Research on forced migration has largely ignored asylum seekers from sexual and gender minorities. This exploratory study aimed to examine both positive and negative experiences of LGBT asylum seekers who had migrated to Sweden. Within the study, experiences prior to migration, during transit, and after arrival in Sweden were conceptualized as a process. Guided by the research question “How do LGBT asylum seekers describe positive and negative experiences of their asylum journeys?”, semi-structured interviews with eleven LGBT asylum seekers were conducted and analyzed using inductive thematic analysis. The analysis resulted in five themes; 1. Living Under Threat, 2. Into the Abyss, 3. Living in Suspension, 4. External Sources of Support and 5. Strength from Within. Considerable stressors were reported, spanning form pre- to post migration. LGBT asylum seekers are found to be an especially vulnerable group that demonstrates considerable internal resources.

Background: The 'coming out' literature reveals there is a high degree of selectivity and fear of rejection around disclosure of sexual identity to others. It is suggested this distress can be particularly elevated around disclosure of sexual identity to the family. Recent research suggests that the age of disclosure around sexual identity within the family is shifting, but even with the recent growth of research within the lesbian, gay and bisexual community, researchers still do not fully understand the complexities of the 'coming out' process. Aim: This narrative study aimed to collect 'coming out' stories to better understand the process an adolescent goes through in disclosing their sexual identity to family. Participants: Seven participants were recruited through snowball sampling, four adolescents (one female and three male) who self-identified as lesbian or gay and three parents (three mothers) who had children that self-identified as lesbian or gay. Method: Participant stories were audio recorded in one semi-structured narrative interview, lasting up to 90 minutes. A narrative analysis was carried out drawing upon Labov's (1972) structural analysis and an adaption of Polkinghorne's (1995) narrative 'plots' to develop Thematic Concepts from the participant stories. Analysis: The structural analysis showed that participants did not restrict their stories to a single event of 'coming out' to the family. They spoke about 'coming out' experiences based around numerous chronological events across their life to date, and included evaluations of these. Five Thematic Concepts were developed from the seven participant stories - (1) the influence of self - a sense of knowing something; (2) the influence of the school environment; (3) the influence of culture and religion; (4) the influence of the digital age/new media; and (5) the influence of the family. Conclusions and Implications: Research literature suggests that 'coming out' should not be viewed as a one-time event, but an on-going process evolving across the lifespan. Historical and socio-political factors must also be considered in understanding the process of 'coming out'. With regards to clinical practice, this study suggests counselling psychology should be pro-active in advancing educative interventions to address heteronormativity and discrimination within society, as well as considering systemic approaches when working therapeutically with sexual minorities.

The question of why individuals value identities like race and gender is a contested one. Scholars in the Reflected Appraisals tradition argue that members of minority groups experience identity devaluation and minority stress (Hacker 1992; Harris 1993; Meyer 1995; Tatum 1997; Hoff-Sommers 2000; McIntyre 2002) and come to value their identities less in empirical terms than do members of equivalent majority groups (Harris 1993; Hacker 1995). The thesis here is that the values individuals place upon in-group identities are determined by the prestige and power of their in-groups (Cornell and Hartmann 2006: 60). This argument has been advanced often in both domestic and multi-national contexts (Spinner-Halev and Theiss-Morse 2003), but several rigorous empirical tests so far fail to support it (Charles 2003). My dissertation is a comprehensive test of the hypothesis that membership in a minority in-group predicts lowered valuation of in-group identity. I employ ordinal and List Experiment surveys to determine whether members of four minority groups value their identities less than members of the equivalent majority groups (racial, sexual, heterosexual, religious) in terms of (1) placing lower monetary values upon them and (2) being hypothetically more willing to change them. My hypothesis is that identity valuation will not be status dependent: minority status will not generally correlate to a significant degree with lowered identity valuation, as development of oppositional identities allows minorities to value themselves despite potential discrimination (Stern 1995; Simein 2005). This thesis was largely although not totally confirmed. With several exceptions during my List Experiment research, American racial minority status does not correlate with lowered valuation of racial identity, and female sex does not correlate with lowered valuation of gender identity. Religious minorities do not generally value their religious identities less than Protestant Christians, to a statistically significant degree. However, I did find consistent negative and usually significant correlations between LGBT status and lowered valuation of sexual orientation. List Experiment results also indicate that whites may be less honest about their levels of in-group identification than are minorities.

