LGBT

• There are many barriers to optimal health care
• Ex) Lack of culturally appropriate prevention services for many of the risk factors LGBT members face
• Young adults are at less risk than older LGBT members
• Social acceptance

Discrimination

Heterosexism

The belief that opposite-sex sexuality and marriage is the only acceptable practice. It can be manifested into extreme cases where someone may believe that everyone is heterosexual and homosexuality does not exist.

Homophobia

A form of Heterosexism, but much more radical. It is the system of negative discrimination against homosexuality and those who identify themselves as members of the LGBT community.

Religious Discrimination

Lesbophobia - Discrimination specifically against the Lesbian community.

Biphobia - Discrimination against the acts of bisexualism and those who engage in it.

Transphobia - Discrimination against gender variance in the community.

• Many Christian denominations condemn homosexuality and gender variance.
• The Roman Catholic church is especially against homosexuality. Historically the church would castrate men and mutilate women who engaged in homosexual activities.
• Recently, some church views have shifted and are now accepting of homosexuality.

• Mainstream translations of the Quran condemn homosexuality and cross-dressing.
• Homosexual activity is a crime and forbidden in most Muslim-majority countries.
• In the Islamic regions of Iran, Saudi Arabia, Sudan and Yemen the death penalty is a possible punishment for engaging in homosexual activities.

PDF Retrieved from: http://www.apacny.net/The-Christian-Case-Against-Same-Sex-Marriage.pdfInformation Retrieved From: http://www.religionfacts.com/homosexuality/islam.htm

Discrimination in Nazi Germany

Weber, C. (Ed.). (2002). Webster's dictionary (4th ed., Vols. 1-4). Chicago: Webster Press.

• Homosexual males were oppressed in Nazi Germany.
• Homosexuality was a violation of the Nazi Party’s policies, and thus anyone who was found to be homosexual was sent to a concentration camp.
• Castration or Death

The Civil War

Information gathered from the Academic Journal “Medicine, Male Bonding, and Homosexuality on Nazi Germany.”

• During the Civil war, it was common for women to dress up as men and provide fraudulent information to enlist.
• Women who did this kept their real identities a secret, and if they were discovered they would be discharged.
• Even after the war ended, many women continued to live as males to ensure that no punishment would result.

Discrimination in the Current Era

Information Retrieved From: http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history-archaeology/The-Women-Who-Fought-in-the-Civil-War.html

• The LGBT community has gained much more acceptance in current times
• Same-sex marriage is currently legal in 9 states
• Gender reassignment surgery is more widely available
• Troubles still faced include
• Certain adoption agencies are unwilling to allow same sex marriages to adopt children
• Churches can still refuse to perform marriages

Interviewee #1

Interviewee #2

• Has experienced little discrimination due to her orrientation. Describers herself as "lipstick", does not try to fit in, simply does due to her appearance and identity
• While experimenting with different sexual identities, she was spit on for her hear color and attire.
• Feels no discrimination in the work place, has generally worked at LGBTQ affiliated offices
• Believes her lack of discrimination comes from her "lipstick identity" and more social acceptance

• Experienced a great deal of discrimination in his youth and young adulthood
• Was often made fun of for not being masculine or not doing the boy things enough. Ex) not playing sports
• Tried to be like everyone else, even though he felt like he was not, because homosexuality was considered a mental illness.
• Felt the greatest discrimination during the HIV/AIDS epidemic, felt like "gay people were the scourge of the population"

Interviews

#2

#1

• 27 year old female
• Graduate student
• From Ohio, lives in Fairfax

• 56 year old male
• University employee
• From Ohio, lives in Fairfax

#1

#2

• Grew up upper-middle class, currently middle class
• Education was important to his family; graduated from high school, college, and graduate school
• Religion was not a big part of his early life, moderate Christian upbringing. Became more spiritual with age
• Experienced moderate discrimination over the course of his life

• Grew up lower-middle class with a large family. Currently middle class.
• Education was emphasized during her youth; graduated from high school, college, and currently in a masters program
• Religion was an extremely important aspect of her family life. Currently affiliated with no religion.
• Experienced little discrimination over the course of her life

Early History

• Earliest Documented Homosexual Relationships were in Ancient Greece
• Common for Chinese Emperors to have Homosexual Partners (Han Dynasty 206BC-220AD)
• Early Melanesia (South Pacific), Celebrated Homosexuality and believed Heterosexuality to be sinful
• Europe was accepting of Homosexuality until Renaissance.
• Christianity also led to the beginning of Oppression of Homosexuality

U.S. History

• In the United States, Homosexuality was considered a sickness, sin, and criminal.
• Homosexuality was not even a term in American society until 1868. “Sodomy” was the term homosexual behavior fell under.
• Laws against “sodomy” came from England and could be punished by whipping, banishment, fines, and death.

