Sex and morals have often been factors in custody disputes. Courts have felt that giving custody of children to homosexual parents would create an environment not in the best interest of the child. Many mental health professionals argue that these decisions have been based on prejudice and homophobia. The purpose of this study was to evaluate research on the sexual orientation of children raised by homosexual parents and review data on the mental/psychosexual health of these children. These studies revealed no difference between children raised by gay/lesbian parents versus those raised by heterosexual parents on IQ scores, gender identity, or peer group relations. Daughters raised by lesbian mothers tended to choose more masculine toys and engage in more masculine activities than daughters raised by single heterosexual mothers. Nearly all of the adolescent children of homosexual parents experienced periods of questioning their sexual orientation. They also expressed the possibility of changing their sexual orientation later in life. Problems in research methodology (i.e., pre-experimental designs and lack of external validity) however, severely limit the validity and generalizability of these conclusions. Given the absence of externally valid, rigorous research on the relationship between homosexual parents and the sexual orientation of their children, these authors conclude that this question remains unanswered. These authors argue that custodial decisions regarding children of homosexual parents be based on sound information in the best interest of both children and parents and not rooted in homophobia.

In my investigation of Li-Young Lee's poetry, my concerns were two-fold: first, to find evidence of an androgynous quality or ideal; secondly, to demonstrate that ideal as authentically feminist. In the introduction, I investigate the feminist debate about the traditional definition and concept of androgyny, demonstrating the difference between the patriarchal traditional androgyny and the androgynous elements in Lee's poetry. In Chapter Two, the rose as image and as symbol in Lee's poetry is examined and found to be strikingly androgynous as a symbol. As an image, however, it is more often than not used as a vehicle to describe the destructive nature of social tyrannies such as the patriarchal symbolic order. In Chapter Three, Lee's heavy implications of an existing "other" is examined. This examination is particularly pertinent when considering the feminist debate, since one of the major problems with the idea of androgyny is that it often necessitates a binary thought system in which the male is usually the "one" and the female is usually the "other." In Lea's poetry, I found no significant evidence of that kind of phallocentricism; rather, I found substantial evidence that Lee's poetry demonstrates the destructiveness of insisting on any being's otherness. Lee's search for identity, and for the meaning of personal identity, involves the acceptance of the mutability of identity. In conclusion, although I don't find androgyny to be authentically feminist, I find Lee's poetry--and its particular use of an androgynous ideal--to be authentically feminist.

The intention of this thesis is to provide an alternative counter-narrative to the mainstream histories of punk that center white men. By focusing on the contributions of fem queer and POC punks, I aim to legitimize punk music as a form of resistance against systems of oppression that are oppositional to the commodified forms of mainstream punk. Using Alice Bag, as my central case study as a fem queer punk that is often left out of punk historical narratives, I contextualize her work through feminist, queer, and media studies lenses to bridge the gap between academia and forgotten personal experience.

Chrisler’s (2017) Theoretical Framework of Parental Reactions When a Child Comes Out as Lesbian, Gay, or Bisexual suggests that parental reactions to having a non-heteronormative child are impacted by a process of cognitively appraising information about their child’s identity and experiencing and coping with emotional responses, both of which are influenced by contextual factors such as a parent’s value system. However, some religious values can challenge parents in the process of accepting a lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender (LGBT) child. The purpose of this study was to test a model that examines the influence of cognitive-affective factors (cognitive flexibility, emotional regulation), religious-value based factors (religious fundamentalism, parental sanctification), and gender and sexual identity on self-reported parental acceptance. Participants were 663 parents of LGBT children who submitted responses to an online survey. A Tobit regression with a single-indicator latent variable approach revealed that religious fundamentalism, parental sanctification, the control component of cognitive flexibility, parent gender, and parent sexual identity significantly predicted parental acceptance. Lower religious fundamentalism, higher parental sanctification, and higher cognitive flexibility scores were associated with parental acceptance of an LGBT child. Participants identifying as a woman or LGB parent also significantly predicted acceptance. Implications of findings are discussed.

This research project was a mixed method of both a quantitative and qualitative design to examine the perception of 38 gay male’s life satisfaction post coming out. In the past few years, laws affecting the gay community have been at the forefront of policies and debates, given all communities an insight into the specific challenges that are endured. As the gay community starts to openly live their lives as a gay man, there has been a need to accept and understand not only the challenges, but to give acceptance. Additionally, this project sought out to determine if the gay community feels that their life satisfaction has increased post coming out to their family, friends, and coworkers, furthermore to be able to live a life not of shame, but of pride and acceptance of themselves.