The present study investigated female sexuality by examining a range of experiential, historical, attitudinal, and behavioral variables, and conceptualizing sexual orientation along several dimensions on a heterosexual/homosexual continuum. The focus was on determining what, if any, important etiological factors emerged, as well as differences in behavior, attitudes, and preferences among women with various sexual orientations. It was concluded that a nonconventionality factor could be interacting with certain experiential and situational variables to produce a bisexual or homosexual lifestyle. Consequently, the ideosyncratic variable nature of such a paradigm could partially explain inconsistencies in past research. Results of this study were comparable to previous ones indicating that the women were similar (across sexual orientations) in their emphasis on emotional aspects of a relationship, history of heterosexual dating and coitus, few (relative to males) sex partners, and a less (than males) actively assertive sexual pattern of behavior. Future research might include males in the investigation of the role of a nonconventionality factor in sexual orientation. Also, relationship between cognitive/perceptual styles and sexual orientation could be explored.

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico / As práticas discursivas que constituem e sustentam as concepções de sexo e de sexualidade nas sociedades contemporâneas são fortemente arraigadas no discurso normalizado e normalizador segundo o qual há apenas dois sexos que se evidenciam em corpos masculinos ou femininos, naturalmente distintos biológica e fisionomicamente e reconhecíveis em modos de ser diversos - mas perfeitamente identificáveis com o sexo biológico (nascer com pênis/nascer com vagina). Esse sistema dicotômico afirmou por muitos anos uma concepção inequívoca de o que é e como ser homem ou mulher; restringiu os corpos a uma performance estereotipada de masculinidade e de feminilidade; conformou os discursos sobre gênero e sexo e naturalizou a heterossexualidade. Entretanto, o sistema binário no qual se funda a heterossexualidade encontra fissuras ante as identidades sexuais e de gênero que ora se evidenciam e desestabilizam a (hetero)sexualidade normativa. Sustentadas pela teoria queer e por autores como Judith Butler, Michel Foucault e Beatriz Preciado, minhas discussões nesta tese focalizam as repercussões e marcas dos discursos escolares na produção de corpos, gêneros e sexualidades de lésbicas, gays, bissexuais e transgêneros LGBT. Interessa indagar, a partir das narrativas desses sujeitos, as formas como as sexualidades têm sido trabalhadas como conteúdo escolar e discutir os possíveis efeitos das práticas escolares na constituição das sexualidades LGBT. Como constituir-se como sujeito fora da norma em um espaço-tempo altamente regulado como o currículo escolar? Busco evidenciar que, mesmo às margens dos discursos socialmente legitimados que circulam na escola, cuja pretensão é manter a hegemonia da história universal onde apenas alguns sujeitos são inscritos e reconhecidos como inteligíveis, os sujeitos LGBT produzem suas histórias e criam modos de vida. Minhas contribuições ao debate do tema se referem à possibilidade de desconstrução dos discursos predominantes no espaço-tempo da escola que enfatizam as concepções naturalizadas de sexo, de gênero e de sexualidade. Neste sentido acentuo a necessidade de novas/outras abordagens que incluam todas as sexualidades no espaço de inteligibilidade habitado pela norma heterossexual e apontar indícios de como os discursos predominantes contribuem para a manutenção da heteronormatividade e do heterossexismo. As narrativas dos sujeitos LGBT apontam a necessidade de repensar as práticas escolares, visando desconstruir concepções naturalizadas em torno da vivência da sexualidade e avançar das políticas de tolerância para uma política da diferença na qual a concepção do que é ser humano esteja sempre em aberto. / The discursive practices that constitute and support the concepts of gender and sexuality in contemporary societies are strongly rooted in the discourse and normalizing and normalizer standard. According to this discourse, there are only two sexes that were seen in male or female bodies, of course biological and physiognomically distinct and recognizable in many ways of being different - but clearly identifiable with the biological sex (being born with penis / being born with vagina).This dichotomist system said for many years a clear conception of "what" and "how" a man or woman, has restricted the bodies to a stereotypical performance of masculinity and femininity, according to the discourses on gender and sex, and naturalized heterosexuality. However, the binary system in which heterosexuality is based finds fissures towards sexual and gender identities that are evident now and destabilize the (hetero) sexuality norms. Supported by Queer theory and authors such as Judith Butler, Michel Foucault and Beatriz Preciado, the discussions in this thesis focused on the impact of brands and speeches in the school production of bodies, genders and sexualities of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender - LGBT. The interest was to question from the narratives of these individuals, the ways in which sexualities have been worked as a school subject and discuss the possible effects of school practices in the formation of sexualities LGBT. How to constitute themselves as subjects "outside the norm" in a space-time highly regulated as the school curriculum? Thus, the present study aimed to evidence that even on the banks of socially legitimated discourses circulating in the school, whose intention is to maintain hegemony in world history where only a few subjects are enrolled and recognized as intelligible; LGBT subjects produce their stories and create ways of life. In addition, the intention was to bring contributions to the discussion of the topic related to the possibility of deconstructing the dominant discourses in space-time school that emphasize naturalized conceptions of sex, gender and sexuality. In this regard, stressed the need for new / other approaches that include all sexualities in the space inhabited by the intelligibility of the heterosexual norm, pointing how the evidence of the prevailing discourses contribute to the maintenance of heteronormativity and heterosexism. The narratives of LGBT subjects indicated the need to rethink school practices in order to deconstruct without naturalized conceptions about the experience of sexuality and advance in the policies of tolerance for a politics of difference in which the conception of being human is always open.

