Curriculum: Adult English Language Teachers and LGBQ Topics

For adult English language learners, the English language classroom provides a space for students to examine cultural as well other identities. However, discussions often center on racial, rather than sexual identities. In addition, attention to how adult English language instructors engage in classroom practices that focus on sexual identities is often limited. This article examines how adult educators in English language classrooms feel regarding the inclusion of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Queer (LGBQ) topics and materials into their curriculum and instruction. Through a web-based survey, teachers described their beliefs, practices, and challenges in creating lessons and responding to student questions in ways that broke down heteronormativity in the adult English language classroom. Findings add to the limited knowledge of how teachers in post-secondary, English language classrooms create and support a culturally responsive learning environment regarding sexual identities.

Gay Pride on Stolen Land: Homonationalism and Settler Colonialism at the Vancouver Winter Olympics

A new form of sporting settler homonationalism emerged in the Pride Houses at the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics. For the first time ever, Pride Houses were set up where gay and lesbian supporters watched and celebrated the Olympic events. Drawing on poststructuralism, queer and settler colonial studies, the paper analyzes how the Pride Houses were based on settler colonial discourses about participation and displacement. A settler discourse about First Nations and Two-Spirit participation in the Pride Houses allowed gay and lesbian Canadian settlers to both remember and forget the history of settlement. Another settler discourse took for granted the displacement of Two-Spirit youth from their community center and Indigenous people from their traditional territories in order for the Olympics and the Pride Houses to take place. The paper suggests that queering settler politics in sport means confronting, rather than disavowing, colonialism and challenging homonational forms of gay and lesbian inclusion in sport mega- events.

The Inclusion of Lesbian and Gay Populations in Health Research: A systematic literature review

The Inclusion of Lesbian and Gay Populations in Health Research: A systematic literature review

Vulnerability and Acceptance: Lesbian Women's Family-Making through Assisted Reproduction in Swedish Public Health Care

Female same-sex couples in Sweden have had access to fertility treatment within public health care since 2005. Treatment is generally tax funded, with a minimal of personal expenses. After birth, both mothers gain legal status as the child's parents. This article draws on findings from interviews with 29 lesbian mothers, all of whom have sought treatment at fertility clinics within the Swedish public health care system. Parts of the interviews in which the mothers describe deficiencies in the provided treatment have been scrutinized in detail. Results show how heteronormative assumptions about the family and a feeling of exposure in the role of patient give rise to vulnerability in lesbian mothers. Furthermore, neither routines nor the offered treatment are adapted to lesbian women's specific needs. Regarding dealing with deficiencies, the interviews are filled with expressions of acceptance, which rhetorically minimize the impact of potential stressors. A main conclusion is that legal inclusion of lesbians in fertility treatment is of groundbreaking importance to lesbians with a desire to become parents. The next step is to address heteronormativity within the health care institutions in order to develop treatment adapted to lesbian couples’ specific needs.

The Silenced Citizens of Russia

This article draws attention to how citizenship, informed by heteronormativity, is represented in politics, judiciary and public social practices in Russia. I argue that the observed discursive reality affects construction of heteronormative citizenship that restricts full inclusion of lesbians and gay men via silencing. The ideas of the article are taken from literature on citizenship and two empirical research studies that I conducted in 2010 and 2011–2012. The first is dedicated to the uncovering of discursive effects of political argumentation in Russia. The second study centres on the accounts of lesbians and gay men themselves regarding their citizenship rights. Both studies give rise to concerns about Soviet legacy in contemporary Russian debates on homosexuality. This idea is supported by an analysis of that historical context that may be grasped from empirical studies of the Soviet.