Stonewall Riots

• Stonewall Riots seen as start of the LGBT Movement
• June 28, 1969 Riot Broke out in front of the Stonewall Inn, a popular gay bar in Greenwich Village.
• The Next night the angry patrons and crowd returned in greater numbers.

4.bp.blogspot.com/__ECMaMvhL2E/TDyN4AyRrLI/AAAAAAAAHVY/_sImHEBHyhU/s1600/arrestw3cops_bettye_lane585C.jpg

www.civilrights.org/archives/2009/06/449-stonewall.html

Important Dates

LGBT Households

Population Size

• 1972 Reverend William Johnson is First Openly Gay Person Ordained in any Christian Organization
• 1973 Homosexuality is Removed from the DSM-II (List of Psychiatric Disorders)
• 1986 Supreme Court Rules that Homosexual Activity in the Privacy of the Home is not protected by the Constitution.
• 1990 Supreme Court Rules that the Military can discharge gays and lesbians from the military.
• 2000 Vermont Approves “Same-Sex Unions”
• May 9th 2012 Obama states that he Supports Same Sex Marriages.
• November 6th 2012 Voters in Maine, Maryland, and Washington Vote to legalize Same Sex Marriages.

One dot is equal to 100 households

• Estimated 4% of the U.S. Population Identifies with the LGBTQ lifestyle, That is nearly 9 Million people.
• Bisexuals make up 1.8% of the 4%, and are most commonly women.
• Number isn’t entirely accurate because there are probably many more out there who don’t know they are LGBTQ, haven’t come out, or are scared to come out. So the number is a rough estimate.

abcnews.go.com/Health/williams-institute-report-reveals-million-gay-bisexual-transgender/story?id=13320565

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/07/gay-marriage-victory_n_2085900.html

http://articles.cnn.com/2012-05-09/politics/politics_obama-same-sex-marriage_1_gay-marriage-civil-unions-word-marriage?_s=PM:POLITICS

http://atheism.about.com/library/FAQs/phil/blphil_eth_gaym_chron.htm

The Role of Families

• The family serves as the immediate social network for people who are LGBT, and therefore families may, if not absolutely will have most effect on LGBT
• People who identify themselves as LGBT almost always hesitate to tell their parents of their sexual orientation, out of fear that they will not accept it
• An Australian Study showed that out of 1500 people who identified themselves as either gay or lesbian, 80 percent chose not to reveal their sexual orientation to their parents
• Parents often do not know how to respond to their child’s coming out, and are left confused, angered, and saddened as a result.
• Families can take one of two roles towards their LGBT children: positive or negative.

Family’s Role (Positive)

Family’s Role (Negative)

• Parents tend to take a supportive role of their children, if they come out as being LGBT, though they must first learn how to be supportive.
• To help families, the organization Parents, Families, and Friends of Lesbians And Gays (PFLAG), offers advice and procedures.
• Parents of LGBT, attempt to associate with other parents of LGBT, but are careful not to outright say it out of fear of stigma.

• Parents may attempt to “cure” their child, through the use therapy. This may or may not be negative depending on the circumstances.
• Parents will attempt to keep their kids “in the closet” or they will choose to go “into the closet” themselves.
• Worst case: the family will not accept their son/daughter’s sexual orientation, kick them out of the house, and completely cut off all ties to them.

Accepting Help

• One of the first things a client asks when going for help is ask “are you gay?”
• A social worker, or any person in human services, must first be comfortable with themselves before helping others. Communication and networking are also important.
• For the elderly the same knowledge and skills apply to those of a younger age, but what is also required is knowledge of past discrimination, abuse, and prejudice.

Interviewee #1

Interviewee #2

• Came from a small household
• Family knows of his sexual orrientation
• Feels he has made family in the LGBTQ community

• Came from an 8 person household
• Family does not know of her sexual orrientation. Feels she must keep up appearances
• “I know if I told them, I wouldn’t have family…I have no interest in being disowned by my parents, brothers, and sisters”
• About the LGBTQ community at mason, "they are my family; they are my brothers and sisters"

ADVOCATE!

• Listen to the needs of your clients
• Push for service creation and policy change to better meet the needs of the LGBT community
• The strongest supporters for a population are those who are not members
• Whites advocating for African American rights during the Civil Rights movement
• Men advocating for women during Women's Suffrage
• Heterosexuals advocating for the rights of the LGBT community

What can Social Workers do to help the LGBT community?

What can you do to help the LGBT community?