Made available in DSpace on 2014-12-02T11:16:34Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2014-05-30Bitstream added on 2014-12-02T11:21:13Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 000800102.pdf: 3303646 bytes, checksum: 04e4c336273c4098f085e13979052d6a (MD5) / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) / No decorrer da década de 1980 o mundo vê aparecer uma nova doença, atingia as sexualidades periféricas, principalmente homossexuais masculinos, discursos e imagens povoadas de medos e novos termos médicos: Sarcoma de Kaposi, Grid, doença dos 5H, câncer gay. Todas essas eram maneiras de designar o que em 1983 ficou conhecido como Vírus da Imunodeficiência Humana(HIV), causador da Síndrome da Imunodeficiência Adquirida (AIDS). Unindo um pânico sexual com a necessidade de gerenciamento desta doença, a aids conseguiu articular ao longo dos seus 30 anos o dispositivo da sexualidade e dispositivos de poder e saber-médico silenciosos e muito eficazes da Biopolítica. A biopolítica, ou biopoder, para Michel Foucault é propriamente a maneira pela qual se geriu a vida. Epidemias pestes, pandemias esses são termos que designam doenças que deve ser contidas, elas afligem em grande escala a população, prejudicando a relação econômica, com a diminuição de sujeitos ativos, além de produzir um grande ônus para o Estado com tratamentos. As discursividades com relação à aids possuem esse caráter normalizador, duplo perigo, do sangue e do sexo, articulados neste dispositivo que tenta administrar a vida por meio de vigilância, norma e regulamentação do corpo. No Brasil , estas tecnologias foram centras nos corpos gays,em um momento histórico em que estas identidades emergiam a homossexualidade teve sua vida atravessada pela Aids, curiosamente, foi exatamente isto que deu inicio aos processos de busca por visibilidade e direitos democráticos no movimento conhecido como Lgbt. / During the 1980s the world sees a new disease appears, reached the peripheral sexualities, especially gay men, speeches and populated pictures fears and new medical terms: Kaposi's sarcoma, Grid, disease 5H, gay cancer. All these were ways to designate what in 1983 was known as the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), which causes Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS). Bringing a sexual panic with the need to manage this disease, AIDS was able to articulate throughout its 30 years the device of sexuality and power devices and medical know-silent and very effective of Biopolitics. The biopolitics or biopower, to Michel Foucault's exactly the way it managed the life Pest epidemics, pandemics, these are terms that designate diseases that must be contained, they afflict large-scale population, undermining the economic relationship, with the decrease of active subjects, in addition to producing a large burden for the state with treatments. The discourses regarding AIDS have this normalizing character, double danger, blood and sex, articulated this device that tries to manage life through surveillance, rule and regulation of the body. In Brazil, these technologies were centras in gay bodies, in a historical moment in which these identities emerging homosexuality had his life crossed by AIDS, interestingly, this is exactly what has initiated the process of searching for visibility and democratic rights in the movement known as lgbt.

