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This article explores the concept of reproductive justice, which aims to address social, legal, and health disparities faced by birthing people. It traces the origins of this framework to US Black feminist activism and emphasizes its focus on the right to have children, the right not to have children, and the right to parent children in a safe and healthy environment. The article also discusses the challenges faced by LGBTQSIA+ individuals in accessing reproductive care and the importance of solidarity among different demographic groups. It concludes by highlighting various articles in a special issue that center the experiences of non-heteronormative individuals seeking reproductive care and advocate for the realization of reproductive justice goals. The text also examines the connection between conservative political backlash and the legacy of eugenics in the global north, particularly in the US where the restriction of abortion access is seen as a means to slow the decline of white birth rates. Similar far-right populism in Europe promotes a "birth-rate agenda" rooted in reproductive racism. The text also addresses the weaponization of fear against immigrants and LGBTQ+ individuals and the rise of homophobic legislation in formerly colonized countries. The authors stress the need for transformative interventions and the integration of LGBTQ+ concerns in reproductive justice research. [Extracted from the article]

In 2011, Jair Bolsonaro initiated a fight against the federal program proposal School without Homophobia (2009), which aimed to educate children, school staff, and parents on the respect to sexual diversity and prevention of violence against LGBTQIA + students. Bolsonaro's Gay Kit unleashed an anti-gender campaign in Brazil. The fight against "gender ideology" that follows Jair Bolsonaro initial campaign indicates a turn in the articulation and the discourse of conservative and right-wing actors. This anti-gender campaign brough together groups that historically have been divided along class, race and gender lines, such as radical Catholic, middle- and upper-class white conservative Brazilians, and Neo-Pentecostals. In this paper, I analyze the power of the anti-gender campaign unleashed since the 2010s to find a common enemy, a common language and a common interest among conservative sectors of Brazilian society. I argue that gender works as the main symbolic glue that helps right-wing actors to forge a common identity in opposition to a new common Other, namely leftists. The main factor bridging them together is the preservation of the masculinist national identity that denies any form of structural inequality and critical thinking. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AbstractLesbians have long turned to digital media and technologies for information, support, and to self-represent sexual identity in ways that have the capacity for building communities and gathering publics and counterpublics. TikTok is a short video platform popular with young people, which has increasingly seen the participation of comparatively older users. This paper investigates the self-representation of lesbians over age 30 on TikTok to understand the themes in their content and how the platform shapes their communication with others. Through sampling tailored to TikTok’s algorithmic curation, ten lesbians’ accounts are examined alongside qualitative coding and analysis of 50 of these creators’ videos. Findings reveal key themes regarding the expression of identity and age, lived experience over time, and bids for connection and community. TikTokers expressed lesbian identity in continuity with longstanding stereotypes to enhance visibility but also incorporated humor and youthful trends to give rise to novel identity expressions. Videos showcasing the passage of time and sociopolitical change demonstrated the resilience of lesbian lives and conveyed hope while advice and statements of solidarity expressed support for young people’s present struggles with homophobia and transphobia. Contrasting with studies of TikTok’s generational wars, this article shows how older lesbians are building generational bridges through their uptake of youth-driven platform practices, sharing of past challenges to support youth in overcoming present hurdles, and by modeling lesbian futures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study addressed the relative liberalism of White lesbians. In doing so, we compared sexuality differences in White women's reactions to sexual, gender, and racial hierarchies. In the end, our analysis of 2,950 women from the American National Election Survey (ANES) suggested three trends. First, lesbians and bisexual women rejected and challenged heteronormativity more than heterosexual women. Second, the relationship between sexual identities and feminist commitments was less consistent. Lesbians and bisexual women perceived higher levels of sexist discrimination than heterosexual women did, but sexual identities did not always predict involvement in feminist social movements. Third, lesbian women generally displayed greater support of antiracist activism than bisexual or heterosexual women. However, this greater lesbian concern over racial biases did not translate in sexual differences in antiracist activism. Implications for these findings were explored, as were suggestions of future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the Philippines' progress in gender equality, contemporary evidence suggests that Filipinos continue to possess negative attitudes toward lesbian and gay individuals. Likewise, discrimination and violence toward bisexual, transgender, and queer Filipinos have been documented. Despite cases of sexual orientation and gender identity and expression (SOGIE) based discrimination, national-level anti-discrimination legislation remains unpassed in the Senate. This study explores the national discussions on the SOGIE Equality Bill triggered by a bathroom discrimination experienced by a Filipino transgender woman in 2019. Taking cues from