Doctor of Education / Department of Educational Leadership / David C. Thompson / Teresa Miller / Providing a safe environment for LGBT students can often prove to be a controversial and difficult task, depending on the community of which the school is a part. School leaders need guidance in order to successfully help all students who are bullied. The resource guide imbedded in this dissertation was developed with guiding principles such as key issues, legal responsibilities, obstacles, and existing programs. This guide is meant to provide school leaders with additional comprehensive resources to help them provide support needed specifically for LGBT students. Only through appropriate knowledge and resources can leaders then support these students who need to be protected under basic student rights. Research, Development, and Validation of Paving the way for LGBT Students in Schools: A Road Map for Educational Leaders was developed using the research and development (R & D) methodology by Gall, Borg, and Gall (2007). The seven steps in the R & D cycle included: (1) research analysis, needs assessment, and proof of concept; (2) product planning and design; (3) preliminary product development; (4) preliminary field testing; (5) product revision; (6) main field testing; and (7) the final product revision (Gall, Borg & Gall, 2007). An analysis of the literature, needs assessment questionnaire, and proof of concept results provided information used to develop a prototype. Preliminary field testers using a rating scale and open-ended questions then evaluated the prototype. Revisions were made to the prototype based on their responses. A main field test was conducted with additional experts and final revisions were made based on feedback. Major conclusions of this study included the following: (1) school leaders need more resources to understand how to provide support for LGBT students in schools; (2) this resource guide for school leaders should include legal information, case studies, and vocabulary used with LGBT students; (3) and the R & D process produced a resource guide school leaders can use to understand their rights and responsibilities concerning LGBT Students. The resource guide‘s information includes: (1) key issues related to providing positive support for LGBT students; (2) legal responsibilities and liabilities related to providing protection for LGBT students; (3) obstacles preventing leaders from addressing the issues; and (4) existing research-based practices and field-tested model programs to help school leaders meet the challenges of support in order to provide a quality of education for these students.

Master of Science / Department of Counseling & Student Development / Kenneth Hughey / The challenges facing lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) students on college and university campuses are many. For example, LGBT students face harassment and discrimination at significantly higher levels than their heterosexual peers, and are twice as likely to receive derogatory remarks (Rankin, Weber, Blumenfeld, & Frazer, 2010). As the visibility of LGBT college students and the adversity they face has increased, there is ever more pressure on college and universities to evaluate whether LGBT students’ needs are being met. A dependable method of determining this is to conduct an assessment of the campus climate for LGBT students. Campus climate can be consists of the mutually reinforcing relationship between the perceptions, attitudes, and expectations of both individuals and groups, as well as the actual patterns of interaction and behavior between individuals and groups (Cress, 2008). Thus, in order to assess a campus climate, one must determine the current perceptions, attitudes, and expectations that define the institution and its members. Campus climate has a significant impact upon students’ academic progress and achievement and their level of satisfaction with their university. Whether or not a student feels as though they matter on their campus is largely a result of the climate. Evaluations of campus climate for LGBT students allow administrations to uncover what inequalities may exist on their campus, which is the first step toward being able to correct them. There have been many methods of improving campus climate that have been effective at a variety of colleges and universities. Administrations that wish to provide LGBT students on their campus with a better experience should invest in as many of these practices as possible. The most important action in improving campus climate is to institute an LGBT resource center or office with a full-time staff member and significant office space. Other impactful strategies include establishing a Safe Zone or Allies program, encouraging LGBT students to form organizations for themselves and their allies, increasing the amount of interaction between LGBT students and faculty—especially LGBT faculty, and establishing a Queer Studies academic program.

Television is a mirror of society and in which we hope to see our lives and existence reflected. When the images shown marginalises your reflection through the use of stereotypes and common tropes it is hard to believe this does not affect the world around you and your perception about yourself. Television is vastly researched and this case study will add to it by analysing how lesbian and bisexual relationships are stereotyped through the use of tropes on Western television shows. Semiotics is used to decipher the underlying meanings of stereotypes and tropes; as stereotypes and tropes marginalise groups of people. By using visual analysis to watch episodes, the scenes analysed through qualitative content analysis proved that same-sex relationships are stereotyped through tropes and rarely challenge previous research. Social interaction based on representation theory solidify the perceptions through television images causing further harm to lesbians and bisexuals.