Dissertação (mestrado)—Universidade de Brasília, Instituto de Ciências Sociais, Departamento de Antropologia, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Antropologia Social, 2016. / Submitted by Albânia Cézar de Melo (albania@bce.unb.br) on 2017-01-23T12:08:32Z No. of bitstreams: 1 2016_BiancaAlvesSilveira.pdf: 4681872 bytes, checksum: 48e56a5cc04bff32e93e1805c1125e3b (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Raquel Viana(raquelviana@bce.unb.br) on 2017-01-25T18:11:45Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 2016_BiancaAlvesSilveira.pdf: 4681872 bytes, checksum: 48e56a5cc04bff32e93e1805c1125e3b (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-01-25T18:11:45Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 2016_BiancaAlvesSilveira.pdf: 4681872 bytes, checksum: 48e56a5cc04bff32e93e1805c1125e3b (MD5) / Esta dissertação é resultado do acompanhamento da Comissão Especial que analisa o PL 6583/13 - Estatuto da Família e as discussões que se desenrolaram em torno do conceito de família. A orientação da investigação de campo buscou observar os valores e argumentos destacados por deputados e por militantes tendo por base a decisão da ADI 4277 – Ação Direta de Incostitucionalidade que estendeu a união estável a casais homoafetivos. O estatuto da família tem como uma de suas principais demandas a definição do conceito de família a partir da união entre um homem e uma mulher. Neste aspecto, a proposta do estatuto da família no Congresso se coloca como uma reação à decisão judicial sobre a união homoafetiva e as recentes demandas do movimento LGBT por casamento, adoção e partilha de bens, expondo os conflitos quanto aos valores predominantes e em disputa na sociedade nacional. A definição de família proposta no estatuto da família mobilizou não apenas o público LGBT, mas a diversidade de arranjos familiares presente no país, contrapondo-se a interesses com fundamento religioso. Os dados foram coletados a partir dos documentos da ADI 4277 e do PL 6583/13, da observação de audiências e reuniões da Comissão Especial, do acompanhamento de uma enquete promovida pela Câmara sobre o conceito de família e da repercussão da discussão nas redes sociais, além de algumas entrevistas com deputados e militantes presentes nas reuniões da comissão. Deste modo, este trabalho procurou destacar o conflito entre os Poderes quanto ao tema e à competência; o conflito de visões entre membros da sociedade nacional quanto ao significado de família e em que medida a fundamentação a partir dos princípios da igualdade, dignidade humana e liberdade se diferenciaria dos valores defendidos por quem é contrário à decisão do STF, situando as divergências e dificuldades quanto ao reconhecimento dos direitos LGBT. / This dissertation stems from the follow-up assessment of the Special Commission which analyses the Draft of Law (PL) 6583/13 – Family Statute, and the discussions which revolve around the concept of family. The field investigation leaned towards the observation of values and arguments highlighted by congress representatives and activists, grounded on the decision by the Direct Unconstitutionality Action (ADI) 4277, which extended stable union to same-sex couples. The family statute’s main demand is the definition of the concept of family based on the union between a man and a woman. To this extent, the proposal for the concept of family in the National Congress is set as a reaction to a legal decision on homoaffective unions and the demands by the LGBT movement for marriage, adoption and property share, exposing the conflicts regarding to prevalent values in dispute in the national society. It can be pointed out that the definition of family proposed the in the family statute mobilized not only the LGBT group, but also a diversity of family arrangements in the country opposing interests based on religious grounds. The research data were gathered from documents related to ADI 4277 and PL 6583/13, from the observation of the Special Commission’s audiences and meetings, from the follow up of a survey promoted by the Chamber of Deputies on the concept of family and from the repercussion on social media, in addition to interviews with congress representatives and activists present at the commission’s meetings. Hence this study aimed to emphasize the conflict among the Branches in relation to the topic and to the competence and the conflict of viewpoints amongst members of the national society regarding the meaning of family; moreover, it also aimed to point out to which extent the grounds based on principles of equality, human dignity and freedom, dealt with in the ruling od ADI 4277 are different from the values defended by those contrary to the Federal Supreme Court decision, placing the divergences and hardships in regard to the acknowledgement of LGBT rights.