Sexuality, Activism, and Witness in the Anglican Communion: The 2008 Lambeth Conference of Anglican Bishops

The international Anglican Communion is a key site for struggles over the status of gays and lesbians within Christian churches. This article examines the forms that movements for gay and lesbian inclusion have taken in the Communion through an analysis of collective action at the 2008 Lambeth Conference, a central event in Anglicanism's institutional structure. The analysis builds on recent critiques of the state-centric orientation of much social movement research, arguing that intrareligious movements provide important sites for understanding contemporary processes of social change. Although prior accounts of the sexuality debates within Anglicanism have tended to provide relatively monolithic portrayals of a “gay rights lobby,” activists at Lambeth employed diverse and contested repertoires of action. Although some use was made of conspicuously oppositional protest, many campaigners framed their activities as forms of Christian witness emanating from within the boundary of Anglicanism (rather than the field of secular politics). Gay and lesbian groups sought to complicate overly binaristic notions of conservative (or traditional) versus liberal Christians, stressing aspects of their Christian orthodoxy and their commitment to patterns of lifelong partnership and monogamy. At a moment when many secular gay and lesbian organizations are taking more notice of religion, there is a need for future research to consider how gay and lesbian Christian movements will engage with and influence wider equality struggles.

Empowering Members, Not Overpowering Them: The National Organization for Women, Calls for Lesbian Inclusion, and California Influence, 1960s–1980s

Standard accounts of the National Organization for Women (NOW) seriously underplay the duration of tensions between heterosexual and lesbian NOW members and the ways those tensions included both racialized analogies and tactical concerns. Based on personal papers, archival sources, interviews, and a re-evaluation of printed sources, I argue that by considering the perspective of national, state, and local lesbian feminist NOW members, we see tensions from the 1960s through the 1980s that have been missed by studies that focus either on NOW or on the growth of lesbian feminism or on second-wave feminist development generally. To legitimize their position, White lesbian feminists analogized their oppression with that of racial minorities while claiming to be better feminists than heterosexual women. Their approach is significant to conceptualizing the scope of feminist issues and tactics, the ways White women's discussion of race exacerbated racial divisions, and the fate of the Equal Rights Amendment.

Inclusion of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender People in Tobacco Use-Related Surveillance and Epidemiological Research

Researchers and public health advocates have long recognized the importance of demographic characteristics such as sex, race, ethnicity, age, and socioeconomic status in their efforts to understand and control the use of tobacco among population groups. Targeting prevention and cessation efforts based upon such characteristics has consistently been demonstrated to be both efficient and effective. In recent years, attention has modestly turned to how two additional demographic variables, sexual orientation and gender identity, can add to our understanding of how to reduce tobacco use. Research of tobacco industry papers has clearly documented targeted media campaigns to encourage smoking among lesbians and gays in the marketplace. The tobacco industry has long understood the role that sexual orientation can play in the uptake of smoking and the targeted marketing of brands. Those concerned with tobacco use prevention and cessation research have consequently responded to address tobacco use by lesbians and gays, and bisexuals and transgender people as well, but even more can be done. This article reviews what is known about smoking in lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender populations and then reviews recommendations from four panels created to examine this topic. In conclusion, we recommend that sexual orientation and gender identity be considered for inclusion as variables in all major research and epidemiological studies of tobacco use. Just as such studies, without hesitation, measure sex, race, ethnicity, age, and socioeconomic status, they need to also include questions assessing sexual orientation and gender identity. Although these new variables need not be the primary focus of these studies, at a minimum, considering their use as controlling variables should be explored. Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people can benefit from being openly included in the work researchers conduct to inform the design of tobacco control programs and policies.

A Tortoise in a Hurry: The Ordering of the Anglican Communion

Many Anglicans have begun to see the institutions of the Anglican Communion as something of a ‘tortoise’, either because of their halting journey towards gay and lesbian inclusion, or because of the way in which they have only slowly moved towards a clear rejection of such an ‘innovation’. How does the Anglican Communion actually operate in the face of such developments? This article argues that the Instruments of Communion have adopted an ordered approach to the Communion's life – working through legitimate structures both at provincial and Communion level. It sets out some of the main channels through which the Communion has been working – the Windsor Process and the proposal for an Anglican Covenant – and argues in favour of such an ordered approach to life.

