No description available.

Binary ways of thinking about gender and affectional orientation permeate broader society—male-female, woman-man, gay-straight, to name a few. Such binary thought may even contribute to further marginalization within, among, and between individuals of the LGBTQQIAA2P community. The presenters of this roundtable will share findings of their study of genderism in the LGBTQQIAA2P community and facilitate discussion of the themes with implications for counselors, counselor educators, and clinical supervisors.

Genderism may be understood as “an ideology that reinforces the negative evaluation of gender nonconformity or incongruence between sex and gender” (Hill & Willoughby, 2005, p. 534). Further, genderism may be similar to the concept of heterosexism. While western culture has operated within traditional binary thought systems and the LGBTQQIA subculture has been subject to these same ideas, affectional orientation and gender identity have also been significantly expanded through greater recognition of nonheterosexuality. Emerging research validates the complexity of affectional orientation and gender identity through the recognition of intersectionality as a more accurate framework. The presenters will discuss findings of their qualitative research study that examined how genderism is experienced within, among, and between members of the LGBTQQIA communities. For the purposes of the study, genderism was defined as bias resulting from a binary view of gender. Responses from ten individuals were analyzed for themes within and across participants using Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis (IPA). The findings have implications for counseling practice, counselor education, and considerations for advocacy.

No description available.

Research shows that teachers’ and educators’ responses to gender diversity issues in schools either improves or limits the experiences of students. The school counsellor has an important role to play in this process by working closely with other stakeholders to advocate for transgender, intersex and genderqueer (TIG) students. Following a review of recent developments in the USA, recommendations are made and resources identified to assist school counsellors in validating TIG students, and improving school systems in pursuit of their academic, social and emotional success

Counselors are legally and ethically called to provide affirmative services to trans and gender-expansive youth. Counselors, whether working in schools, agencies or private practices, must affirm all clients. This presentation will provide counselors with legal and ethical information and resources for honing skills for supporting gender-expansive youth.

As advocates and leaders, school counselors play a vital role in school communities working for and with transgender, intersex and genderqueer (TIG) students. Learn how the ASCA Mindsets & Behaviors for Student Success can bolster your curriculum planning efforts and promote safe and healthy outcomes for TIG students and with school stakeholders. Discover the mindsets and beliefs about TIG student success, and engage your school community in creating an inclusive and welcoming culture. After attending this session, you should be able to: 1) Discuss the risk and protective factors among TIG students. 2) Explain the rationale for curriculum material use with TIG students. 3) Integrate the ASCA Mindsets & Behaviors to TIG youth in school counseling core curriculum and across various school settings. 4) Examine your school counseling program and share inclusive curriculum resources.

School counselors face challenges to providing optimal support to LGBTQ students who are at an increased risk for mental health and academic challenges. This presentation will offer strategies for training school counselors as advocates and allies. The presenters will incorporate research that they have each conducted, including a video interview segment of first-year school counselors describing systemic challenges they have faced. Presenters will propose a model for addressing systemic barriers based on Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Theory and the ACA Advocacy Competencies.

Although core counseling processes are necessary for working with LGBTQ individuals, they are not sufficient. Given unique concerns, needs, and experiences across the lifespan, specialized awareness, knowledge and skills are needed for effective counseling service delivery for this diverse population. Awareness of personal and societal values as well as homoprejudice will be explored. Sexual and gender identity models, ethical and systemic issues, and unique LGBTQ concerns (including within group diversity) will be discussed. Through various activities, emphasis will be on skill development of appropriate counseling and systemic intervention strategies with respect to various counselor work settings (schools, agencies, higher education).

Social psychology researchers have become increasingly interested in the role of essentialist beliefs in predicting attitudes toward social groups. However, there is little agreement about what the term actually means, whether it means different things for different groups, what endorsement of essentialism (or its sub-components) means for attitudes, and how much this varies depending on the relevant social context. This underlying lack of clarity helps to explain some of the difficulty in understanding the relationships between essentialist beliefs about sexual orientation and attitudes toward gay men and lesbians. In the current project, I suggest a fundamental shift in the approach to this issue. Specifically, I examine the effects of essentialist beliefs related to gender (rather than essentialist beliefs related to sexual orientation) on heterosexist attitudes. In study one, I explore the interrelationships among gender- and sexual orientation-related beliefs and attitudes toward gays, revealing that essentialist beliefs about gender are more consistent and unitary in their relationship to heterosexism than the sexual-orientation related analogues. In my second study, I demonstrate a causal link by manipulating essentialist beliefs about gender. Increasing the salience of gender essentialist beliefs produced higher heterosexism scores relative to decreasing the salience of such beliefs. Taken together, these studies demonstrate the interconnectedness of sexism and the gender hierarchy with heterosexism and discrimination against gays. More importantly, study two forecasts a possible intervention strategy for reducing anti-gay prejudice.