Coming Out to the Streets: LGBTQ Youth Experiencing Homelessness

2021 ◽  
Vol 51 (1) ◽  
pp. 64-65
Author(s):  
William G. Tierney
Keyword(s):  
Coming Out ◽  
Lgbtq Youth

“Family Support Would Have Been Like Amazing”

2016 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
pp. 55-62 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stuart Roe
Keyword(s):  
Qualitative Study ◽  
Family Support ◽  
Peer Support ◽  
Coming Out ◽  
Family Members ◽  
Lgbtq Youth ◽  
Phenomenological Inquiry ◽  
Inquiry Approach ◽  
And Bisexual

This qualitative study examines gay and bisexual adolescent experiences with parental and family support using a phenomenological inquiry approach. Four themes related to peer support emerged from the data including (1) coming out was necessary; (2) initial reactions of parents are most often not positive; (3) lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and questioning (LGBTQ) youth view religion as a barrier to support from parents; and (4) LGBTQ youth want explicit support from parents and family members. Implications for counselors working with parents, families, and individuals are discussed.

scholarly journals Experiences of Mothers of LGBTQ Children in Serbia: What Comes After Coming Out?

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vedrana Mirković ◽  
Ivan Jerković
Keyword(s):  
Social Support ◽  
Coming Out ◽  
Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis ◽  
Strong Influence ◽  
Phenomenological Analysis ◽  
Lgbtq Youth ◽  
Family Identity ◽  
Transgender Identity ◽  
The Family ◽  
Broad Variety

Coming out process is a necessary step for a LGBTQ person in order to develop integrative sexual and transgender identity (Cass, 1984; Manning, 2014). and mental health of LGBTQ people is under strong influence by the family and social support and their reactions to coming out (D’Augelli, 2002; Ryan et al., 2010; Ryan, Legate, & Winstein, 2015). The goal of the present research is to explore what is the experience of mothers of LGBTQ children in Serbia after the children’s coming out? Using the Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (Smith, 2015), this study explored the experience of eight mothers of LGBTQ youth in Serbia after their children came out. From the analysis 4 main themes emerged: We started a conversation, and then he told me everything: what, how, where” – The context of finding out, “…and that is something very terrifying, that someone could hurt my child because he is what he is” – Mothers’ reactions, “I needed to see that he is completely well” – Process of adaptation, “Are we strong enough to bear all that?” – Parent and family identity. The results have shown that after finding out, mothers have a broad variety of reactions from surprise and shock to anger and sadness (Ben-Ari, 1989), after which the process of accepting child’s identity begins. That process was composed of different questions and challenges mothers faced and needed to overcome, either with professional or support from co-parent, with social support and information gathered from children or internet. The adaptation process resulted in integration of child’s identity in family’s identity, showing a developmental path mothers go through in order to accept child’s identity, but also showing possibilities for practical interventions in working with LGBTQ children and their families.

scholarly journals Thematic Analysis of My “Coming Out” Experiences Through an Intersectional Lens: An Autoethnographic Study

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Enoch Leung
Keyword(s):  
Identity Development ◽  
Emerging Adulthood ◽  
Developmental Stage ◽  
Thematic Analysis ◽  
Psychosocial Development ◽  
Coming Out ◽  
Internal Conflict ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Developmental Task ◽  
Lgbtq Youth

For lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) youth, identity development is one of the most critical developmental task. LGBTQ youth are shown to be at risk for a variety of risk factors including depression and suicidal ideation and attempts due to how their identities are appraised in heteronormative societies. However, most LGBTQ educational psychology research have highlighted protective factors that are primarily relevant to support LGBTQ white-youth. One of the major developmental theories, Erikson’s stages of psychosocial development, has identified adolescence as the period where identity development occurs. However, through an intersectional lens, identity development appears to encompass more than adolescence but also emerging adulthood, a developmental stage not accounted for by Erikson’s stages of psychosocial development. The primary goal of this study is to seek to understand and question Erikson’s stages of psychosocial development through an intersectional lens of an autoethnography of my LGBTQ experiences. An autoethnographic approach [diary entries (N = 9), conversations (N = 12), interview (N = 1), social media websites and blogs (N = 2), and drawing (N = 1)] is used to understand my LGBTQ-person of color (POC) experiences of “coming out” or self-disclosure during my adolescence through emerging adulthood. Data was collected on April 2020 and spanned from 2006 through 2020 to account for the developmental period of adolescence and emerging adulthood (ages 13 through 27). Thematic analysis revealed four themes across the two developmental periods: (1) confusion and conflict between my gay and ethnic identity as a closeted adolescent, (2) my first “coming out” as a gay adolescent and “it got better,” (3) frustration arising from the internal conflict between my gay and POC identity as an emerging adult, and (4) frustration arising from external experiences with the flaws of LGBTQ community inclusivity. Results reflected a continuous theme of identity exploration and struggle through both adolescence and emerging adulthood, highlighting the need for future research to replicate similar experiences from other intersectional individuals during emerging adulthood stage, a developmental stage that is considered in between Erikson’s adolescent and young adulthood developmental stage.