Strategies for Inclusion of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Learners in Discipline-based Programs

IntroductionThe concept of Futures explores how, where, why and when learners learn under ever changing global and local conditions. Futures provides perspective on massive and rapid shifts in technology, globalisation and changes jobs and social and civic institutions. Inherent the concept of Futures are paradigm shifts which provide both challenges and opportunities for learners (see Kehrwald, this issue).Opportunities for learners are enhanced by eliminating traditional barriers learning based on demographic criteria, embracing diversity and accepting individual freedom participate in learning. This move towards inclusivity as critical component of Futures receives support from the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation's Task Force on Education for the 21st Century which has identified the inclusive principles of Learning Live Together and Learning Be as two of its Four Pillars of Education (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation, n.d.). The Organisation positions education as basic human right, one which must be respected regardless of the characteristics or difficulties of individual learners (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation, 2003a). Universal access education is inherent the concept of Futures, empowering individual learners engage in and make meaningful contributions society in the present and the future.In considering inclusive education as pillar of Futures, it is important examine existing pedagogical approaches in the context of issues raised by Futures. One pedagogical approach which has been widely used in some fields is the discipline-based approach, which is grounded in the disciplinary community. Learners in programs employing these approaches are at risk of exclusion when the learning program requires extensive learner engagement with disciplinary community members from industry if those members do not embrace and adhere principles of inclusivity.This paper examines the risks lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered (LGBT) learners inherent in discipline-based learning programs which include workplace internships, in the context of an undergraduate university program in graphic communications management. Recommendations are presented which may result in more inclusive learning experiences in workplace placements.Discipline-based in an Industry Specific ProgramDiscipline-based pedagogical approaches vary significantly from one sector or discipline another; however, all discipline-based approaches share defining characteristics. Discipline-based learning can be defined along analytical dimensions proposed by Zukas and Malcolm (2000). Characteristics of discipline-based approaches are:* organisational, not social, accountability* focus on product, not process* content as given, not contested* disciplinary, not pedagogical, community* individualised learning, not learning in community (see Bassis, 2003; Burkill & Jenkins, n.d.; Vanderburg, 2000).When defined along these analytical dimensions, discipline-based learning stands distinct from other pedagogical approaches. A discipline-based approach exists when a course is effectively centred on the particular pedagogic concerns of discipline or subject (Burkill & Jenkins, n.d., p. 1). A discipline-based approach may be used in many subjects; however, it is frequently applied in industry specific, industrial or technologically focused programs.In the graphic communications management program at Ryerson University in Toronto, Canada, the stated mission is to graduate individuals who will become effective professionals in the printing industries with solid foundation of education and technical training enable them develop as professional managers (Ryerson University, n. …