LGBT Customs

• Main Steam Americans and LGBT tend to have the same customs.
• They both Celebrate:
• Christmas
• New Years
• Thanksgiving
• 4th of July

• They both have festivals and parades, Although they might be different themed.
• LGBT might have a Gay Pride festival or a Gay Pride Parade
• LGBT and main stream Americans will have the same themed parades as well like a thanksgiving parade.

• LGBT also have different types of groups/clubs in school and college than main stream Americans
• For example:
• gay straight alliance
• LGBT student organization

Interviewee #2

Interviewee #1

Pride Week, National Coming Out Day, Day of Silence, and Trans Day of Remembrance are all very important holidays to him

• Believes that touching and physicality are more customary in the LGBT community
• LGBT community members are customarily more accepting of others
• Celebrates HIV week, coming out day, trans day remembrance, and pride week

View of Education

• In todays society LGBT population is increasing significantly
• Because of the increasing population, society and the way of life is changing
• For instance:
• Recently, California has become the first state to mandate gay history into their curriculum.

Interviewee #1

Interviewee#2

• Went to an all girls Catholic school till she was 15
• Parents were somewhat pro education, grandparents were against secondary education
• She felt it was important to go to college and then graduate school
• Her and her siblings were the first in her family to graduate from college

• Education was extremely important to his parents
• Was expected to be the very best. Always get As, go to an ivy league school
• Graduated from high school, college with a double major, and graduate school
• Personally holds education in high regard

• As gay marriage is becoming more popular in sates, experts say that states will be mandating gay history to be in curriculums just like it is in California’s now.
• Some people say that teaching kids at a young age about LGBT will decrease the amount of homophobia and hate towards LGBT in society.
• Others say that is will encourage children to violate or question religiously or motivated homosexuality in private settings.

Interviewee #1

• Went without medical insurance from 16 to 27
• Joined in a Civil Union with her partner to be able to have visitation and decision making rights

Interviewee #2

• Was refused to give blood during the HIV/AIDS epidemic
• Has felt discriminated against by doctors, feels he is less likely to seek out care
• Feels LGBT community is discriminated agaisnt when filling out medical forms, must choose between single, married, and divorced. Makes him feel not included
• Feels lack of spousal abuse support is one of the biggest service gaps to the LGBT community

Services Available

• There are many advocacy groups that work on behalf of the LGBT community
• Many national groups, such as the Human Rights Coalition
• Many more local groups, such as the LGBTQ office at GMU

Service Gaps

• Many service gaps exist for the LGBT community
• HIV/AIDS and other STI programs do not meet the needs of the LGBT community
• Stigma and discrimination in health care services limits the availability of services to those in need

(Rispel, Metcalf, Colete, Moorman, Reddy, 2011), (Hellman & Klein, 2004)

Health Status

• The LGBT population is extremely diverse.
• Members of the community come from all walks of life, including people of all races, ethnicities, ages, socioeconomic status, and location
• Sexual orientation has been associated with multiple health threats
• LGBT members have unique health care needs
• Ex) The HIV/AIDS epidemic

(CDC, 2011), (Mayer, Bradford, Makadon, Stall, Goldhamer, Landers, 2008).

Health Status

Interviewee #1

Interviewee #2

• Roman Catholic upbringing, went to Catholic school
• Religion was the way of life, did not even think of an other option
• Removed herself from religion as she experimented with her sexual identity
• Currently not affiliated with any religion, does not consider herself spiritual

• Fairly secular upbringing. Parents let them experience religion to ultimately choose for themselves.
• Became very religious in hopes prayer would cure him of his sexual orrientation
• Formation of his sexual identity made him anti-religion
• Realized he was discriminating against religion like others discriminated against the LGBT community
• Currently is a practicing budhist; he feels Budhism gives him "a set of tools to move to greater happiness"

Mayer & Bradford et al, 2008), (Wolitski, 2008)

Role of Religion

• Homosexuality is a hot button issue, especially in religious settings
• Religion and spirituality has traditionally been a topic of great pain for the LGBT community
• Many LGBT members do not belong to any religious faith

(Wilcox, 2003),(Ritter & O’Neill, 1989),(Couch, Mulcare, Pitts, Smith, and Mitchell, 2008), (Henrickson, 2007)

• A disproportionately large portion of the LGBT community places a priority on spirituality
• Many churches have become accepting of LGBT members over time
• 164 in Virginia listed officially as LGBT friendly

(de la Huerta, 1999), (Love, 1997)

ohttp://www.gaychurch.org/Find_a_Church/united_states/us_virginia.htm

LGBT

By Jonathan Willis

Italo Romero

Steven Blakely

Stephen Estep

Matt Sarlouis