This qualitative study, informed by narrative and social constructionist theory, aimed to engage with the tensions and complexities emerging from the narratives of six white, South African homosexual men, of two different age-groups (older and younger). The intention was to assess the extent to which time-constrained understandings of homosexuality - as sin, sickness and adaptive choice - have impacted on the lived experience of these homosexuals. It was found that all-independent of era - refer to internalised homophobia. It was discovered, however, that due to freedom of the press, and psychologisation, while the younger participants testify to the complexity of their lived experience, they do have more recourse and agency in constructing and negotiating their sex lives, and their place in their gay communities. / Thesis (M.Sc.)-University of Natal, Durban, 2003.

Written for the Institute of Comparative Law. Title from title page of PDF (viewed 2010/04/20). Includes bibliographical references.

The purpose of this exploratory investigation was to investigate how self-identified gay or bisexual (GB) men with developmental disabilities managed their complex identities. Through various profiling strategies and snowball sampling techniques, seven such GB men volunteered. These key participants resided over a wide geographical area, from the coastal US to the southern part of British Columbia. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with each person, three of whom identified a caregiver as being a particularly important part of his "coming-out" process. Semi-structured interviews were also conducted with these supporting participants, as well as a few other relevant professionals. Key participants' life stories were framed within several theories: namely; Goffman's (1963) stigma, Lave and Wengers' (1991) legitimate peripheral participation, disability theory, queer theory and Smith's (1987) institutional ethnography. Similarly, the supporting professionals' responses were analyzed. The results present rich kaleidoscopic narrative descriptions, and provide many implications for special education practice and queer activism. / Education, Faculty of / Curriculum and Pedagogy (EDCP), Department of / Graduate

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Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / This study investigates the philanthropic practices of same-sex couples, including their motivations for giving and how they make philanthropic decisions. Existing research has focused almost exclusively on heterosexual couples and assumes that all households are the same. Using the frameworks of the eight mechanisms of giving and social identification theory, this study investigates the role of identity in philanthropic behavior and how gender differences may be amplified among same-sex couples. Drawing on 19 semi-structured joint interviews with gay and lesbian couples in Indiana, the research uses a qualitative method to "give voice" to a marginalized population's philanthropic experiences that are little studied. The study finds participants are highly engaged in nonprofit organizations and participate in a diverse array of philanthropic behaviors. While many couples support at least one LGBT-affiliated nonprofit, giving to LGBT causes does not constitute the majority of most couples' philanthropy. Still, sexual orientation plays a significant role in motivating support for the LGBT community, for public policy changes and equal rights initiatives, and to HIV/AIDS-service organizations. Sexual orientation also determines which organizations many donors would not support. Same-sex couples also use their philanthropy as a way to support their communities at-large and be recognized by mainstream society. In terms of financial management, a majority of participant couples maintained independent financial accounts or partial pooling systems of household income, leading to more opportunities for charitable giving; at the same time, couples expressed low conflict over making giving decisions and supported one another's interests. This study provides scholars and practitioners insights into the complex interactions of motivations, identity, and financial arrangements that underscore charitable giving, and it offers implications for nonprofit organizations and fundraisers who work with diverse populations of donors.

This thesis deals with gay identity politics and its relation to the Zionist ethos as it is portrayed in several Israeli films. It primarily analyzes two different points of view of two film directors whose homosexuality plays a central role in their cinematic work – Amos Gutman and Eytan Fox – and examines the way they perceive their gay lived experience. Analyzing Gutman’s Drifting (1983), Bar 51 (1985), and Himmo, King of Jerusalem (1987), I show how he encloses himself in his own queer universe and demands to be acknowledged as such, practicing his authenticity separately from the hegemonic discourse. On the other hand, the sexual politics in Fox’s Yossi & Jagger (2002) and Yossi (2012), suggests that homosexual men should join the national hegemonic space while ignoring their otherness. Since the films in question use the Zionist narrative and the national identity of their protagonists as points of reference, these two approaches are discussed in relation to the Zionist ethos. Several other films with similar points of reference are analyzed as well, including Fox’s Time Off (1990), Walk on Water (2004) and The Bubble (2006), Dan Wolman’s Hide & Seek (1979), Ayelet Menachemi’s Crows (1987), Nadav Gal’s A Different War (2003), Yair Hochner’s Good Boys (2005), and Mysh Rozanov’s Watch over Me (2010). Discussing the Zionist ethos, I emphasize Daniel Boyarin’s concept of the parallel between Jewishness, queerness, and abnormality. I show how the Zionist yearning for normalcy (the wish ‘to be like all nations’) and the identification of the homosexual as abnormal are embodied in the cinematic representations. The analysis in this thesis is mainly based on queer theory, as it strives to deconstruct and destabilize the traditional binaries of heterosexuality and show how the hegemonic discourse is based on those limited binaries. It challenges any political discourse that by naturalizing heterosexuality enforces heteronormative practices. By highlighting queer marginality in the cinematic text and linking it with elements of post-colonial theory and its analysis of the other, I show how gay identity politics discourse subverts or yields to the Zionist ethos. / text