Women's Progress, World Progress

Estelle B. Freedman. No Turning Back: The History of Feminism and the Future of Women. New York: Ballantine Books, 2002. xiii + 445 pp.; bib.; index. ISBN 0-345-45054-x (cl); 0-345-4505-31 (pb). In a world turning fascist and fundamentalist, in a country reversing decades of progress in women's, racial, and human rights, is it true there is "No Turning Back" from feminism? The answer presented by Estelle Freedman is indispensable for any argument, classroom, precinct, and for any generation. In spite of disheartening antifeminism and crude prejudice, despite disinformation about feminists blaming white men and disdaining traditional women, despite U.S. opposition to U.N. charters protecting women, or past and present rollbacks of women's rights around the world—feminism keeps spreading globally. As Estelle Freedman argues in No Turning Back, "a belief that women and men are inherently of equal worth" persists in expanding (7). "At a time when it would be easy to dwell on resistance to feminism, we need a longer historical perspective. . . . I find that the prospects for women have never been brighter" (xiii). The longer historical perspective, crucial to Freedman's argument, shows how capitalism, individual rights, and representative government "create both the need for feminism and the means to sustain it" (2). The revelation in this book is that feminism has not spread from the United States outward, but from place to place, becoming more flexible and inclusive as it goes. As Freedman brilliantly shows, each time feminism is reframed to meet a group's needs, it nourishes another group. A century ago, Russian Socialists moving to New York brought their communitarian feminism; today Latin American feminists bring lessons in family and community, while people of color expose the complex intersections between gender and race. With this expansive vision, Freedman wisely chooses to speak of "feminisms" in the plural, highlighting distinct timelines that often run at odds. Decades ago, "some suffragists even tried to bolster their unpopular cause by exploiting racial stereotypes directed at both African Americans and the masses of Catholic and Jewish immigrants" (79), while some European feminists viewed non-Western women as "exotic, sexually oppressed others" [End Page 166] (105). Then the 1920 suffrage victory was erased for African American women by segregation. Later in the twentieth century, some women of color "rejected radical feminism because of its inclusion of lesbians" (89). The mystery is how all these crosscurrents came to form a torrent. To find an answer, No Turning Back assembles massive research. No other book pulls together so much worldwide data and interpretation, voices and statistics, scholarship and common sense (with sections on history, race, wage labor and family, health, reproduction, sexuality, violence, creativity, and politics) to show women changing the deep-set arrangements of their societies. Like Ruth Rosen's groundbreaking study, The World Split Open,Freedman's No Turning Back exposes the ways women rename gendered practices as prejudices and crimes.1 In some places, the renaming runs private and quiet, in others, visible and clamorous. Freedman's unforgettable point is that "political" means more than state-oriented or obvious. The book never backs away from "political" issues that divide women and feminists, such as race and nationality, or reproduction. In many examples these divisions strengthen feminism: for instance, Native Americans placed sterilization abuse on the map of reproductive rights (chap. 10). Other divisions run geologically deep—divisions over racial privileges, pornography, colonial legacies, and reproductive technology—but Freedman works hard for balance. For instance, she says, "Recent medical technologies offer greater reproductive choices, but they also have the potential to exploit women's reproductive labor" (230). Although she casts a doubtful eye on reproductive technology, implying that infertility should concern feminists less than other reproductive problems, here as elsewhere the book resists one-sidedness, achieving astounding clarity and tolerance. Every point demonstrates its origin in the back-and-forth of classroom discussion. Most readers will find their experiences recognized, though most will also look...

From Sodomy to Homosexuality: Rural Sex and the Inclusion of Lesbians in Criminal Discourse

This article summarizes the results of an extensive study of more than 2,000 court cases concerning “unnatural fornication” in Sweden between 1880 and 1950. Presenting statistics and three case studies, the author argues that urbanization brought with it a sexual paradigm shift. Before the 1930s, sexual discourse was determined by an archaic rural sodomy paradigm, which loosely defined the sins of Sodom as penetrative sex without the purpose of reproduction. Rapid modernization, however, disrupted the old ways of defining licit and illicit sexual expression. The new, urban homosexuality paradigm draws a sharp line between heterosexuality and homosexuality and interprets any sign of affection between persons of the same sex as a symptom of homosexuality, an inborn disposition found in a limited number of individuals. The modern paradigm does not include other sexual practices, such as bestiality, which have disappeared from the sexual discourse. On the other hand, it does accommodate sex between women within its interpretative framework, and lesbian sexuality has become incorporated in legal and medical discourse.

Sexualizing Governance and Medicalizing Identities: The Emergence of `State-Centered' LGBT Health Politics in the United States

In recent years, `state-centered' LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered) health advocacy has emerged as a distinctive form of health activism in the United States. These advocates seek the inclusion of lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, and transgendered persons as subjects and objects of biomedical research. Much of their attention has focused on changing the policies, practices, and priorities of agencies of the US Department of Health and Human Services, including the National Institutes of Health. This emphasis has developed out of the convergence of two trajectories: the histories of specific activist movements that show an increasing willingness to engage directly with the state; and the adoption by the state of a `policy paradigm' for including `special populations' within the concerns of federal health agencies. The impact of state-centered LGBT health advocacy can be traced in a number of specific domains. However, the partial successes of these efforts raise troubling questions about the medicalization of LGBT identities and the limitations of biomedical citizenship.