Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual And Transgender Identity Research Articles

A social identity perspective on lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) entrepreneurs’ networking behavior

PurposeThis study aims to draw upon entrepreneurial network resource and social identity theories to advance the understanding of LGBT entrepreneurial behavior. The authors focus on what resources are acquired by LGBT entrepreneurs from LGBT-specific networks, such as entrepreneurs’ associations or chambers of commerce, and why they might engage with them.Design/methodology/approachAs an initial scoping exercise, Study 1 quantitatively examined the different resources acquired via a survey of 109 LGBT entrepreneurs from the UK, mainland Europe and North America. Building on these findings, Study 2 qualitatively explored why LGBT entrepreneurs acquire resources from and engage with LGBT-specific networks via interviews with 23 LGBT entrepreneurs (with representation from the UK, Mainland Europe and North America).FindingsStudy 1 indicates that being more involved in LGBT-specific networks is associated with stronger resource acquisition, particularly those that are relational and psychological in nature. Study 2 reveals that such networks can act as psychologically safe holding environments where resources that fulfil needs for belonging and uniqueness are acquired. However, certain challenges and issues arise when trying to meet all members' needs.Practical implicationsThe findings underscore the need for LGBT networks that are run for, and by, LGBT entrepreneurs. Such networks allow LGBT entrepreneurs to be more authentic about, and empowered by, their LGBT identity in their business such that they can develop a stronger sense of individual and collective pride in being part of an LGBT entrepreneurial community. Yet, there is a need to understand the variety of identities and needs across the LGBT community.Originality/valueThe authors advance our understanding of LGBT entrepreneurs by connecting knowledge on entrepreneurship with that on applied psychology. The authors develop an original contribution by focusing on how LGBT entrepreneurs use LGBT-specific networks to meet important psychological and relational needs, thus speaking to the importance of developing an LGBT entrepreneurial community that enables LGBT entrepreneurs to express their LGBT and entrepreneurial identities.

Conceptualising Work as a ‘Safe Space’ for Negotiating LGBT Identities: Navigating Careers in the Construction Sector

Despite sustained focus in recent years on understanding the experiences of underrepresented groups in construction, there has been a paucity of work that has explored the experiences of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) workers. Research has shown homophobia is commonplace in the construction industry and very few gay employees feel able to be open about their sexuality. Using qualitative data garnered from 16 in-depth interviews and a focus group with LGBT workers in the UK construction sector, this article analyses how participants negotiate identities at work and navigate their careers. Drawing on the concept of heteronormativity we consider how organisational contexts frame, constrict and liberate identities in the workplace. Significantly, our findings show that despite enduring heteronormative structures, work was described by participants as a ‘safe space’. By demonstrating how workers assess, move between and create ‘safe spaces’, this article contributes novel insights into the challenging of heteronormativity in heteronormative work contexts.

Contemporary, racialised conflicts over LGBT-inclusive education: more strategic secularisms than secular/religious oppositions?

ABSTRACT This paper analyses public conflicts over school policies that seek to advance Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) equality. It focuses in particular on conflicts where Muslims, who protest LGBT-inclusive policies, become racialised as other to secular national/Western values. Growing attention has been paid to the secular arguments used by majority and minority religious groups to publicly counter LGBT-inclusive education. In this paper, I contend that neither contemporary arguments for, or against, LGBT-inclusive education are neatly secular, i.e., non-religious, in their public appearance. Introducing a Critical Secular approach, I contend multiple parties in such conflicts work with “strategic” secularisms. Strategic secularisms are prevailing discourses which privatise, and deprivatise (make public), aspects of minority religious and sexual identities on neo-colonial, secular Christian terms. I present a thematic analysis of 149 newspaper articles covering protests largely by Muslims against LGBT-inclusive education outside schools in Birmingham, England. The analysis shows that newspapers foregrounded discourses seeking to privatise (assert private authority over) or deprivatise (publicly surveil) Muslim religiosity. LGBT identities were also variously framed as “beliefs” to be kept private, or an essential part of the public self which must be confessed to be “free”. Based on this analysis, I argue public discourse should certainly challenge queer/Muslim and secular/religious dichotomies. But more fundamentally, there is a need to cultivate education publics that refuse strategic secularisms based in neo-colonial, racialised discourses of secular Christian civilisation, and engage the losses created by the privatising and deprivatising of specific forms of minority religious and sexual identity.

Inclusive relationships, sex and health education: Why the moral panic?

