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This research sought to test the notion that the non-cisgender population experiences an inordinate toll in regard to their mental well-being as a result of inaccurate or incomplete classification of their self-identified gender identity among US college students (N = 591). In accordance with the previous literature, the non-cisgender population experienced a significant increase of perceived experience of microaggressions and internalized symptoms. Contrary to expectations, there was no significance found for rates of identity distress. Previous literature did not reflect a significantly lower score of challenging the binary for Caucasians in relation to Hispanic and Asian ethnicities, as this research revealed. This research indicates that while non-cisgender persons do experience higher rates of perceived microaggressions and identity related concerns, there is a previously accounted for variance in ethnicity and cisgender identities (male and female).

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While campuses across the country struggle to become more multicultural, there appears to be an increase in various hate crimes on campus. Studies have documented that homophobic harassment on campuses is especially severe, and that lesbians, gays, and bisexuals are among the most likely targets of hate crimes. Lesbian, gay, and bisexual students, staff, and faculty face other forms of discrimination as well. Campuses are often caught unaware of these problems, and are at a loss for solutions. The fields of organizational development and multicultural organizational development, which have traditionally addressed issues of diversity within organizations, have predominantly focused on issues of race and gender. This study served to broaden the range of issues included within the domain of multicultural organizational development by explicitly focusing on the issue of sexual orientation. The purpose of this exploratory study was to examine how and why change occurs with respect to lesbian and gay concerns on campus. An in-depth case study was conducted of one university that was decisively addressing heterosexism. Findings were derived from a review of various documents and interviews conducted with advocates for change. Specific factors and successful change strategies were identified. These strategies were analyzed with respect to meta-paradigms of strategies for social change, as well as concepts from the field of multicultural organizational development. A developmental model for how campus change happens on lesbian and gay concerns is suggested. This model provides a useful framework for those wishing to improve campus conditions for lesbians, gays, and bisexuals. It also can provide an important foundation for those seeking to address heterosexism within other institutions. Researchers concerned with how change on lesbian, gay, and bisexual concerns compares with change on issues of race, gender, or ethnicity may also find this study of use. Implications of the findings of this study for the field of education are explored and directions for future research are proposed.

HIV-positive gay men face unique, and extreme, psychological stressors. They know they are infected with a virus of lethal and immedicable potency. They must tolerate the tremendous uncertainty of not knowing when, if, or to what extent their immune systems will falter. Additionally, many have experienced multiple bereavements (Martin, 1988), a trend that will escalate as the epidemic worsens. Given these profound psychological challenges, how, if at all, have HIV-positive gay men made sense of, or found meaning in, AIDS and their own HIV infection? Nineteen HIV-positive gay men participated in intensive semi-structured clinical interviews, to determine the strategies by which they ascribed meaning to their situation. The men ranged in age from 27 to 50 years old, and had known of their HIV status for between 18 and 106 months. Most were asymptomatic. Several had experienced some HIV-related health impairments. None had AIDS. All lived in urban settings with established gay communities. Interview data were analyzed primarily within the framework of Assumptive World theory (Janoff-Bulman, 1989), which holds that the ability to ascribe meaning to one's life is necessary for optimal psychological functioning. Such a perspective is consonant with data on a vast array of traumatic life experiences (e.g., Frankl, 1959; Janoff-Bulman, 1989; Lifton, 1968, 1980; Parkes, 1988; Schwartzberg & Janoff-Bulman, in press; Wortman & Silver, 1987, 1989). The interviews revealed ten "representations" by which participants attributed specific meanings to HIV and AIDS: catalyst for personal or spiritual growth; belonging; relief; strategy; punishment; self-contamination; confirmation of powerlessness; isolation; and irreparable loss. Four general patterns typified the participants' attempts to integrate HIV into a larger framework for ascribing meaning to the world: "shattered meaning" (inability to integrate HIV into a new worldview); "high meaning" (successful integration of HIV into a new worldview); "defensive meaning" (superficial integration of HIV into a new worldview); and "irrelevant meaning" (the minimization or denial of the impact of AIDS). Many subjects identified at least some beneficial aspects of their situation. For some, HIV was a dramatic catalyst for growth. Most had adapted well, suggesting that many HIV-positive gay men are coping effectively with the enormous challenges they face.

Healthcare equality may seem attainable to most people, but the LGBTQ+ community is not among them. The type of care currently being received by the LGBTQ+ community has caused their reluctance to seek care. According to the last census, the LGBTQ+ population is about 12% of the United States population, so a lack of competent and holistic care for this community creates a massive safety concern. This study aimed to investigate the effect of teaching LGBTQ+-centered care to nursing students via simulation studies. A pre-/post-test design was used with a convenience sample of pre-licensure nursing students at a large Southeastern university (n=19). The Gay Affirmative Practice (GAP) scale measured attitudes about LGBTQ+-centered care pre- and post-education. Personal relationships with the LGBTQ+ community were also explored as a potential factor related to comfort with providing care. A significant difference was found for learners' Gay Affirmative Practice (GAP) scores from the pre- to post- simulation event, with post-test scores higher (µ = 135.37, SD 17.08) than baseline (µ = 126.42, SD = 17.59, p = 0.002). No significant association was found for those having a personal relationship and the pre-to post-test score change for the GAP (r=0.383, p = 0.106). This study can help other nursing programs, or other programs for health care professionals in general, build strong curriculums to help create change for this community.

As a historically and currently marginalized population, members of LGBTQ+ communities have traditionally needed to find one another and build relationships without their queer identities being discovered. This need has resulted in the development of codes and signals used by queer people to identify one another while remaining hidden, causing a unique culture of covert, in-group communication to form. In this study, I explore the modern culture of codes being used by LGBTQ+ communities through 14 interviews with LGBTQ+ people. From these interviews, I developed two broad themes: conveying and concealing identity. When discussing how they convey their identity, participants discuss not only the behaviors they use themselves but also those used by others. Some of these behaviors are general associations they hold between various cultural phenomena and queer identity, but often they are factors that allow them to make inferences about the identities of others despite the simultaneous importance they place on disclosure when it comes to truly knowing another’s queer identity. When on the topic of concealing identity, participants generally focused on themselves, discussing where, why, and how they concealed their identity. From these results, it is clear that developing the ability to convey or conceal one’s identity is an important skill within queer communities, as it allows individuals to live authentically and safely. However, these abilities are not without negative side effects, as the balancing act between conveying and concealing one’s identity requires queer individuals to live in a state of constant identity-based behavioral micro-management. In the end, these behaviors are not just culture – they are a form of survival when it has been, is, and will continue to be dangerous on some level to be queer.

Using qualitative interviews, this study explored public school support of transgender students using questions concerning their knowledge, ideas of what inclusion looks like, level of preparation for teaching transgender students, and openness to learning new information concerning best practices. This study aims to fill gaps in the existing research concerning experiences of transgender public school students, examining teacher support for the sake of helping determine policy steps and education that would best help transgender students looking for inclusive education. Emerging themes included generalized acceptance, fear of teaching outside curriculum, emphasis placed on student needs, and teachers' desires to learn more. These results are explored with consideration to their implications for policy, training, and resource compilation.