This study explored the lives of lesbian mothers with children conceived through insemination or the adoption process in an effort to understand the conflicts they encountered along their journey to motherhood and how they managed those conflicts. The qualitative study included in-depth interviews conducted with six participants. The participants’ ages ranged between 25-60 years old. Interview results were analyzed to explore participants’ narratives in regards to their experiences, relationships, identities and transformation into motherhood. This research highlights significant ongoing developments in the field of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) studies and seeks to intersect the boundaries between interpersonal and sociopolitical conflicts with the phenomena of lesbian-mothered families. Using interpretative phenomenological analysis, this research provides a contribution to the interdisciplinary field of conflict resolution with a focus on the central research question: What is the common experience shared among lesbian mothers in their transformation to motherhood? The key findings of this study interrelate with themes of interpersonal conflict, role conflict, and sociopolitical conflict. The conclusions contribute to the field of conflict analysis and resolution, expand upon recent developments on LGBT family systems, and suggest new areas for further examination from the perspective of conflict analysis scholarship.

My project looks at current conceptualizations of identity relating to gender and sexuality in order to understand how queer individuals enact gender as connected to their non-normative sexuality. I will use the notion of "desire" through Butler's (1990) notion of performativity as a part of iterability that reproduces an opposition between what is intended and how it is perceived. This approach creates space to problematize the status of identities that posits the conception of fluidity and dialectic as attached to notions of gendered sexualities - the understanding that sexuality interacts with gender and that these two notions are not compartmentalized. The construction of these systems of categorization allows for an assumption of the role of sexuality as connected to gender that can then be read through discursive practices and performances. This research is placed within a post-structuralist and queer theory discussion that is used to understand identity as separate from an isolated core self and is rather comprehended through a particular connection of gender, sex, desire, and performance. By entering into a queer theory and post-structuralist discussion, this project aims to highlight ways in which gender and sex are not necessarily "intelligible" - in which one's gender enactment follows their sex, which then leads them to be attracted to the "opposite" sex/gender - and by doing so I will be able to understand how non-heterosexuals understand their own sexualized gender. The categories of gender and desire are not mutually exclusive nor are they dichotomous. According to Butler (1990), the heterosexual matrix addresses the power structures associated with hegemonic modes of discourse and thought; therefore, my project embraces this approach to gender and sexuality and how these understandings create a unique performance of repetition that further constructs an identity. This study specializes in the reformulation and re-articulation of a distinct consciousness of compounded identities that are comprised of a sexualized gender involving the performative interplay of sexuality on gender for queer individuals. In addition, this project seeks to understand how queer individuals form, understand, perform, and enact their evolving gender identity as connected to their sexuality. Specifically my research asks: 1) How do queer individuals narrate the construction of their particular identities? 2) How do queer individuals enact their gender as connected to sexuality? and 3) How do queer individuals describe their identities as marginalized? In order to answer these questions I conducted 20 interviews with queer individuals in Portland, OR aged 18-35 in order to get a broad range of life experiences. The use of one-on-one interviews allowed me to get at the interpretative perspective of the participant such that they can clarify the connections and relationships they see between their own sexualized gender enactment and the world around them. This also allowed access to acquire information about the social interplay of gender, sex, and desire and how these individuals may or may not place importance on their queer identity and the processes involved.

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This thesis analyzes Transgender experience and dynamics in the Pagan community of Central Florida. Religion plays an important role as part of social structure for many people in the United States. It can also be a source of strife and conflict between culture groups and within cultures. In the US, predominant religious traditions stem from monotheistic Abrahamic faiths (Christianity, Judaism, and Islam); however, Wicca, a Neo-Pagan polytheistic religion, is practiced by a small but growing number of people. Based on nearly one year of ethnographic engagement with the Central Florida Wiccan community, this study presents an analysis of participants experiences in Wicca, especially as it refers to the experiences of Trans Wiccan practitioners and their religious communities. I argue that the theology underlying Pagan religious beliefs and practices, alongside shared experiences of othering and liminality, encourages the maintenance of an open, accepting and encouraging atmosphere towards LGBTQ+, and particularly Trans, Wicca practitioners.

The understanding of the experiences of queer Arab Americans and the ways in which they navigate cross cultural expectations of gender and sexuality is limited in the anthropology or social sciences scholarship. The available scholarship focuses primarily on queerness in juxtaposition to Islam, which is not relatable to all Arab Americans as they are a religiously diverse group. Through an intersectional approach, this research, conducted from April 2020 to May 2021, explores the lived experiences of queer Arab Americans from across the United States (U.S.) while seeking to identify potential commonalities that could encompass a more general queer Arab American experience in an attempt to broaden the understanding of an underrepresented population. Over the course of four months from June to September 2020, I conducted 16 semi-structured interviews that explored how participants navigated their worlds as queer Arab Americans. I conducted media analysis to contextualize the primary data. The narrative data were transcribed, coded, and analyzed to identify significant themes and subthemes, and capture the diversity of explanations. The findings in this study were divided into two article manuscripts. The first article examines participants' experiences through their interpersonal connections with their families of origin and communities. I argue that, although religion plays a role in anti-LGBTQ+ attitudes, Arab families are predominantly anti-LGBTQ+ to prevent social ostracization from their communities. Additionally, a lack of public representation for queer Arab Americans creates hardship and delay in coming to terms with their gender identities and sexualities and perpetuates this population's invisibility. Ultimately, acceptance by an inclusive community strengthened individuals' confidence in their identities and helped alleviate the effects of rejection and isolation felt by the participants. The second article examines the positionality of queer Arab Americans resulting from cultural othering due to historically strained U.S. relations with the Arab world. As a result, participants felt invalidated and alienated by people from both Arab and American communities, however they felt their existences as queer Arabs defied the opposition aimed at them. Additionally, they perceived American stereotyping of the Arab world hypocritical as the Queer community is still marginalized and without nationwide legal protections in the U.S.

