The Sexual Continuum

Two very close friends of mine had people yell “fag” at them this last week. Both were upset by what happened. Not crying upset. Not on-the-verge-of-lapsing-into-depression upset. But upset when it happened and still bothered a few days later. What advice do I have for them based on research on coping with discrimination? Read More

This year I will be commemorating the day of silence by mourning the loss of 11 year old Carl Joseph Walker-Hoover, who hung himself last week after enduring bullying at school, including daily taunts of being gay, despite his mother's weekly pleas to the school to address the problem. Carl, a middle-school student in Massachusetts who did not identify as gay, would have turned 12 today. His death reminds us that you don't have to identify as gay to suffer the negative effects of stigma experienced by LGBT people in our society. Read More

Columbia University Psychologist Dr. Derald Wing Sue has pioneered research on what are called "racial microaggressions" or experiences of racism that are so subtle that neither victim nor perpetrator may entirely understand what is going on. These microaggressions can range from more overt behaviors like name calling, to insensitivity to a person's racial heritage, to comments that negate the feelings of minority people. Think about things like an Asian American person repeatedly being asked "where are you from?" which can send the message that they are not American. Or an African American person being followed around a store. In both of these cases it isn't entirely clear that a racist even occurred, but if you are a minority and these things happen all the time you start to really notice them. Read More

A new study reports that young gay people whose parents or guardians responded negatively when they revealed their sexual orientation were more likely to attempt suicide, experience severe depression and use drugs than those whose families accepted the news. What's surprising about these findings is that they are surprising to people.   Read More