Context for LGBT Health Stat the Uned Stat - The Health of Lbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgenr People - NCBI Bookshelf

Contents:

• LBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL, AND TRANSGENR HEALTH

LBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL, AND TRANSGENR HEALTH

Yet this groupg of “nonheterosexuals” clus men and women; homosexual and bisexual dividuals; people who label themselv as gay, lbian, or bisexual, among other terms; and people who do not adopt such labels but neverthels experience same-sex attractn or engage same-sex sexual behavr.

And the transgenr populatn, which self enpass multiple groups, has needs and ncerns that are distct om those of lbians, bisexual women and men, and gay noted above, spe the many differenc among the populatns that make up the LGBT muny, there are important monali as well. Differenc Wh LGBT PopulatnsNot only are lbians, gay men, bisexual women and men, and transgenr people distct populatns, but each of the groups is self a diverse populatn whose members vary wily age, race and ethnicy, geographic lotn, social background, religsy, and other mographic characteristics.

The majory of dividuals affected by disorrs of sex velopment do not face challeng related to sexual orientatn and genr inty, although homosexualy, genr role nonnformy, and genr dysphoria (fed as disfort wh the genr assigned to one at birth [see Chapter 2]) are somewhat more prevalent among this populatn pared wh the general populatn (Cohen-Kettenis and Pfaffl, 2003). They clu ternalized homophobia (a term referrg to an dividual's self-directed stigma, reflectg the adoptn of society's negative attus about homosexualy and the applitn of them to onelf), perceived stigma (which relat to the expectatn that one will be rejected and discrimated agast and leads to a state of ntuo vigilance that n require nsirable energy to mata; is also referred to as felt stigma), and ncealment of one's sexual orientatn or transgenr inty. Although sexual attractns and behavrs are generally unrstood as rangg along a ntuum om exclively heterosexual to exclively homosexual (Ksey et al., 1948, 1953), sexual orientatn is often discsed acrdg to three ma tegori, pecially when is fed terms of inty: (1) heterosexualy (for dividuals who intify as, for example, “straight” or whose sexual or romantic attractns and behavrs foc exclively or maly on members of the other sex); (2) homosexualy (for dividuals who intify as, for example, “gay, ” “lbian, ” or “homosexual” or whose attractns and behavrs foc exclively or maly on members of the same sex); and (3) bisexualy (for dividuals who intify as, for example, “bisexual” or whose sexual or romantic attractns and behavrs are directed at members of both sex to a signifint gree).

Overall, lbians appear to display greater variabily than gay men the age at which they rell reachg var velopmental “ton, ” such as awarens of same-sex attractns, experience of same-sex fantasi, and first pursu of same-sex sexual ntact (for a review, see Diamond, 2008). Data om a 2005 natnal probabily sample reveal that gay men (n = 241) relled regnizg their homosexual orientatn at a signifintly earlier average age than lbians (n = 152) or bisexual women (n = 159), while the average age for bisexual men (n = 110) was between that of women and gay men (Herek et al., 2010), pared wh that of men, women's sexualy may be more likely to be shaped and altered by cultural, social, and suatnal fluenc over time (Bmeister, 2000).

Another study, nducted Hoton, Texas, wh a nonprobabily sample of 1, 494 black, Lato, Asian, and whe men and women, found that nrdance rat between sexual behavr and inty varied across racial and ethnic groups (Ross et al., 2003) data dite that black men who have sex wh men are ls likely than whe men who have sex wh men to self-intify as gay (Chu et al., 1992; Doll et al., 1992; Goldbm et al., 1998; Kramer et al., 1980; McKirnan et al., 1995, 2001; Montgomery et al., 2003; O'Leary et al., 2007; Torian et al., 2002) and are more likely to engage sexual behavr wh both mal and femal (Flor et al., 2009). Lbian, Gay, and Bisexual HistoryInversn, Homosexualy, and the Origs of Contemporary Notns of Sexual OrientatnAlthough heterosexual and homosexual behavrs and attractns are ubiquo across human societi, the ia that dividuals n be meangfully fed or tegorized terms of their patterns of sexual attractn and behavr emerged science and medice only the neteenth century. This dual stigma historilly attached to homosexual behavrs and persons has, as noted earlier, shaped the experienc of many people livg today and has fluenced many ntemporary stutns that affect before Frd articulated his theory of sexualy, theologil doctre and secular law sought to regulate sexual behavrs and attached punishments to a variety of sex acts that were nonprocreative or occurred outsi of marriage.

In the 1940s, however, Amerin psychoanalysts broke wh Frd, and the view that homosexualy was an illns soon beme the domant posn Amerin psychoanalysis and psychiatry (Bayer, 1987) by the begng of World War II, sodomy laws ntued to crimalize same-sex sexual behavr, even when occurred a private settg between nsentg adults, while psychiatry and psychology generally regard homosexualy as an illns. G., Bebe, 1990; Black et al., 2000; Mennger, 1948) the need for recs dimished durg the war's wang years, however, polici prohibg homosexual personnel were more vigoroly enforced, and many gay men and lbians received unsirable discharg as sexual psychopaths (Bebe, 1990).

Senate mtee issued a 1950 report ncludg that homosexuals were not qualified for feral employment and that they reprented a secury risk bee they uld be blackmailed about their sexualy (Submtee on Invtigatns of the Senate Commtee on Expendur the Executive Departments, 1950).