There are an estimated 50,000 LGBT teachers in English schools. In common with all workplaces, under the Equality Act 2010, schools have a responsibility to protect Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) teachers from harassment in the workplace. From September 2020, for the first time, schools in England have been required to teach Relationships, Sex and Health Education (RSHE) that is inclusive of LGBT relationships. Representatives of faith communities and parents of school children in Birmingham and other major cities have protested outside school gates in opposition to the introduction of LGBT inclusive RSHE. This article explores what is at the heart of the moral panic about the inclusion of LGBT identities in the curriculum. As schools introduce inclusive RSHE, we must consider the impact of protests on LGBT teacher health, well-being and identity. More than half of LGBT teachers have suffered from anxiety or depression linked to their sexual identity and role as a teacher and so supportive and unequivocal support and intervention is needed to ensure schools are safe places, free from hostility, for LGBT teachers, pupils and their families.

Learning Management on Sexual Diversity in Social Studies through a Case Study on Identity Formation in LGBT Elderly

The purpose of this research is to study learning management on sexual diversity in social studies through a case study on identity formation in the LGBT elderly. The sample included 12 LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender) elderly people determined by the concept of age ranges or generations. This study is in the form of a qualitative study by using the methodology, autobiography, and storytelling of life history. 
 
 The results of the study revealed that these LGBT elderly people developed or formed LGBT identity at their early age before entering to acceptance of LGBT. Most of them were aware that they had a sexual identity different from general people since they were young. Some of them accepted such identity and express it right away whereas some tried to hide it since it was unacceptable in their living societies. Then they sought knowledge by themselves through direct experience and from other people with the same sexuality. However, these LGBT people thought that education should take the role to educate about LGBT to understand LGBT people as well as others. Regarding learning management, the focus should be on the target group of teenage students by emphasizing understanding and awareness of right, liberty, and equality in genders and societies.

Polish adaptation of the Daily Heterosexist Experiences Questionnaire.

The aim of the conducted research was to prepare the Polish adaptation of the Daily Heterosexist Experiences Questionnaire (DHEQ) by Kimberly Balsam et al. (2013) and to verify psychometric characteristics of the Polish adaptation. This original tool manages to address the experiences of prejudice and discrimination affecting LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) people. Data from 197 Polish LGBT participants were collected online. Mean age of participants was 31 years (M = 31.93; SD = 8.37). Nearly 17% (N = 33) of participants were transgender,alittleover19% (N = 38) described themselves as non-heterosexual women, while the remainder of the sample (N = 127; 64%) were self-described as homosexual, bisexual or pansexual men. The questionnaires included the Polish adaptation of the DHEQ and a control tool designed for the needs of this study. The highest scores were found on factor describing experiences of 'Vicarious trauma', showing that learning about abuse and discrimination of other members of LGBT community is an important stressor for LGBTpeople. Other important stressors were 'Isolation' and 'Vigilance' describing feelings of loneliness and effort made in order to conceal LGBT identity. Of all the groups, the transgender people were the most exposed to heterosexism. The Polish adaptation of the DHEQ is characterized by good psychometric properties. The majority of the factors distinguished in the DHEQ are applicable to Polish cultural context.

Psychological wellbeing facilitates accurate HIV risk appraisal in gay and bisexual men.

Overall, 191 HIV-negative GBM completed a cross-sectional survey, in which they provided demographic information and completed measures of engagement in actual sexual risk behaviours, diagnosis with a sexually transmissible infection in the past 12 months, frequency of HIV testing, use of post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP), perceived HIV risk, lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) identity, sexual identity openness and psychological wellbeing. Results showed that there was a correlation between engagement in actual HIV risk behaviours and perceived HIV risk, suggesting relatively accurate HIV risk appraisal in the participant sample. LGBT identity and sexual identity openness were associated with increased psychological wellbeing. Structural equation modelling showed that psychological wellbeing has an effect on perceived HIV risk through the mediator of LGBT identity. It appears that a state of psychological wellbeing facilitates the construction of a strong and robust LGBT identity, which can be displayed to others, and that a strong LGBT identity in turn facilitates accurate HIV risk appraisal in GBM. In order to achieve our target of zero new HIV infections by 2030, it will be essential to focus on enhancing psychological wellbeing in people at risk of HIV.

Severity and Influencing Factors of Homophobia in Korean Nursing Students.