Richardson's sexual citizenship framework, we investigate the diverse rights discourses among sectoral groups, such as local lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and other individuals of marginalized sexualities and genders (LGBTQ+) organizations and their allies, high-ranking Filipino politicians, and religious organizations. Analysis of local discourses showed that those supporting the SOGIE Equality Bill leverage identity-based rights discourses, while those opposed primarily navigate these debates using conduct-based rights discourses. Future policy and advocacy work must leverage the insights from these public proceedings to foster LGBTQ + solidarity in their campaigns for LGBTQ + rights in the country. Particularly, future work must (1) locate the middle ground between the LGBTQ + community and opposed legislators; (2) highlight essential values and common issues shared by all Filipinos; (3) surface how privilege can preclude and advance solidarity within the LGBTQ + community; (4) campaign for the passage of local anti-discrimination ordinances; (5) improve the SOGIE-related competencies of policy implementers; and (6) engage in research that explores public discourses and meanings assigned to sexual rights among Filipinos. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This testimonial features the origins of the short story: La Llorona Loca: The Other Side by writer/performer Monica Palacios. Monica's story is published in the anthology: Chicana Lesbians - The Girls Our Mothers Warned Us About. Monica's obsession with the folklore figure, La Llorona, leads her on a journey to create a comedy routine about the ghost woman in her stand up comedy act. Monica struggles with making the comedy bit work on stage and puts the story on the back burner. Years later, in 1987 Monica is a new arrival in Los Angeles desperately in need of Latina lesbian consciousness. Palacios meets fierce mujeres from the group Lesbianas Unidas who invite Monica to do a comedy performance at their March 1989 International Women's Day celebration. The group's support inspires Monica to finally create her Llorona story about lesbiana visibility, resilience, resistance, revolution and raunch. The late 80s and early 90s are turbulent times for queer Latinx people due to AIDS, homophobia, oppression, and politics but despite these challenges, Palacios turns fear into fuel, creating unique material as one of the first Chicana lesbian comedians. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Heterosexism is not only expressed through sexual prejudice as an external stressor, but also as an internalized rejection toward one's own (and others') sexually diverse identity. That is, lesbian women and gay men themselves internalize negative societal attitudes toward their sexual orientation and identity—a phenomenon called internalized homonegativity. A wealth of research shows that internalized homonegativity negatively affects the health and social adjustment of gay and lesbian people. However, the literature has documented this trend from an individual (over a dyadic) perspective, and largely among gay (over lesbian) samples. To address this oversight, we analyzed data from 210 gay and lesbian couples in Chile to examine both actor and partner effects of internalized homonegativity on their sexual satisfaction. Results from moderation analyses from an actor-partner interdependence model (APIM) approach show that partners' internalized homonegativity negatively affects actor sexual satisfaction, a pattern significantly moderated by gender; that is, only observed among lesbian couples. Our results further demonstrated that these effects hold above and beyond the actor and partner effects of age and relationship satisfaction, as well as relationship length. These results are consistent with the broader literature, which discusses the specific features of internalized homonegativity in lesbian women, characterized—among other aspects—by restrictive social demands over their sexuality. Accordingly, our findings highlight the deleterious relational consequences of internalized homonegativity and offer a relevant empirical contribution to the understanding of specific minority stress dynamics among lesbian women. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While much has been said about the diversity industry and about transexclusionary radical feminists (TERFs), little has examined their relationship to one another or to academic feminist, queer, and trans studies. This article considers a "queer attack on feminist studies" at our small liberal arts college as a case study for thinking through these relations. A handful of students and diversity staff termed feminist studies faculty TERFs not because of any actual transphobic behavior, but because of our work to question gender systems and ideologies. By examining how some students and diversity office staff alike mobilized the TERF, as well as the ideologies that allow for slippages among the terms "lesbian," "feminist," and "TERF," we outline how the lesbian and the feminist are in danger of becoming permanently reactionary figures. In so doing, we reflect on the relationship between performing diversity work and policing academic studies of gender and sexuality, ultimately arguing that the mobilization of the TERF can function both to further extend the work of the diversity industry and also to call into question academic feminist, queer, and trans studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite growing recognition of sexual orientation- and gender identity-based violence, scholars continue to identify barriers for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) individuals seeking asylum protection. Lesbian women asylum applicants, in particular, encounter a system that is unsure how to classify their cases and that generally questions the credibility of women's experiences. In this way, lesbian women applicants are among the most vulnerable populations of asylum claimants, particularly in the U.S. context. In this research note, I examine U.S. appellate level Circuit Court cases initiated by lesbian women asylum applicants. I expand existing literature to include an examination of how the violence faced by lesbian women is interpreted and ultimately erased as Circuit Courts grapple with legal interpretations of persecution. Specifically, I find three mechanisms of erasure: ruling that the violence experienced was unextreme, finding that the applicants' accounts of violence were unsubstantiated, or arguing that the violence experienced was unrelated to the applicants' sexual orientation. When placed in historical context, these patterns are troubling. Unlike previous decades that have witnessed overt homophobia, racism, and ethnocentrism in the immigration system, these cases indicate a more subtle form of exclusion—finding technicalities in case law and formal legal definitions as grounds for denial. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