Dissertação (mestrado)—Universidade de Brasília, Faculdade de Direito, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Direito, 2016. / Submitted by Fernanda Percia França (fernandafranca@bce.unb.br) on 2017-02-15T17:05:50Z No. of bitstreams: 1 2016_LeonardodaSilvaSantana.pdf: 2464622 bytes, checksum: ece96464acf82175301a3629714afdbe (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Ruthléa Nascimento(ruthleanascimento@bce.unb.br) on 2017-03-03T18:42:02Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 2016_LeonardodaSilvaSantana.pdf: 2464622 bytes, checksum: ece96464acf82175301a3629714afdbe (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-03-03T18:42:02Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 2016_LeonardodaSilvaSantana.pdf: 2464622 bytes, checksum: ece96464acf82175301a3629714afdbe (MD5) / O presente trabalho intenta investigar a atuação de grupos religiosos no Congresso Nacional e a limitação da cidadania das pessoas LGBT. Para tanto, realizamos uma caracterização do movimento LGBT e da bancada evangélica e, em seguida, analisamos discursos de senadores e senadoras durante a tramitação do PLC 122/2006 no Senado Federal, utilizando a Teoria Fundamentada nos Dados. Os dados obtidos permitiram conhecer a visão de parlamentares sobre o tema e identificar o atual estágio da laicidade no Brasil. / This study intends to investigate the role of religious groups in Congress and the limitation of citizenship of LGBT people. Thus, we performed a characterization of the LGBT movement and the evangelical bench and then analyze speeches of senators in the course of PLC 122/2006 in the Senate, using Grounded Theory. It was possible to know the view of parliamentarians on the subject and identify the current status of secularism in Brazil.

abstract: This phenomenological study explores the question: What are the lived experiences of Arizonans who identify their gender identities as ‘non-binary’? (‘non-binary’ defined here as anyone who identifies their gender as something other than ‘always and exclusively male or always and exclusively female’). The study explores the lived realities of four non-binary identified transgender people living in Arizona. Each participant took a short survey and conducted a 45-minute in-person interview, conducted through phenomenological questioning to evoke deep descriptions of experience. After analyzing the results through feminist hermeneutic phenomenology, this study suggests that the experience of non-binary gender identity presents an essential pattern of cultivating self-realization. The essential themes of internal recognition, external presentation, and movement toward wellness fell into this pattern. The United States has conceptualized transgender identity in many ways, from pathologizing to politicizing, to medically affirming views. Although the literature on this topic is quite small, there is no doubt that non-binary transgender people exist in U.S. public life. Ultimately, if non-binary people are to find affirming paths toward self-realization, they must be heard from their own experiences in their own voices. / Dissertation/Thesis / Masters Thesis Social and Cultural Pedagogy 2017

During the last five years mediated activism dedicated to LGBT+ issues in Belarus has flourished despite restrictive context: several new online initiatives, including a media project, have been launched. The current study investigates how one of the most politically underprivileged and marginalized groups – LGBT+ activists – make use of online social media to advocate for positive social and political modification in the Belarusian society. By collecting interviews with activists as a primary source of lived experiences, applying thematical analysis on the data from 13 interviews, and then contributing with netnography-informed content analysis as an instrument to analyse 34 posts written in February of 2018 on the personal Facebook pages of the same activists, the current research examines patterns of experiences surrounding participation in mediated LGBT+ activism. The power dynamics and the influence of the repressive context on the practices of mediated activism are analysed through feminist critical discourse analysis with specific focus on heteronormativity as a key-concept of imposing power on marginalized identities. Four global themes emerged in the result of the analysis: 1) heteronormativity and state control; 2) identity as “doing”; 3) the “other” activism, and 4) social change as individual transformation. Topics of heteronormativity, homophobia, hate-crime and violence turned out to be most present in the posts produced by the activists. It was found that in the restrictive spaces mediated activism and social media, instead of serving as tools for mass outreach and mobilization, endanger activists engaged in LGBT+ issues. Burnout, risk of poverty, emotional and physical assaults, and exposure to social sanctions are happening to activists because of their presence online, and there are extremely limited tools to combat these consequences of publicity. In Belarusian context, the shrinking space for civil society and limited political opportunities outweigh the potential of online social media, lower their impact and determine prospects of social change in such a way, when viral organizing or structural transformations become extremely limited.