Context: The transgender community experiences excessive discrimination in in healthcare. Data continue to reveal that health care providers lack sufficient knowledge in transgender health, as well as difficulty in referring individuals to competent providers, to ensure the continuum of care (Brennan, Barnsteiner, Siantz, Cotter, & Everett, 2012; Cruz, 2014). Methods: A modified Cross-Cultural Care Survey consisting of 56 questions was implemented via Qualtrics to 1,134 nurse practitioners (NPs) in the California Association of Nurse Practitioner to measure their cultural competence through the domains of attitude, knowledge, and skill. Results: Completed responses were obtained from 30 out of 38 NPs (78.9%). Knowledge was positively correlated with Skills (Pearson's r = .688, p < .001); negatively correlated with Negative Attitude (Pearson's r = -.458, p = .011) and positively correlated with Positive Attitude (Pearson's r = .371, p = .043). Skills was positively correlated with Positive attitude (Pearson's r = .646, p < .001); however, the negative correlation between Skills and Negative Attitude was not statistically significant at the .05 level (Pearson's r = -.345, p =.062). There was a negative correlation between Negative Attitude and Positive Attitude, but this correlation was only marginally not significant at the .05 level (Pearson’s r = -.358, p = .052). Conclusion: The results indicated that the balance between skills and negative attitudes may have created a barrier to care in transgender patients.

Esta tese busca analisar os crimes de ódio contra a população LGBT a partir de uma perspectiva psicanalítica. O ponto de partida teórico é reconhecimento que um dos grandes legados da análise freudiana está na associação entre patologias psíquicas e processos de socialização dos sujeitos na cultura. Um duplo propósito orienta essa pesquisa. Primeiramente, trata-se de compreender de que maneira o pacto civilizacional descrito por Freud, fundado pela repressão à agressividade e à sexualidade, não é cumprido no que se refere a tais crimes de ódio. Pelo contrário, a pulsão destrutiva presente no ato criminal é consentida por determinadas estruturas sociais, sendo possível dizer que a relação entre crimes de ódio e cultura é, em certa medida, uma relação de retroalimentação. Num segundo momento, explora-se a hipótese de que esses crimes, cometidos em sua maioria por homens, revelariam uma intolerância ainda maior em relação àqueles que teriam abdicado do corpo dito masculino e se aproximariam do que seria compreendido como posição feminina. Como conclusão, notamos, por um lado, que os crimes de ódio resultam de um sistema social perverso. Por outro lado, a violência contra população LGBT estaria baseada na ideia de punição daqueles que abdicaram do estatuto fálico e na opressão histórica à figura feminina / This thesis intends to analyze hate crimes against the LGBT population from a psychoanalytical perspective. The theoretical starting point is the acknowledgment that one of the major contributions of Freuds analysis is the association of psychic pathologies and the process of cultural socialization of subjects. A double purpose guides this research. First, it aims to understand how the civilization pact, described by Freud and based on the repression of aggression and sexuality, does not properly function regarding these hate crimes. On the contrary, the destructive drive to the criminal act is endured by the social context, and it can be said that the relationship between hate crimes and culture is to some extent a feedback relationship. Secondly, we observe that these crimes, committed mostly by men, reveal a greater intolerance towards those who have seemingly \"abdicated\" the \"male body, choosing what could be understood as a \"feminine position\". As a conclusion, we have noticed that these hate crimes, on the one hand, is engaged in a perverse social system; and, on the other hand, they are based on the idea of \"punishment\" of those who have \"abdicated\" the phallic status, but also based on the historical oppression of the female figure