Sexual minorities are people with non-cis and non-heterosexual gender identities, including LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender) identities. Korean society is prejudiced against sexual minorities—in our study, we will broadly label this prejudice homophobia. It is possible that sexual minorities do not receive appropriate health management owing to such prejudices. Therefore, it is necessary to reduce homophobia in nursing students. This study aims to measure the degree of homophobia in Korean nursing students and identify the factors that affect homophobia. Our study is a cross-sectional study, which surveys attitudes of 265 nursing students toward homophobia in five Korean cities in January to March, 2019. The average homophobia score was 74.5 out of a possible 120; 92.9% of the participants were classified as homophobic, and 42.3% as highly homophobic. We found that participants who were male, religious, had low self-esteem, and had no family members or acquaintances who might belong to a sexual minority group, were more likely to be homophobic. Nursing students in Korea still exhibit high levels of homophobia. As high levels of homophobia can negatively affect health management and nursing, especially in the case of sexual minorities, we suggest that educational programs should be set up to reduce homophobia in nursing students.

LGBT Identity: The Illustration of “Othering” in India

Abstract“Social identities are relational; groups typically define themselves in relation to others. This is because identity has little meaning without the ‘other’” (Okolie 2003). So, can we ignore the “other” identity to examine the concept of identity as a whole? “Other” is the counterpart of “self,” and means those who are neglected and situated at the margin of the power structure. These concepts of “other” and “self” have been popularized after the emergence of postmodernism and postcolonialism. The lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community can be regarded as “other” of the male‐female binary. The state has a big role to create and/or erase the differentiation between “self” and “other.” The demand of the LGBT community, that is, the exclusion of Section 377 from the Indian Penal Code is yet to be fulfilled by the Indian State, “but it also made possible the formation of a ‘reverse’ discourse: homosexuality began to speak in its own behalf, to demand its legitimacy” (Foucault 1976, 101). The aims of my paper are to find out the theoretical aspects of the otherness in the case of LGBT. What should be the way of inclusion of the LGBT community in the mainstream?

Scrambling for access: availability, accessibility, acceptability and quality of healthcare for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people in South Africa

BackgroundSexual orientation and gender identity are social determinants of health for people identifying as lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT), and health disparities among sexual and gender minority populations are increasingly well understood. Although the South African constitution guarantees sexual and gender minority people the right to non-discrimination and the right to access to healthcare, homo- and transphobia in society abound. Little is known about LGBT people’s healthcare experiences in South Africa, but anecdotal evidence suggests significant barriers to accessing care. Using the framework of the UN International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights General Comment 14, this study analyses the experiences of LGBT health service users using South African public sector healthcare, including access to HIV counselling, testing and treatment.MethodsA qualitative study comprised of 16 semi-structured interviews and two focus group discussions with LGBT health service users, and 14 individual interviews with representatives of LGBT organisations. Data were thematically analysed within the framework of the UN International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights General Comment 14, focusing on availability, accessibility, acceptability and quality of care.ResultsAll interviewees reported experiences of discrimination by healthcare providers based on their sexual orientation and/or gender identity. Participants recounted violations of all four elements of the UN General Comment 14: 1) Availability: Lack of public health facilities and services, both for general and LGBT-specific concerns; 2) Accessibility: Healthcare providers' refusal to provide care to LGBT patients; 3) Acceptability: Articulation of moral judgment and disapproval of LGBT patients’ identity, and forced subjection of patients to religious practices; 4) Quality: Lack of knowledge about LGBT identities and health needs, leading to poor-quality care. Participants had delayed or avoided seeking healthcare in the past, and none had sought out accountability or complaint mechanisms within the health system.ConclusionSexual orientation and gender identity are important categories of analysis for health equity, and lead to disparities in all four dimensions of healthcare access as defined by General Comment 14. Discriminatory and prejudicial attitudes by healthcare providers, combined with a lack of competency and knowledge are key reasons for these disparities in South Africa.

Mastering wellness: LGBT people’s understanding of wellbeing through interest sharing

The wellbeing of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people has generated considerable research interest over 30 years. An alternative perspective to the consensus of increased LGBT mental health risk is put forward in light of research with general populations on social wellbeing through community involvement. This qualitative research is aligned with emergent research trends problematising the dominant ‘at risk’ representation. Through 10 in-depth interviews with 11 LGBT people living in Ireland involved in physical, creative and social activities, within and outside LGBT communities, this study explored the relationship between LGBT wellbeing and interest sharing. The theme of ‘mastering wellness’ emerged from the personal narratives, emphasising participants’ agency regarding their wellbeing. Participants’ openness in discussing mental health contrasts with the Irish population. Respondents generally understood that anyone may experience periods of mental ill-health and equally experience times of wellbeing. This suggests potentially stigmatised communities simultaneously challenge the stigmatising representation of LGBT identities and mental health and binary constructs of normal/abnormal. The implications of this study underscore the need for nursing policy and practice initiatives promoting wellbeing within and beyond LGBT communities.

