In this study the author explores contextual factors that impact practice beliefs and behaviors among social workers with lesbian and gay clients. The Gay Affirmative Practice scale was used to measure levels of gay affirmative practice beliefs and practice behaviors among social workers in a medical setting. A model is presented that illustrates how contextual factors related to education, training, relationships with lesbian and gay individuals, and religiosity affects social workers’ practice behaviors. The results illustrate the importance of educational exposure and affirming practice beliefs on practice behaviors.

The gay rights movement began in the summer of 1969 when gay men rioted against police for raiding a bar known as the Stonewall Inn. In the succeeding 35 years, very little research has explored the relationship between police organizations and gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgendered (GLBT) communities. The purpose of this study is to describe the attitudes that GLBT persons currently hold toward police. Subjects were sampled from the 34th Annual Atlanta Pride Festival and asked to complete a self-administered questionnaire. Of the 179 GLBT participants, the vast majority reported high satisfaction with community policing practices at this event. Moreover, age, household income, victimization, security presence, and identification with gay-themed media significantly predicted attitudes toward police.

The lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community continues to experience worse health outcomes than their heterosexual counterparts. Inequities in health care include low health insurance rates, high rates of stress due to systemic discrimination and stigma, and a lack of cultural competency in the health care system. Gender and sexual minority (GSM) people are at higher risk of mental health disorders, sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), substance use and abuse, cancer, suicide, and other disorders/diseases. A lack of cultural competency in health care systems perpetuates these health disparities and inequities in care that burden the LGBT community. This project?s purpose was to evaluate the effectiveness of an online educational intervention on enhancing health professionals? cultural competence of GSM health. This study used a one-group pre-, post-, and follow-up survey intervention, quasi-experimental design to evaluate the effectiveness of an educational intervention on improving health professionals? knowledge, clinical preparedness, and attitudinal awareness of GSM health. The study?s setting was at a primary care center with clinics spread across three rural counties in North Dakota with a combined population of less than 14,000. This study used convenience sampling, and the recruitment of participants included a project presentation at the health care organization where the project would take place and an email invitation. Thirty-six participants completed the pre-survey, 11 of those 36 participants completed the educational intervention and post-survey, and six of those 11 participants completed the follow-up survey four weeks after completing the educational intervention. The instrument used for the presurvey, post-survey, and follow-up survey was the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Development of Clinical Skills Scale (LGBT-DOCSS). A paired sample t-test was used to compare pre, post, and four-week follow-up LGBT-DOCSS mean scores. The results indicated a statistically significant improvement in LGBT-DOCSS mean score on the post-survey (p = 0.0011) and four-week follow-up (p = 0.01) compared to the pre-survey. Additionally, the majority of participants reported that this educational intervention was valuable to their practice. This project revealed that an online educational intervention effectively enhanced health professionals? cultural competence of GSM health.

Lesbian athletes face criticism and discrimination from coaches, fans, and society. Researchers have suggested that female sport is stigmatized due to perceived masculinity and homosexuality, causing athletes to focus on heterosexual and feminine behaviors. The dichotomy of athleticism and femininity in sports has been extensively studied in the heterosexual population. However, the impact of the overt discrimination and pressure to conform to societal standards of femininity and heterosexuality has not been studied in lesbians. Therefore, the purpose of this quantitative study utilizing survey design was to examine the relationship among sport participation, gender schema, athletic identity, and internalized homophobia. A network-based snowball sampling method was used to survey 226 lesbians, 18 years of age and older. Surveys issued via Internet included the Bem Sex Role Inventory, Athletic Identity Measurement Scale, and the Lesbian Internalized Homophobia Scale. Data were analyzed using Chi-square, t tests, and Pearson Correlation. No significant difference in sports participation was found in lesbians with different gender schemas. There was a significant difference in the athletic identity of participants who were more or less active in sports, but there was no significant difference in internalized homophobia for participants who were more or less active in sports. There was no relationship between athletic identity and internalized homophobia. This study contributes to the existing literature on women and sport. It promotes social change by further investigating the influence of gender schema, athletic identity, and internalized homophobia related to behaviors and attitudes in sports.