Thesis advisor: V. Paul Poteat / Intimate partner violence (IPV) occurs in LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer) relationships at rates equal to or even higher than cisgender heterosexual relationships (Walters, Chen, & Breidig, 2013). The health consequences of IPV are well documented (Kwako et al., 2011). Trauma-informed care (TIC) is one service approach receiving increasing support for use with IPV survivors (Warshaw, Lyon, Phillips, & Hooper, 2014). Nevertheless, there is little research exploring the association between TIC and health among LGBTQ IPV survivors. Immobilization is prevalent for IPV survivors for whom fight or flight may increase risk of violence during traumatic situations (van der Kolk, 1989). TIC might be well-positioned to counter these immobilizing effects in effort to facilitate mobilization and better health for IPV survivors. The relationship between TIC and health through mobilizing mechanisms has not yet been tested. This study examined several mobilizing mechanisms as mediating the relationship between TIC and health including: 1) lower social withdrawal; 2) lower shame; 3) greater emotion regulation; and, 4) greater empowerment. Among 227 LGBTQ adults, structural equation modeling analyses tested the relationship between TIC and health, and the mediating effects of lower social withdrawal and shame, and greater emotion regulation and empowerment on the relationship between TIC and health. Results indicated that the direct effects of TIC on mental and physical health were not significant. Indirect effects of TIC on mental and physical health through the set of mobilizing mechanisms were not significant. However, TIC did predict greater empowerment and emotion regulation and lower social withdrawal. Lower social withdrawal and lower shame also predicted better mental health, while lower shame and emotion regulation predicted better physical health. Practitioners need to uncover additional services and resources beyond TIC that could improve health among LGBTQ IPV survivors. Research should continue to examine the potential effects of TIC in addition to how it is applied in the context of evidence-based treatment programs that are adapted for sexual and gender minorities. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2018. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Counseling, Developmental and Educational Psychology.

Thesis advisor: Kevin J. Mahoney / Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) older adults in the U.S. face disproportionate risk of increased health and mental health problems as compared to their non-LGBT counterparts. Experiences of harassment, discrimination, and violence due to sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI) contribute to the chronic stresses associated with being a sexual and/or gender minority. LGBT older adults may avoid or delay needed services in later life, rendering them invisible to health care providers (HCPs) if they do not disclose SOGI and if providers do not ask. This three-paper dissertation explored LGBT older adults' invisibility and outness in aging services. Paper 1 investigated gerontological social workers' biopsychosocial assessment practices to understand how they became aware of clients' SOGI; assessment forms were analyzed and qualitative interviews with social workers were conducted, showing that social workers did not have a systematic way of learning about clients' SOGI. Paper 2 was a quantitative analysis of survey data from 129 LGBT older adults that showed an association between experiences of SOGI-based discrimination/violence after age 50 and not disclosing SOGI to HCPs and having avoided using aging services for fear of coming or being out. Paper 3 was a qualitative analysis of interviews with 22 LGBT older adults that sought to understand how they disclosed SOGI to HCPs. Those who disclosed did so without being asked, because of health conditions, after having sought out an LGBT /LGBT-friendly provider, or after being asked about their sex and/or love lives. Paper 3 findings offered practice and environmental changes that could increase LGBT older adults' SOGI disclosure to HCPs. This dissertation provides suggestions for social work policy, practice, and research aimed at supporting gerontological social workers in learning about their clients' SOGI in an effort to address health disparities among LGBT older adults / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2015. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Social Work. / Discipline: Social Work.

