Gay and Lbian Studi | The New York Public Library

Contents:

• GLQ: A JOURNAL OF LBIAN AND GAY STUDI
• GAY AND LBIAN STUDI
• LBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL, AND TRANSGENR STUDI
• HANDBOOK OF LBIAN AND GAY STUDI
• GAY LBIAN STUDI MAJOR
• THE LBIAN AND GAY STUDI REAR

GLQ: A JOURNAL OF LBIAN AND GAY STUDI

Lbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgenr Studi (LGBTS) at Yale promot novative terdisciplary scholarship and teachg on the historil and ntemporary experience of lbians, gay men, bisexuals, and transgenr people.

This page provis accurate rmatn for those who want to better unrstand sexual orientatn and the impact of prejudice and discrimatn on those who intify as lbian, gay, or bisexual. In the Uned Stat the most equent labels are lbians (women attracted to women), gay men (men attracted to men), and bisexual people (men or women attracted to both sex).

Prejudice and discrimatn make difficult for many people to e to terms wh their sexual orientatn inti, so claimg a lbian, gay, or bisexual inty may be a slow procs.

GAY AND LBIAN STUDI

Public opn studi over the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s routely showed that, among large segments of the public, lbian, gay, and bisexual people were the target of strongly held negative attus. The associatn of HIV/AIDS wh gay and bisexual men and the accurate belief that some people held that all gay and bisexual men were fected served to further stigmatize lbian, gay, and bisexual people. On an dividual level, such prejudice and discrimatn may also have negative nsequenc, pecially if lbian, gay, and bisexual people attempt to nceal or ny their sexual orientatn.

LBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL, AND TRANSGENR STUDI

Dpe the persistence of stereotyp that portray lbian, gay, and bisexual people as disturbed, several s of rearch and clil experience have led all mastream medil and mental health anizatns this untry to nclu that the orientatns reprent normal forms of human experience. Helpful rpons of a therapist treatg an dividual who is troubled about her or his same sex attractns clu helpg that person actively pe wh social prejudic agast homosexualy, succsfully rolve issu associated wh and rultg om ternal nflicts, and actively lead a happy and satisfyg life. The phrase “g out” is ed to refer to several aspects of lbian, gay, and bisexual persons’ experienc: self-awarens of same-sex attractns; the tellg of one or a few people about the attractns; wispread disclosure of same-sex attractns; and intifitn wh the lbian, gay, and bisexual muny.

Th, is not surprisg that lbians and gay men who feel they mt nceal their sexual orientatn report more equent mental health ncerns than do lbians and gay men who are more open; they may even have more physil health problems. Some adolcents sire and engage same-sex behavr but do not intify as lbian, gay, or bisexual, sometim bee of the stigma associated wh a nonheterosexual orientatn. Lbian, gay, and bisexual youth who do well spe strs—like all adolcents who do well spe strs—tend to be those who are socially petent, who have good problem-solvg skills, who have a sense of tonomy and purpose, and who look forward to the future.

Whether the youths intify as heterosexual or as lbian, gay, or bisexual, they enunter prejudice and discrimatn based on the prumptn that they are lbian, gay, or bisexual. If they are a heterosexual relatnship, their experienc may be que siar to those of people who intify as heterosexual unls they choose to e out as bisexual; that se, they will likely face some of the same prejudice and discrimatn that lbian and gay dividuals enunter. Although parable data are not available, many sgle lbians and gay men are also parents, and many same-sex upl are part-time parents to children whose primary rince is elsewhere.

HANDBOOK OF LBIAN AND GAY STUDI

The majory of rearch on this topic asks whether children raised by lbian and gay parents are at a disadvantage when pared to children raised by heterosexual parents.

For example, are the children of lbian or gay parents more vulnerable to mental breakdown, do they have more behavr problems, or are they ls psychologilly healthy than other children?

GAY LBIAN STUDI MAJOR

The picture that emerg om this rearch shows that children of gay and lbian parents enjoy a social life that is typil of their age group terms of volvement wh peers, parents, fay members, and iends. There is no scientific support for fears about children of lbian or gay parents beg sexually abed by their parents or their parents’ gay, lbian, or bisexual iends or acquatanc.

In summary, social science has shown that the ncerns often raised about children of lbian and gay parents, ncerns that are generally ground prejudice agast and stereotyp about gay people, are unfound. Overall, the rearch dit that the children of lbian and gay parents do not differ markedly om the children of heterosexual parents their velopment, adjtment, or overall well-beg.

THE LBIAN AND GAY STUDI REAR

Lbian, gay, and bisexual people who want to help rce prejudice and discrimatn n be open about their sexual orientatn, even as they take necsary preutns to be as safe as possible. When lbians, gay men, and bisexual people feel ee to make public their sexual orientatn, heterosexuals are given an opportuny to have personal ntact wh openly gay people and to perceive them as dividuals.

Antigay attus are far ls mon among members of the populatn who have a close iend or fay member who is lbian or gay, pecially if the gay person has directly e out to the heterosexual person. There has been a signifint number of high-impact jobs workg wh the gay and lbian populatn much longer than there has been an entire major on which to build a foundatn for those jobs. Good readg, wrg, and spoken munitn skills will be val to your succs a gay and lbian studi major, so be sure to take advanced urs English, languag, history, and other humani discipl.

Jt as Women's Studi, for stance, is not only by, about, and for women, LGBT Studi is not only by, about, or for lbian, gay, bisexual, or transgenr people — clus all humany s purview. The field of Lbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgenr Studi both addrs the particulari of the morn forms of sexualy we ll lbian, gay, bisexual, and transgenr (forms of sexualy that have only recently been able to claim for themselv the right to ser amic study) and further addrs the phenomenon of sexualy self all s historil and cross-cultural diversy. In 1980, the Yale medievalist John Boswell published Christiany, Social Tolerance, and Homosexualy: Gay People Wtern Europe om the Begng of the Christian Era to the Fourteenth Century.

This magisterial, highly acclaimed, and highly ntroversial study argued that the morn Catholic Church’s nmnatn of homosexualy parted om the tolerance and even celebratn of homosexual love that had characterized the first lennium of the Church’s teachgs. Six years later, Boswell chaired a mtee of faculty and stunts that tablished the Lbian and Gay Studi Center at Yale (LGSCY, or “Legacy”), one of the first such centers the natn and the precsor of today’s LGBTS.