Methodological reflections on researching lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender university students in Hong Kong: to what extent are they vulnerable interview subjects?

Increasingly, the importance of reflexivity has been acknowledged in higher education research. In this paper, I reflect on my experience of researching lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) university students in Hong Kong. The focus is not on the findings that emerge from the in-depth interviews conducted per se, but on the methodological reflections of the research process itself. Particularly, I focus on the notion of ‘vulnerability’ in the qualitative research literature which suggests that some study topics are particularly sensitive and some interviewees are especially vulnerable. I argue that because LGBT students in Hong Kong live under the governance of family biopolitics and the colonial legacy of religious dominance in secondary education, they are subjected to enormous social pressure to reject or conceal their LGBT identities. In that sense, they can be conceived as vulnerable interview subjects. However, LGBT students, especially those who are in the closet, redefined the interview as an occasion to ponder their identity struggles, and to release problems and worries that in everyday life they can share with no one. For some LGBT students, knowing of the very existence of the research itself and participating in the research were empowering. The LGBT students had the capacity to shape the meanings of the interview, thus, they were far from being completely vulnerable. Quite unexpectedly, I found myself as a researcher in a relatively vulnerable position, feeling emotionally overwhelmed by the research and feeling guilty of not doing ‘enough’ for the LGBT students. This paper argues that although researchers need to continue to pay attention to the ethics of conducting culturally sensitive research, the vulnerability of some interview subjects should not be overestimated. Otherwise researchers risk further silencing the voices of those who are already socially marginalized. I also contend that qualitative research should acknowledge researchers’ vulnerability.

Older LGBT people's experiences and concerns with healthcare professionals and services in Ireland.

The specific healthcare needs and concerns for older lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) persons have not been explored to any degree within Ireland. The aim of this paper, which is part of a larger study, is to detail older LGBT persons' usage, experiences and concerns with accessing healthcare services, disclosing their LGBT identity to professionals, preferences for care and their suggestions for improvement in services, including nursing services. A mixed methods research design combining quantitative survey and qualitative interview approaches of equal significance was used. 144 respondents completed an 84-item questionnaire concerning their use of healthcare services, experiences and needs. The qualitative phase involved in-depth interviews where 36 participants' experiences and concerns around health services were explored more in-depth. Quantitative data were analysed using descriptive statistics. Qualitative analysis employed the constant comparative process to generate the leading themes. Only one in three participants believed that healthcare professionals have sufficient knowledge of LGBT issues, and less than half (43%) felt respected as an LGBT person by healthcare professionals. Although 26% had chosen not to reveal their LGBT status for fear of a negative response, many positive encounters of coming out to healthcare professionals were relayed in the interviews. LGBT persons have specific concerns around residential care, particularly in relation to the perception that the Irish healthcare services emanate a heteronormative culture. Irish healthcare services need to reflect on how they currently engage with older LGBT persons at both an organisational and practitioner level. Consideration needs to be given to the specific concerns of ageing LGBT persons, particularly in relation to long-term residential care. Healthcare practitioners need to be knowledgeable of, and sensitive to, LGBT issues.

‘Keeping things straight’: the representation of sexualities in life orientation textbooks

Heterosexism and heteronormativity are pervasive in the South African society, but to what degree are they present in Life Orientation (LO) textbooks? This question, explored through a content analysis of widely used Grade 10 LO textbooks, was framed by queer theory. The paper quantitatively examines the coverage of sexualities, and qualitatively examines how sexualities are constructed and projected in the texts. The quantitative analysis reveals a low percentage of statements devoted to sexuality overall and the normalisation of heterosexuality mainly through the exclusion of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) sexualities but also through techniques of differentiation, hierarchisation and homogenisation. The qualitative analysis reveals inadequate information about sexualities and in its place a simplistic, moralistic ideological approach. Furthermore, discussions of the family, dating, safe sex and marriage assume heterosexuality as the norm. Nineteen years after the democratisation of South Africa and 17 years after the ratification of South Africa's constitution which explicitly forbids discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, LGBT sexualities are largely invisible in school LO curricula. Since this is a subject that is compulsory for all learners and its express aim is to prepare young South Africans for participation as citizens in a just and democratic society, the absence of LGBT issues and identities helps perpetuate prejudice and violence towards LGBT communities.

