The United Kingdom’s acceptance of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) refugees has been heralded as a progressive shift in asylum law. Indeed, the scope for the protection of sexual minorities under the Refugee Convention has expanded. The interpretation of the Convention definition of refugee in Article 1A(2) has been continuously adapted, especially the “particular social group” (PSG) category as well as the recognised scope of “well-founded fear of being persecuted.” This thesis interrogates how “gay” refugees have been accepted under the Convention. The analysis considers the ways judicial decision-making has constructed the PSG and persecution of sexual minority asylum seekers. The sample consists of 22 appeals from 1999-2011 which were identified as major legal developments, beginning with the first significant recognition of “homosexual” refugees. Several additional tribunal determinations and key international cases are also considered. A socio-legal approach is taken to study the tensions between fluid sociological images of gender and sexuality and the fixed notions of identity found in the law (whether arising from individual cases, formal practice, or state imperatives). Through an examination of the legal discourse in the texts examined, the research deconstructs the jurisprudential debates in order to assess their impact on sexual minorities seeking asylum. This contextual, rather than doctrinal, approach reveals how the jurisprudence often obscures sociologically problematic assumptions made by adjudicators. This analysis offers an original contribution, concluding that UK protection is grounded on the assumption that sexual and gender identity are “immutable.” Far from opening the UK to persecuted sexual minorities, the prevalence of this assumption significantly narrows the apparently “inclusive” construct of the refugee. Building on the findings, the thesis proposes that adjudication should focus on the persecutory intent to suppress non-conforming acts and identities (or norm deviance) in order to identify sexual minority refugees rather than the categories of LGBT. Additionally, framing determination in the terms of relational autonomy develops a better understanding of the conditions necessary to realise a non-conforming sexual and gendered life free of persecution. The concept of norm deviance decentres the assumption of a knowable truth of identity, and relational autonomy asserts that the deprivation of self-determination and rights to relate may constitute a well-founded fear of persecution.

African Americans who identify as gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender (GLBT) are discriminated against in the African American community. Sociodemographics such as income, education, age, and religion/spirituality have been shown to be associated with sexual prejudice. There is limited research on how African American cultural attitudes influence attitudes towards sexual orientation. The purpose of this study was to examine the extent to which demographic variables and African American cultural attitudes (measured by the African American Acculturation Scale-Revised; AAAS-R) predict attitudes toward sexual orientation in African American adults (measured by the Attitudes towards Lesbians and Gay Men Scale; ATLG). Social identity theory (SIT) was used to describe how group affiliation influences attitudes. A sample of African Americans who were 18 years or older (n = 236) completed the questionnaires online. Stepwise multiple regression analyses were conducted to examine the relative importance of demographics and cultural attitudes in predicting attitudes towards homosexuals and lesbians. The results of the study indicated that religious affiliation and religious beliefs and practices were statistically significant in predicting attitudes towards both homosexual and lesbian individuals. These findings suggest that individuals who identify as Christians and have stronger religious beliefs and practices are more likely to have negative attitudes towards lesbians and gay men. These results lend support to efforts to create programs to educate people about cultural misconceptions of the African American GLBT community and to encourage spiritual leaders to promote efforts support to them.

By using the creative process as a means to reflect this work delves into the themes of memory and identity as they relate to my struggle, as an adolescent, to define my sexual orientation.

This paper seeks to explore the development of attachments in humans as seen through Bowlby's (1980) attachment theory. Components of the theory which focus on how attachments are formed and how they influence future behavior are explored. These are used to then examine how attachment theory applies to the attachment patterns seen in homosexual males.

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Wisconsin--Stout, 2001. / Title from PDF title page (viewed Jan. 9, 2005). Includes bibliographical references (p. 52-54).

Thesis (Ed.D.)--University of West Florida, 2009. / Submitted to the Dept. of Professional and Community Leadership. Title from title page of source document. Document formatted into pages; contains 0 pages. Includes bibliographical references.

It has long been a tool of the LGBTQ rights movement to loudly proclaim and own one’s sexual orientation label. However, there is a new generation of young sexual minorities who feel a label is no longer necessary. Are these no-labelers headed in the right direction? Or are they hurting the fight for LGBTQ equality? / text