scholarly journals How Does Hegemonic Society Perpetuate LGBTQ+ Discrimination Through the Institutions and Ideologies of Law, Education, and Religion?

2019 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Isha Leibel
Keyword(s):  
Religious Education ◽  
Coming Out ◽  
Sexual Education ◽  
Educational Setting ◽  
Political Leaders ◽  
Lgbtq Youth ◽  
School Settings ◽  
Role Of Teachers ◽  
And Gender

Research has shown that the institutions and ideologies behind hegemonic society’s laws, educational system, and religions, have been integral to the discrimination of LGBTQ+ youth. To better understand the specific aspects of each institution, and how they directly affect LGBTQ+ youth, this paper critically examines these institutions using both the traditional heteronormative lens, as well as the more recent LGBTQ+ friendly lens. Issues such as the role of homophobic political leaders, and the laws they pass, are considered. As the majority of youth spend their formative years in an educational setting, the role of teachers, peers, and parents are all considered when discussions of ‘coming out’ or sexual education is brought to light. Furthermore, in an attempt to understand the coexistence of LGBTQ+ youth and religious education, comparisons between different school settings are taken into consideration.  Following the review, different avenues are suggested to further study this topic in order to create a more inclusive, safe, and accepting society for all sexualities and gender identities.

scholarly journals Natural Language Processing Insights into LGBTQ+ Youth Mental Health during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Longitudinal Analysis of r/LGBTeens Micro-Community Reveals Increased Anxiety in Topics and Trends (Preprint)

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hannah Stevens ◽  
Irena Acic ◽  
Sofia Rhea
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Natural Language Processing ◽  
Natural Language ◽  
Health Outcomes ◽  
Language Processing ◽  
Coming Out ◽  
Latent Dirichlet Allocation ◽  
Mental Health Outcomes ◽  
Lgbtq Youth ◽  
Social Distancing

BACKGROUND Widespread fear surrounding COVID-19, coupled with the extreme physical and social distancing orders, has caused severe negative mental health outcomes. Yet little is known about how the COVID-19 pandemic is impacting LGBTQ+ youth, who experienced disproportionately high adverse mental health outcomes prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. This study aims to address this knowledge gap. OBJECTIVE This work aims to harness natural language processing (NLP) methodologies to investigate the evolution of conversation topics in the most popular subreddit for LGBTQ+ youth. METHODS We generated a dataset of all r/LGBTeens subreddit posts made between Jan 1, 2020 to Feb 1, 2021. We analyzed meaningful trends in anxiety, anger, and sadness in posts. Since the distribution of anxiety before widespread social distancing orders was meaningfully different from the distribution after (P < .001), we employed Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) to examine topics provoking this shift in anxiety. RESULTS While the present study did not find differences in LGBTQ+ youth anger and sadness, results revealed that anxiety increased significantly during social distancing measures compared to before lockdown (P < .001). Further analysis revealed a list of 10 anxiety-provoking topics discussed during the pandemic: attraction to a friend, coming out, coming out to family, discrimination, education, exploring sexuality, gender pronouns, love/relationship advice, starting a new relationship, and struggling with mental health. CONCLUSIONS Conversation topics related to coming-out, gender and sexual identities, discrimination, and relationships were anxiety provoking for LGBTQ+ youth, both before and after the pandemic. The frequency of these conversations increased with lifestyle disruptors related to the pandemic, reflecting LGBTQ+ teens' increased reliance on anonymous discussion forums as safe spaces for discussing lifestyle stressors during COVID-19 lifestyle disruptions (e.g., school closures).

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