Previous research suggests that suicide is more prevalent among those in the LGBTQ+ community (Abelson et al., 2006), and they are also more likely to experience bullying and psychological symptoms while less likely to have adequate social support. Although many studies have examined risk factors for suicidality, the current study aimed to compare the impact of the risk factors among those in the LGBTQ+ community with those who are not. Further, this study examined the role of identity in conjunction with these other risk and protective factors. College students (N = 501) completed an anonymous online survey battery. Suicidality was significantly correlated with microaggressions, childhood bullying, internalized symptoms, identity distress, and negatively correlated with social support. Close to a third of the sample (31%) identified as LGBTQ+, which was higher than anticipated and may be reflective of recent changes in young people being more open to exploring their gender and sexuality than in the past. Those who identified as LGBTQ+ experienced greater suicidality and other risk factors, including identity distress, suggesting that despite the fact that identifying as LGBTQ+ is becoming more common, the risk factors for negative adjustment still remain.

South Africa is currently the only country in the continent to fully legally recognise same-sex marriage. While this is a post-apartheid nationalism feat that needs and should be celebrated, those who live openly as gay/lesbian continue to be despised by a large portion of the population (Gouws, 2005). There is an overwhelming body of research in the continent, including South Africa, that focuses on the narratives of homophobia and violence experienced by gay/lesbian individuals (see Mkhize, Bennett, Reddy & Moletsane, 2010; Judge, 2018). Despite the growing visibility of gay/lesbian headed families in the country, little is known about children raised in such families. Existing literature often focuses on the impact homosexuality has on children from the perspective of the gay/lesbian parents while ignoring the importance of giving a voice to children who come from such families. Using a qualitative approach, this study explored narratives of how young men raised in gay/lesbian families navigate heteronormative communities in South Africa. Queer theory and theory on Radical Democracy were adopted as theoretical frameworks while the data was produced through semi-structured interviews conducted in person and virtually with eight men raised in gay/lesbian families. Themes and sub-themes emerged through a narrative thematic analysis, highlighting the intricacies and tensions in how these men navigate heteronormative environments. Constructing narratives about (counter)heteronormative environments, encounters of disclosure, self-identification narratives, and growing up as a boy/man in counter-heteronormative families were the themes that arose from their narratives. Their narratives revealed that there is no such thing as a universal moment of disclosure and that ‘coming out' is a complex family process that sometimes occurs in the context of divorce and parental conflict and that sometimes, ‘coming out' was irrelevant for these men because the narrative of disclosure was not allowed. The men learned to represent a positive alternative masculinity that challenges mainstream sexist ideas of women and girls as objects as a result of growing up in counter-heteronormative families. The research suggests that living ‘the laws of democracy' within intimate family settings is a complex and multidetermined business, demanding both continuous vigilance around wide-spread homophobia and attunement to new modes of masculinity formation in the country.

Given the primacy of Florida, and in particular Orlando, as an urban center with an above average rate of AIDS and HIV, this study examines how the outbreak of a deadly disease can affect a community. Complicating the response to this scourge, those who were most at-risk were marginalized groups such as those in the LGBTQ community, drug users, and often people of color. As a result, those who occupied positions of political power felt little incentive to curb the epidemic and mocked it by deeming it "the gay disease." As a result of neglect and the lack of investment in scientific and medical research to better understand the epidemiological contours of this deadly dis-ease, its growth and spread were exacerbated. Given the significant social stigma associated with AIDS, an analysis of the epidemic must be examined both an epidemiological as well as a social phenomenon. In Orlando and elsewhere, the refusal of the government and institutions to adequately address the AIDS epidemic, some people in the community formed grassroots organizations to help find relief for their community, family and friends. Whereas in previous generations, separation from the mainstream society was an explicit objective of many gay activists, in this era the gay community worked toward forming an inclusive coalition out of necessity to combat AIDS. Eventually, this effort forced the broader population and political establishment to begin taking decisive action. Eventually, declining rates of infection suggest that the resources invested in this effort, including scientific research and public information campaigns, worked. The public became more knowledgeable about AIDS and HIV, the virus that leads to AIDS, even became manageable to the point that it no longer the equivalent to a death sentence; however, the AIDS epidemic left a legacy on communities across the country and globe. This analysis of the experience of Orlando, Florida, illustrates the effect of its aftermath; grief and mourning remains an ever-present reminder of this dark chapter in this community's history. Further, the grassroots organizations, strategies, and resources developed out of necessity during the 1980s remained and became important pillars of the community. The response to the PULSE Nightclub mass shooting that occurred decades after the height of the AIDS epidemic demonstrated the persistence and importance of these community organizations to the Orlando community.