The majority of sociological research on social movement tactics and strategies has focused on how theories of resource mobilization and dynamic political opportunities affect the innovation of tactics and types of tactics used. Relatively few studies have explored the roles of institutional, cultural, and political contexts in determining why social movement leaders choose certain tactics. This research study examines lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) social movement organizations (SMO) that are pursuing institutional advocacy. Specifically, it is a comparative case study of how tactics of LGBT organizations in Minnesota and Utah are affected by contested and conservative political landscapes, respectively. The concept of political landscapes was developed and includes three core components: the institutional structure of the political system, the sociocultural context, and dynamic political opportunities. Data was collected from 16 semi-structured interviews of LGBT SMO leaders. Secondary data was also collected by examining public records, newspapers, magazines, and organizational websites. The results from this study suggest that dynamic political opportunities are embedded in the larger institutional and sociocultural contexts. In Minnesota, the combination of a more open and competitive political system and a more diverse Christian presence and ethnically diverse urban areas have resulted in the use of tactics that are much more open and direct. Specifically, LGBT SMOs in Minnesota use tactics such as only endorsing candidates publicly, focusing on building a broad bipartisan base of sponsors for LGBT legislation, working with other SMOs to create large coalitions, using a frame that is all-encompassing of movement goals, and building a large, grassroots movement. By contrast, the closed and conservative political system and a dominant religion in Utah have resulted in more private, compromising, and behind-the-scenes tactics. LGBT SMOs in Utah tactics include using both public and private political endorsements, good-cop bad-cop organizations, delegate trainings, and frame alignment with the conservative culture.

The purpose of this review is to evaluate the methodology of past and present research with female homosexuals and then to summarize the current state of knowledge in psychology and psychiatry. The data presented in this review have been derived predominantly from material abstracted in the Medicus Index (1900-1976) and Psychology Abstracts (1927-1976). This reviewer has established specific criteria by which all studies throughout this literature review will be examined. These are: sample size, sampling of experimental control groups, variable controlled (age, education, etc), how sexual orientation was determined, and tests and questionnaires employed, their reliability, validity, administration, and interpretation. It has been shown that both the clinical and nonclinical research populations are extremely biased. Historically and currently, the clinical researchers have utilized small and unspecified populations. This type of research is usually in the form of case studies and has been psychoanalytically oriented. Currently, clinical researchers have attempted to overcome the methodological problems by using control groups, standardized tests, statistical analysis of data, etc. However, adequate clinical studies have been few and their findings highly tentative. The most serious problem with the clinical research is sampling. Nonclinical research on the other hand, has used samples comprised of young, white, educated and middle class subjects. Researchers have attempted to find objective criteria that would discriminate between heterosexual and homosexual women, using projective techniques and self-report inventories, but their results are inconclusive. Data have shown, however, that there are significant differences between “butch” and “fem” lesbians and male homosexuals. Future research will need to determine the sex role "preference of both the homo sexual and heterosexual groups, otherwise differences between the two groups may be the result of a larger proportion of “butch” lesbians being compared to "fem" heterosexuals. The etiology of female homosexuality has been an enduring topic in psychology and psychiatry. To date, researchers have not found any genetic or hormonal characteristics associated with the phenomenon of homosexuality in women. Research focusing on the psychodynamic aspects of homosexuality have found that lesbians have poorer relationships with both parents, experience more interparent friction and less family security, feel less feminine, and are less accepting of the feminine role then heterosexual women. Although these are statistically significant differences between heterosexual and homosexual women it is unknown how, or even whether they affect the development of homosexuality. Female homosexuality has been considered by many mental health professionals as a disease, neurosis, or degenerative condition. The data have failed to show that female homosexuals are less well-adjusted then their heterosexual controls. The treatment of female homosexuality has almost been completely neglected. The majority of the literature has reported on the techniques and theories used on male homosexuals. The few studies that have used female homosexuals are methodologically inadequate. They did not use control groups, standardized instruments to measure the degree of change of sexual orientation, or, adequate follow-up studies. Extensive research needs to be completed to determine if the techniques and theories derived from the treatment of male homosexuals are applicable to lesbians. Considerable more research in the areas of etiology, diagnosis, and treatment of female homosexuality needs to be completed before any tentative statements can be made.

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PhD, Faculty of Humanities, University of the Witwatersrand, 2011 / Exploring black lesbian sexualities and identities is a multifaceted in-­‐depth ethnographic study of black urban lesbian life in contemporary South Africa. This study, which focuses on lesbian women aged between 17 and 40 years, reads the term lesbian as both a political and a theoretical project. It speaks to current concerns, which raise questions related to the politics of inclusion/exclusion, love, sexuality, identity politics, violence, style and urban space while sensitively giving agency to women’s narratives. In many ways, it enriches and challenges conventional gay and lesbian studies and studies on sexuality in Africa by bringing meaning to the complex interplay between space, style, erotic practice and sexuality. It further illustrates the flexible practices and variable notions of sex, sexuality and gender categories. At the same time it tackles the precarious and painful position of black lesbian women whose lives are an ongoing maneuvering and negotiation between a potentially hostile or violent environment and a country with constitutional protections. The political and theoretical imperative of the study is evident in the representations of black lesbians as occupying subject positions in which they determine the structures and meanings of their lives. Their narratives show that they inhabit the world actively, not only as victims or in relation to others, but also as conscious subjects that make meanings of their lives: subjects who are actively and critically engaging with the world we inhabit.