The relationship between foreign language anxiety and gender identity has been largely a quantitative endeavor that has shown contradictory results. Furthermore, sexual identity has not been researched in foreign language anxiety literature. A qualitative account of LGBTQ+ language learners with different gender identities has been absent from the literature. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between foreign language anxiety and sexual and gender identity. To gain insight into this relationship, this qualitative study investigated the lived experiences of four LGBTQ+ foreign language university students who represented three gender identities. Data were collected through multiple, in-depth interviews, observations, the Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale (FLCAS, Horwitz et al., 1986), and a questionnaire. The four participants were further situated through the results of the FLCAS, which was distributed to the research site and garnered 141 responses. Presentation of the data includes portraits of two of the participants and a cross-case analysis of the four participants. The portraits provided rich, thick descriptions of the educational and historical backgrounds of the two learners as well as themes related to their individual anxiety levels. The cross-case analysis found that foreign language anxiety across participants related to invalidated identity, privileged identities, context, and trait anxiety. These themes largely caused participants to experience communication apprehension, possible cognitive interference, avoidance behavior, and a lack of willingness to communicate. This study offers pedagogical implications and suggestions for further research. The data show that language teachers need to be aware of the pervasive nature of foreign language anxiety and how the identities of LGBTQ+ students can play into foreign language anxiety. Furthermore, teachers need to affirm the identities of their students.

During adolescence, self-identified gay black males may develop their identities differently than their gay white male counterparts. This may be attributed to the reconciliation of stressors when developing gay, black, and male identities within certain environmental contexts. To investigate this, twelve qualitative interviews were conducted of gay black males from which developmental themes were extracted. While many of the developmental processes are similar to their white homosexual counterparts, some differences were noted regarding racism, objectification by the white gay community, and use of the internet to develop particular identities. A new theory using dynamic systems theory that includes many complexities of identity development is proposed. A hybrid story-like model was developed to illustrate the roles of lenses and buffers as they pertain to how an identity functions. Lenses allow a person to see their way through a variety of experiences; buffers contain coping mechanisms and skills to alleviate tension from negative experiences. Future research should include other minority groups and women for a more complete picture of identity development processes. This would allow better tools to be built that can be utilized by intervention designers.

While activists and others have argued that the legitimization of biased attitudes and stereotypes by political leaders foments violence against minority groups, criminological research in the U.S. has focused more on "threat" hypotheses that view hate crime as a retaliatory response to perceived gains or encroachment of targeted groups. Another view suggests that heightened public visibility of hate crimes or other bias issues, usually in the form of media coverage, increases hate crimes. This study compares the effect on anti-LGB crimes of events representing political threat (a court decision legalizing marriage equality) and political legitimization of bias (passage of a ban on marriage equality), both of which occurred in California in 2008. The study also tests effects of media coverage prior to the ban on marriage equality. Results showed a statistically significant increase in anti-LGB hate crimes after the ban on same-sex marriage. There was no effect on anti-LGB crime counts after the court decision to legalize marriage equality, or during the media campaign leading up to the vote to ban marriage equality.

Understanding how students endorse affirmative consent in their sexual relationships is essential to sexual violence prevention. Some research has indicated that LGBT students and students with disabilities may negotiate and endorse consent uniquely because of socially constructed traditional sexual scripts. Research indicates gender differences may exist as well. The proposed research examines differences based on gender, LGBT status, and disability in affirmative consent endorsement and peer norms around sexual violence. Results indicated that women, nonbinary students, LGBT students, and students with disabilities were significantly less likely than their privileged counterparts to indicate low endorsement of affirmative consent. Results also indicated that women and some LGBT students are significantly less likely than their privileged counterparts to indicate high peer norms supporting sexual violence. Limitations, implications, and future directions are discussed.

Reconfigured found objects shape scenes of everyday life, questioning the structural histories that go into defining an identity. Engaging in a multidisciplinary approach of making, my work reimagines the function of ornamentation and its relationship to the body. I approach new materials and found objects with the eye of a jeweler, highlighting and exploiting the subtle, and often invisible, links between material histories and their connection to identity. Material debris patinated with age like skillets, baseballs, and furniture are used to penetrate normative structures around identity, gender, and sexual desire. Using adornment as a support in my installations I propose a new lens for viewing function through the use of ornamentation. In doing so I highlight the bodie’s impact on objects, and call into to question the role these objects play in shaping our understanding of identity—An identity that is never singular, constantly evolving, and more often than not contradictory and confusing.