Thesis advisor: Ruth McRoy / Thesis advisor: Summer Hawkins / Adoptive parenting contributes to the dramatic growth in lesbian and gay (LG) parenting. Research on adoptive families has mostly focused on heterosexual parent families and the limited research on LG parenting has primarily emphasized child adjustment outcomes. This three-paper dissertation utilized subsamples from a large (N=1616) and recent (2012-2013) comprehensive dataset, The Modern Adoptive Families Study, designed to compare family characteristics, experiences, and adjustment outcomes across different types of adoptive families, especially families headed by sexual minority parents. The Minority Stress model is used to frame a deeper understanding of parenting processes in heterosexual and lesbian and gay parent adoptive families. This framework takes into account the potential for families, led by sexual minority parents, to encounter discrimination and suggests processes may exist within the family to help buffer interpersonal and systemic bias. Paper 1 used logistic regression to examine the associations of adoptive parents’ satisfaction with their mental health services and their pediatrician. Pediatrician satisfaction was specifically related to the parental perception of their provider’s understanding of their minority status; based on 1) adoptive family status, 2) parental sexual orientation, and 3) transracial adoption status. Overall, 51% of the sample of parents who sought mental health services reported satisfaction. Satisfaction was positively associated with being a gay father, having a higher household income, and having a child whose race was identified as Asian. Satisfaction was negatively associated with having a child older than 11 years old. Of parents who reported on their satisfaction with pediatricians, 82% of parents reported satisfaction. Having a higher household income was positively associated with respondents’ satisfaction. Paper 2 used confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) to explore how findings from two racial socialization measures compared across parental sexual orientation, in transracial adoptive families. The scales measured parental endorsement of cultural competency pertaining to race and related self-efficacy enacting racial socialization practices. In Paper 3, cultural socialization theory was used to investigate parents’ endorsement of socialization related to being raised in a same-sex headed family with two newly developed scales using exploratory factor analysis (EFA). Results of these studies will help to inform policy and practice by addressing critical questions impacting a growing number of adoptive families, especially those headed by sexual minority parents. Contributions to the literature include findings about parenting practices, perceptions, experiences, and relationship dynamics within lesbian, gay, and heterosexual adoptive parent families. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2018. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Social Work. / Discipline: Social Work.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-29T13:31:25Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Alessandro Soares.pdf: 3522090 bytes, checksum: ebd15c792d166219b17c029784c65b55 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2006-06-28 / Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico / This doctoral dissertation in Social Psychology is an intercultural study with a Political Psychology approach about the construction of the collective political consciousness of homosexuals in Brazil, Spain and Portugal beginning with the participation in the LGBT Pride Parade in each country. The LGBT Pride Parade is a mass phenomenon, a psychopolitical strategy of constructing an active citizenship of these subjects. Thus the parade functions as an instrument of bringing back the political memory of homosexuals and as a form of becoming visible in an assimilationist and hetero-normative society adverse to differences. The process of composition of this dissertation implied the conducting of field work in these three countries between 2003-2006 that resulted in 44 interviews of militants of the respective LGBT movements and of militant homosexuals in other movements and political parties. We used open interviews as our methodology and a form of free association of words with the intent of understanding the socio-historical process of each national context in other to conduct the intercultural study. The data show how political participation mediates the construction of the political subject and the collective subject. The festive elements and protest elements in more traditional forms mix in the process of the political construction of the movements themselves that act as an questioning element of the structures established aprioristically according to the interests of the dominant groups / A presente tese de doutorado em Psicologia Social é um estudo intercultural, de abordagem psicopolítica, da construção da consciência política coletiva de homossexuais no Brasil, na Espanha e em Portugal, cujo ponto de partida foi a análise da participação na Parada do Orgulho LGBT de cada um destes países. A parada do Orgulho LGBT, é um fenômeno de massa, uma estratégia psicopolítica de construção de uma cidadania ativa destes sujeitos. Assim, ela funciona como um instrumento de resgate da memória política de homossexuais e de visibilizaçao frente a uma sociedade assimilacionista e heteronormativa, avessa à diferença. O processo de construção desta tese implicou a realização de trabalhos de campo nestes três países, durante os anos de 2003-2006, que resultaram em 44 entrevistas de militantes dos movimentos LGBT e de homossexuais militantes em outros movimentos ou partidos políticos. Utilizamos a entrevista aberta como metodologia e um esquema de livre-associação de palavras com vistas à busca da compreensão dos processos sócio-históricos próprios de cada contexto nacional, a fim de, então, realizarmos o estudo intercultural propriamente dito. Os dados aqui tratados nos mostraram como a participação política medeia a construção do sujeito político e do sujeito coletivo. Assim, elementos de festa e de protesto em moldes mais tradicionais se mesclam no processo de construção política dos próprios movimentos, que atuam como um elemento questionador das estruturas estabelecidas, aprioristicamente, segundo os interesses dos grupos dominantes

This qualitative study examines the healthcare provision for gender dysphoria patients by the National Health Service (NHS) in England. The thesis takes as its starting point the experiences of those providing and receiving care following the A, D &amp; G vs North West Lancashire Health Authority court decision in 1999. The aims of the research are threefold: To examine what trans narratives tell us about individual understandings of gender, to explore what practitioner narratives tell us about the understandings of gender utilised in NHS treatment, and to determine what issues are important to consider when providing gender services. It undertakes an empirical thematic analysis through a triangulation of data sources - a literature review, qualitative interviews with specialists and focus groups with trans patients. The research is underpinned by three central questions: Do differences exist between the ways in which trans people and their doctors understand gender identity? Can the ways in which trans people formulate and express their gender identity map onto the notions of gender that practitioners employ? What are the wider implications for healthcare policymaking? The research questions were intended to investigate how trans people formulate and express their gender, whether and how those understandings differ from those that practitioners employ, whether trans narratives can map onto medicalised notions, and the implications for healthcare policymaking.