“Having to think about it all the time”: factors affecting the identity management strategies of residential summer camp staff who self-identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender

This study examined factors related to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) identity management at residential summer camp. Participants between the ages of 18 and 25 years, who self-identified as LGBT or non-heterosexual, and had worked at a residential summer camp within the prior three years (2007–2009) were interviewed face-to-face. The sample included 24 females, 3 males and 1 individual who identified as gender queer. Grounded theory methods were used for analysis. The analysis found that existing homophobic and heteronormative structures at camp and in society dictated that staff manage their LGBT identity defensively to minimize harm. Identity management strategies at camp were affected by the themes that emerged from the data: residential camp context, staff members’ prior experience, disclosure of LGBT identity and the atmosphere for LGBT individuals at each particular camp.

Coming Out and Fitting In: Same-Sex Marriage and the Politics of Difference

This article argues in favour of same-sex marriage, but only under certain conditions. Same-sex marriage ought to be introduced in the Australian context in order to remedy the formal inequalities between lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) citizens and their heterosexual/cisgendered counterparts. One common method of justifying the introduction of formal same-sex relationship recognition has been via the promotion of LGBT "normalcy." This article explores such a trend by analysing popular media and advertising, since media representations and coverage have been shown to affect the way the general public "learns, understands, and thinks about an issue" (Li and Lui 73). This article finds that the promotion of normalcy can, in fact, perpetuate hetero-norms, and only offer LGBT people an imaginary social equality. Such normalisation, it is suggested, is detrimental to a wider goal of gaining respect for LGBT people regardless, not in spite of, their identity and relationships. Yet, this article maintains that such imaginary equality can be avoided, so long as a plurality of possibilities for one’s intimate and familial life are actively legitimated and promoted.

Stigma Narratives: LGBT Transitions and Identities in Malta

ABSTRACT This article considers narratives of transition experiences of a group of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) young people in Malta. The article draws on Goffman's concept of stigma and uses this to explore transitions in a society that retains some traditional characteristics, particularly the code of honour and shame, although mediated by aspects of modernity. Interviews were undertaken with 15 young people with the goal of producing narratives. The article analyses the experience of stigma, its effects and how young people manage its consequences. It concludes by drawing attention to the pervasive nature of stigma and the importance of structure, agency and reflexivity in youth transitions. In particular stigma remains an important feature of societies in which hetero-normative sexuality remains dominant.

Is tobacco a gay issue? Interviews with leaders of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community

This study examined the extent of tobacco industry funding of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) organisations and whether leaders of these organisations thought tobacco was a priority health issue for their community. We interviewed leaders of 74 LGBT organisations and publications in the USA, reflecting a wide variety of groups. Twenty‐two percent said they had accepted tobacco industry funding and few (24%) identified tobacco as a priority issue. Most leaders did not perceive tobacco as an issue relevant to LGBT identity. They saw smoking as a personal choice and individual right rather than as a health crisis fuelled by industry activities. As such, they were reluctant to judge a legal industry, fearing it might lead to having to evaluate other potential funders. They saw tobacco control as divisive, potentially alienating their peers who smoke. The minority who embraced tobacco control saw the industry as culpable and viewed their own roles as protecting the community from all harms, not just those specific to the gay community. Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender tobacco‐control advocates should reframe smoking as an unhealthy response to the stresses of homophobia to persuade leaders that tobacco control is central to LGBT health.

Sodomy in India: Sex Crime or Human Right?

There is a wide spectrum of sexual acts, practices and identities worldwide. The existing language of sexual rights has emerged largely in relation to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people. In turn, this language seems to cater primarily to LGBT or similar such identities. Heterosexuals may be excluded, as well as indigenous same sex practising or transgender people who do not identify as LGBT, such as the hijras of South Asia. The challenge is to make human rights accessible to all. There is therefore a need to expand the human rights discourse beyond narrow notions of identities, to secure a firm foundation for sexual rights. The author takes the example of the British colonial law, Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code 1860, which makes illegal ‘carnal intercourse against the order of nature’. This law remains in force in India and is a source of constant human rights violations. Although a literal reading of the law does not explicitly condemn any particular sexual identity, homosexual or heterosexual, in effect it criminalises all forms of consensual same sex sexual activity. Due to its own lack of focus on identities, Section 377 is a fitting test case for a broader and newly proposed human right: the right to sexual autonomy.