<p> The purpose of this study is to provide context around the often-complex involvement that multiple minority identities can have on an individual. With the use of current identity development models around racial identity and sexual orientation, there have been no provisions around multiple identities or to the intersection of other identities building one main identity. As there is also a lack of literature around the topic of multiple identities and influences, this study&rsquo;s main purpose is to add to the literature. The use of an intersectionality methodology was to provide a framework that would allow for discourse around marginalized identities to be examined simultaneously, in an effort to understand the complexities around this particular demographic. The sample consisted of women who identified as Black and lesbian between the ages of 18-51. A case study was conducted to gather information on how participants navigated their development process. The data analysis found several themes which were (1) sexual identification, (2) What it means to be and experiences related to (identity), (3) how the participants juggled (managed) intersecting identities of being Black and lesbian (4) acceptance of sexual identity (5) religion (6) discrimination. The findings provided an interesting outcome as there were many layers that were not considered such as how religion interacted with them and the development of their identity and was often a negative aspect in their lives to the discrimination that they felt not only in the LGBT community but also the Black community.</p><p>

<p>?Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest? (New International Version, Matthew 11:28). In South India, transgenders are treated as untouchables and part of the least in the society. This restriction that the society places on transgenders has built hurt and regret in their lives. The Bible tells us to treat everyone equal and Jesus asks us to love all unconditionally; at times, it is difficult to put that teaching into practice. This topic was originally chosen to investigate this community and find a biblical approach to them, but working with Seesha, a non-profit, the approach took a different direction. The following research and documentary will focus on the acts of Jesus, that is, educating and empowering. This is in hope to bring awareness to the rejection of the transgender community and possible ways to change the perspective of society by choosing to accept them. The aim of this project is to try to lessen the burden of life in transgenders (stigma), by educating the society of their physical anatomy, lifestyle and daily struggle for a better standard of living.

Since Badgett's (1995a) landmark study on the wage effects of sexual orientation, interest in and production of scholarly work addressing the economics of sexual orientation has grown tremendously. Curious puzzles have emerged in the literature on the economics of same-sex couple households, three of which are addressed in detail in this dissertation. Most studies of the wages of women in same-sex couples versus different-sex couples find that the former earn more, even controlling for differences in present labor market supply, education, experience, area of residence, and occupation. However, most previous studies of the sexual orientation wage gap omit the role of motherhood in the lesbian-straight women wage gap, and most take the sample of lesbians to be a homogenous group compared to straight women. Chapter 1 uses American Community Survey data from 2010 to study the wage gap between lesbians and straight women, putting motherhood in intra-household differences at the center of the analysis. The analysis shows that in terms of earnings, lesbian couples are quite heterogeneous; one partner has a large wage premium over straight women, and the other faces a large wage penalty. These findings are enhanced when a child is present in the lesbians' home, possibly suggesting a household division of labor in lesbian homes. Chapter 2 considers the possibility that same-sex couples, like many different-sex couples, have one person who specializes in paid work while the other specializes in unpaid work for the household, such as housework and childcare. Chapter 2 presents a study which uses American Time Use Survey Data pooled from 2003-2011 to analyze the time spent in household, care, and paid work for members of different couple types and finds that in same-sex as well as different-sex couple households, some personal characteristics, such as being the lower earner in the household, are correlated with spending more time in household and care work. Chapter 3 offers a study of poverty in same-sex versus different-sex couple households, exploring which characteristics are correlated with poverty for same-sex and different-sex couple households. When controlling for a couple's education level, area of residence, race and ethnicity, age, and household composition, same-sex couples are more likely to be in poverty than their different-sex counterparts.

This study examined the effects of perceived parental rejection in gay men and romantic relationship quality during the 2020 COVID-19 global pandemic,. Meyer (2003) noted several dimensions of minority stress that LGBTQIA+ individuals are at risk of experiencing, including discrimination based on their sexual orientation, internalizing negative societal attitudes about homosexuality, and expecting rejection due to their sexual orientation. Researchers have just started to identify protective factors that contribute to resilience among gay men (Goldfried & Goldfried, 2001; Holahan et al., 1994; Steinberg, 2001), and this study sought to add to that literature. Perceived parental acceptance has been found to be associated with improved well-being (Steinberg, 2001; Holahan et al., 1994), suggesting that relationships with parents or caregivers have effects well into adulthood. Yet, the literature has failed to examine the effects of early parental rejection and how current attachment styles may mediate past experiences and their effects on current relationship quality. The main goal of the current study was to examine whether recollections of past parental rejection were associated with relationship quality later in their adult intimate relationships (Cassidy, 2008). Outness to family, friends, and others and current attachment styles were assessed as mediating variables for the links between perceived parental rejection and relationship quality. A sample of 275 participants was recruited through Amazon Turk (MTurk), Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. The mean age of participants was 31.05 years old (SD = 7.94), with a range of 18-65. The sample consisted of 93% of the sample identified as male, with the remainder identifying as transgender (4%), non-binary (0.7%), or other (2.2%). This diverse sample identified their race/ethnicity as either European American (41%), followed by African American (15%), Asian American (14%), Hispanic American (14%), American Indian, or Alaskan Native (12%), Other (4%), and Biracial (1%). The researcher conducted a multiple mediation analysis using Hayes (2018) PROCESS macro to examine the relationship between perceived parental rejection and relationship quality, with attachment anxiety, attachment avoidance, and outness as possible mediators. Consistent with the literature, perceived parental rejection from both mothers and fathers was associated with lower current relationship quality. Overall, the findings of the current study indicate support for attachment anxiety and attachment avoidance mediating the effect of perceived parental rejection on current relationship quality. Attachment Avoidance was found to be a stronger mediator of the relationship between perceived maternal rejection and relationship quality. Attachment anxiety was still a significant predictor, but not as strong when compared to attachment avoidance. Surprisingly in contrast with existing literature, results showed that outness is not a potential mechanism for how perceived parental rejection is related to relationship quality.