African Americans who identify as gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender (GLBT) are discriminated against in the African American community. Sociodemographics such as income, education, age, and religion/spirituality have been shown to be associated with sexual prejudice. There is limited research on how African American cultural attitudes influence attitudes towards sexual orientation. The purpose of this study was to examine the extent to which demographic variables and African American cultural attitudes (measured by the African American Acculturation Scale-Revised; AAAS-R) predict attitudes toward sexual orientation in African American adults (measured by the Attitudes towards Lesbians and Gay Men Scale; ATLG). Social identity theory (SIT) was used to describe how group affiliation influences attitudes. A sample of African Americans who were 18 years or older (n = 236) completed the questionnaires online. Stepwise multiple regression analyses were conducted to examine the relative importance of demographics and cultural attitudes in predicting attitudes towards homosexuals and lesbians. The results of the study indicated that religious affiliation and religious beliefs and practices were statistically significant in predicting attitudes towards both homosexual and lesbian individuals. These findings suggest that individuals who identify as Christians and have stronger religious beliefs and practices are more likely to have negative attitudes towards lesbians and gay men. These results lend support to efforts to create programs to educate people about cultural misconceptions of the African American GLBT community and to encourage spiritual leaders to promote efforts support to them.

This dissertation examines the relationship between gender and language in Japanese through the often ignored lens of sexuality. Although linguists are increasingly examining these issues for American gay, lesbian, and bisexual speakers, little similar research has been done in Japan. Lesbians, in particular, are relatively invisible in Japanese society. Examining these women, who do not fit neatly into the hegemonic gender ideology, illuminates how speakers can project a specific identity by displaying or rejecting prescriptive gender-specific linguistic norms of Japanese.I analyzed data recorded from interviews with both Japanese lesbian/bisexual and heterosexual women, looking for differences in frequency and range of use of pronouns and sentence-final particles and for phonetic differences in terms of average pitch height and width. I also considered the results of a perception experiment undertaken to investigate the effect of pitch height and width on Japanese speakers' perceptions of sexuality.Although Japanese speakers were generally unable to identify a cohesive lesbian stereotype, especially in terms of language use, the perception experiment indicated that both average pitch height and width significantly affect judgments on whether a voice sounds lesbian or heterosexual. Tokens judged to be lesbian were also judged to be more masculine and less emotional than those judged to be heterosexual. Analysis of the interview data showed that lesbian participants produced an average pitch height that was significantly lower than that of heterosexual participants. In terms of gendered morphemes, lesbians were significantly more likely to use masculine morphemes than heterosexual women, both for sentence-final particles and first-person pronouns, and were significantly less likely to use the feminine first-person pronoun <italic>atashi</italic>. Finally, correlations showed that speakers who instantiate gender through the use of gendered-morphemes also do so through manipulations of pitch.Although Japanese lesbians are still fairly closeted and interviewees maintained that there are no cultural stereotypes for this group, significant differences in pitch and gendered-morpheme usage were still apparent. These lesbian/bisexual women did not appear to be mimicking men's language, but instead seemed to be rejecting hegemonic femininity and many of the cultural and linguistic stereotypes that accompany it.

The current study examined the effect of client sexual orientation and gender role on psychologists’ clinical judgment. A secondary purpose was to examine the extent that psychologist heterosexual identity development status affects the level of heterosexist judgment error displayed when working with lesbian and gay male clients. It was hypothesized that psychologists’ clinical decisions will differ as a result of client sex, client sexual orientation, and client gender role when therapist heterosexual identity development status is controlled for, with psychologists providing significantly different clinical judgments (as measured by diagnostic impression ratings, global and relational functioning ratings, and therapist reported client attractiveness) for lesbian and gay male clients and those displaying cross gendered gender roles than heterosexual female and male clients and those displaying gender-congruent gender roles. It was also hypothesized that psychologist heterosexual identity development status and client sexual orientation together are better predictors of the variation observed in psychologist clinical decisions than client sexual orientation alone. Eight hundred randomly selected members of the American Psychological Association, were presented with a clinical vignette describing fictions client seeking psychological services. The vignettes were identical except for client sex (female or male), sexual orientation (heterosexual or lesbian/gay), and gender role (feminine or masculine), which were manipulated to produce eight different vignettes. After reviewing the vignette, participants provided their diagnostic impressions of the client, rated the overall attractiveness of the client, and completed a measure designed to assess their level of heterosexual identity development. One hundred and thirty-five participants completed the study's materials and were included in the main analyses. Results of the randomized 2 (Client Sex) x 2 (Client Sexual Orientation) x 2 (Client Gender Role) multivariate analysis of covariance (MANCOVA), controlling for psychologist heterosexual identity development status, found that psychologists significantly differed in their assessment of lesbian and gay male clients and heterosexual female and male clients on a variety of clinical factors. Results of a series of multiple linear regressions found that psychologist heterosexual identity development status and client sexual orientation together were better predictors of the variation observed in psychologist clinical decisions than client sexual orientation alone. / Department of Counseling Psychology and Guidance Services