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.

While a literature on the mental health of lesbian mothers is beginning to emerge, no study to date has prospectively examined lesbian women's mental health in the context of transitioning to parenthood for the first time. This dissertation explores the transition to parenthood in a sample of lesbian couples who are becoming mothers for the first time, with a special focus on how the division of labor and women's roles change over time. Thirty-four couples (29 inseminating, 5 adopting) were interviewed, at two time points (before the birth of their child, and three months postnatally). I conducted in-depth interviews with both partners, and all participants filled out a series of questionnaires at both time points. The division of paid and unpaid labor, women's feelings about their own and their partner's work-family roles, and women's ideas and feelings about motherhood, were assessed. Biological motherhood was explored as a potential shaping variable with regard to parental roles. Results revealed that the division of housework changed little across the transition to parenthood, although some couples reported that the nonbiological mother tended to perform a larger share of household tasks postnatally. Biological mothers performed a greater proportion of child care tasks postnatally. Both biological mothers and nonbiological mothers tended to reduce their hours in paid employment as a means of handling the demands of child care and avoiding total specialization of roles (e.g., one woman staying home, one woman working full-time). Postnatally, the majority of women felt that being a parent was their most important role in the family, and for most women, being a mother became a salient aspect of their identity—at least as salient as their identity as a lesbian. The majority of women felt that biological motherhood had not defined their parental roles, and these women reported a number of strategies they had employed (e.g., spending equal amounts of time in child care, establishing special routines with their child) in an effort to resist the primacy of biological motherhood. More research on the transition to parenthood among lesbian couples is needed, with particular focus on the needs and issues that arise for the nonbiological mother.

<p> Today&rsquo;s young gay men are experiencing life choice options in manners greater than any prior generation of gay men, particularly when considering family building. These men are coming out at earlier ages and facing a socio-political world of increased legal rights and opportunities, among which is the opportunity to parent outside of a heterosexual past. Informed by interviews with 51 gay men, aged 18-35, this research explores the personal views of today&rsquo;s young gay men about parenting. While past research has primarily focused upon the views of gay men who were already parenting, thus recalling past aspirations, this project focuses on the current views of gay men who have yet to pursue parenthood. Central discussions have explored the views of gay men who desire or are yet undecided about wanting children, as well as those men who actively speak to a preference to remain childfree. Among these three groups, how they are personally constructing their parental desires, what they perceive the pros and cons of parenting to be, and the manner in which their aspiration influences intimate and family relationships are examined. These views are additionally contextualized to the men&rsquo;s cultural observations of media and political climate. Despite social and historic assumptions that a gay identity implies a childfree path, these men particularly speak to the emergent and active consideration of parenthood by many. One may no longer presume a gay identity is incompatible with a fathering identity&mdash;it is a choice to be made at the individual level.</p>

<p> Gay and bisexual Black men experience higher lifetime depression rates than both White and Black heterosexual men. Some social stress researchers argued that this rate may be due to having two stigmatized minority identities and therefore being at greater risk. However, gay and bisexual Black men also experience lifetime depression rates significantly below White LGB people, suggesting resilience to depression for those with these intersecting identities, race and sexuality. This study attempted to address the debate between greater risk versus resilience in gay and bisexual Black men. </p><p> This study investigated whether internalized heterosexism and internalized racism would independently predict depressive symptoms, and whether the interaction of the two would account for more reported depression, supporting the greater risk perspective and minority stress theory (Meyer, 2003). Additionally, the resilience perspective was tested using Africultural coping, culture-specific type of coping, as a moderator of the relationship between internalized stigmas and depressive symptoms. All variables were examined for their relative contributions to depressive symptoms in gay and bisexual Black men to allow for a nuanced view of risk and resilience in this population. </p><p> Eighty-three gay and bisexual Black men of diverse ages, incomes, and educational levels from around the U.S. completed all online surveys and were included in analysis. The single multiple regression was significant with the full model explaining 43% of the variance in depressive symptoms. Internalized heterosexism was positively associated with depressive symptoms. Neither internalized racism, nor the interaction of internalized stigmas (internalized heterosexism x internalized racism) was significant. Thus, minority stress theory was only partially supported and the greater risk perspective was not supported. </p><p> Africultural coping was not significant, in this sample, in predicting depressive symptoms, nor was the interaction of Africultural Coping with each of the two internalized stigmas. In keeping with social stress theory and research, reported low income was significantly and positively associated with depressive symptoms. Possible confounds and limitations are discussed. Implications for theory, methodology and measurement are also discussed.</p>

<p>This quantitative study explored the role of family acceptance as a protective factor for LGBT youth and young adults. The survey was given to 43 participants, between 20 to 29 years old, with 17 self-identified as bisexual, 14 lesbian, 10 gay, and 2 transgendered. The findings show that higher levels of family acceptance are a significant predictor for higher reports in general health. Lower levels of family acceptance was found to be a significant predictor for higher reports of depressive symptoms, lower self-esteem, and higher reports of negative experiences with substance use. Furthermore, data collected from this study reveals the level of family religiosity to be a significant predictor of family acceptance. LGBT adolescents have a variety of needs that can be met by educating parents and health care professionals about the importance of adopting supportive behaviors and promoting acceptance of LGBT identity.