"Not in my backyard" (NIMBY) movements emerge when a social or political event spurs opposition from local residents. Much research on NIMBY movements concentrates on local residents' efforts to defend their community from unwanted "outsiders" or elements, such as a waste incinerator or sex offenders. Little is written on how NIMBY activism can redefine a place to be more inclusive of sexual minorities and supportive of progressive social initiatives. After the Supreme Court's 2015 ruling in favor of marriage equality in Obergefell v. Hodges, Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis refused to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples citing her religious beliefs. Davis' actions galvanized marriage-equality and religious-freedom activists in the region. Pro-marriage-equality activists included lesbian, bisexual, pansexual, and queer women who viewed Davis' action as an attack on their legitimacy in the community. Drawing on 11 interviews with queer women in Kentucky, we explore how their activist work in Rowan County challenged small-town intolerance and religious homophobia and helped to re-form the region as more a progressive space for sexual minorities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

So far, the Italian literature on the genesis and development of anti-gender mobilisation has focussed on right-wing and Vatican strategies, discourses, and alliances. However, in recent years debates around "gender theory" have prompted political and cultural conflicts inside Italian feminist, lesbian and secular left-wing movements and parties. These political fractures - mirrored also in the debate on TERF and "gender-critical" feminism - have become visible in the Italian public debate on the Zan Bill (an anti-homophobia provision rejected by Italian Parliament in 2021). Although "gender critical" feminists do not belong to the anti-gender movement - in Italy largely monopolised by right-wing and Catholic activists - I argue that the unexpected convergences towards the fight against "gender ideology" are relevant for, at least, two reasons. On one side, the idea of "gender theory" has reinforced its role as a keyword orienting Italian public discourse on sexual rights. On the other hand, criticism of various (although inconsistent) definitions of "gender theory" has broadened their cultural circulation outside conservative or religious groups, in both cases associated with processes of ideological colonisation. These two shifts can be considered to enact a relevant normalisation of anti-gender narratives within Italian public and political discourse fostered by media vulgarisation and popular understandings of the meaning of "gender".

Emerging adulthood is a new, distinct life stage for 18- to 29-year-olds in the United States. In the sixth wave of data collection in a longitudinal cohort study (started in 1986), predictors of mental health were examined in the emerging adult offspring within lesbian-parent parent families. The donor-conceived offspring were 25 years old. In cross-sectional analyses, we assessed whether their mental health (life satisfaction and behavioral/emotional problems) was associated with personal characteristics, family characteristics, quality of important relationships, and experiences of homophobic stigmatization. The findings revealed that the predictors of mental health in these offspring were typical of what has been previously reported on emerging adults. However, offspring who reported stigmatization because of their parents' sexual identity had higher rates of behavioral/emotional problems than those who did not. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article pays homage to the antique term "B.D. (bulldyke) Woman" of the 1920s and 1930s, at a moment when the rise of a universal queer subject threatens to erase specific lesbian histories. Characterized by an aggressive stance and an enormousness that confronts rather than merely protests, Black B.D. artists "stole" both masculinity and White privilege to accumulate power and cultural capital. B.D. is therefore a multilayered response to sexism, racism, and homophobia. This performance style is a product of outrage at the oppressive conditions that marked the legacy of slavery, to which B.D. blues must be viewed as a response rather than a more static sexual aesthetic style belonging to lesbian women. Such masculine bravado in Black women disrupted gender/sex alignments and notions of cisnormativity embedded in African American communities. In order to think through this historical legacy, I perform close readings of song lyrics performed by Gertrude "Ma" Rainey and Bessie Smith. The rejection of oppressive conditions occurs most acutely through the theme of travelling in songs that decenter racialized and heteronormative conceptions of home. Through this theme, Rainey and Smith expanded the phallic possibilities of their time period, and for the 2010s, these artists tamper with our staid notions of what gender, sex, and sexuality have meant in the past. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this study is to explore the relational effects of minority stress processes experienced at work by female sexual minority employees. Lesbians, in particular, warrant attention in the work environment, as their experiences with homophobia may be exacerbated by sexist overtones. While scholars have linked hostility in the work environment to individual health and employment outcomes for LGBQ employees, less attention has been given to the cross-contextual effects from work to family life. This collective case study examines the experiences of three lesbian employees and their partners in various workplaces using minority stress border theory. Results show that, for these women, there are negative effects on their same-sex relationships; surprisingly though, several women also discussed positive changes in their relationship as a result of experiences with minority stress processes in the workplace. Implications for future research are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Among lesbians, faith-based beliefs and behaviors may be associated with negative psychological health due to the interplay between religious and sexual identities. The present study examined health outcomes, faith-based beliefs (views of God as loving and controlling), faith-based behaviors (personal spiritual practices, religious activities), and internalized homonegativity in a sample of 225 self-identified lesbians. We hypothesized that internalized homonegativity would moderate the relationship between health outcomes and faith-based beliefs and behaviors among lesbians. Generally, results indicated that some faith-based beliefs and behaviors were related to negative health outcomes among lesbians with higher levels of internalized homonegativity, but among those with lower levels of internalized homonegativity, the negative associations with health were mitigated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Much has been written on the successful lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex movement in South Africa, and the resulting institutionalization of sexual minority rights. Comparatively less has been written about the forms of activism undertaken specifically by Black lesbians that are not oriented toward legal change. In this article, I assert the need to examine public demonstrations of mourning as an act of Black lesbian resistance to violence in South Africa. Based on in-depth interviews with members of Free Gender, a Black lesbian organization, I argue that members' conceptualizations of mourning as providing community support force a reconsideration of what it means to be human. In order to grasp the decolonial potential of Free Gender's activism, I draw on Sylvia Wynter's argument that a singular Western bourgeois conception of human has come to dominate globally. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There has been increased interest in and attention to understanding the characteristics associated with relationship satisfaction among same-sex couples. This review examines the individual, couple, and external factors associated with relationship satisfaction among contemporary lesbian couples, highlighting domains such as internalized homophobia, personality, communication, conflict, sex, stress, and social support. I discuss methodological concerns and future directions to advance research in this area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This interview with Lesléa Newman took place on Monday, September 22, 2014. Newman, while quite prolific, is probably best known for her children's picture book, Heather Has Two Mommies, initially published in 1989. Heather became the cultural touchstone in discussions of not only lesbianism and children's literature, but book challenges and censorship, as well. In this interview, Newman speaks about the evolution of Heather and her various editions, new frontiers in both children's literature and representations of lesbians, identity politics and authorship, transgender issues and children's literature, and the continued need for diversity in literature for young readers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

School attachment is often regarded as a key measure in gauging the integration and wellbeing of students. Previous research suggests that levels of school attachment are generally lower among sexual minority students, but most studies focus on between-gender comparisons and do not conduct within-gender analyses. Using data from the First National Climate Survey on Homophobia and Transphobia in Canadian schools, this study set out to empirically analyze what, if any, differences exist among lesbian, bisexual, and heterosexual female students when assessing the relationship between homophobic and gender-negative language, feelings of safety, harassment/direct victimization, and school climate on school attachment. Bivariate and multivariate findings suggest that there are key differences among female students in terms of school attachment. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article analyzes how lesbian mommy bloggers in Canada are using their blogs as forums for self-expression and a means to form community, as they record their unique experiences as queer parents. Further, it argues that lesbian mommy blogging is documenting a subtle form of homophobia that exists in Canada in terms of social acceptance. Although there is legal acceptance of queer families, society has not necessarily caught up with the law. These blogs show that lesbian parents in Canada still struggle with issues of equality, including difficulties being “out,” invisibility, and having to advocate for the non-birth parent. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

White privilege constructs whiteness as normative and central to lesbian, gay, bisexual, and queer (LGBQ) identities and is reproduced through social norms, media representations, and daily interactions. We aimed to enhance understanding of the processes by which white privilege was experienced among lesbian, bisexual, and queer (LBQ) women of color in Toronto, Canada. We conducted two focus groups with LBQ women of color, one with participants who self-identified as masculine of center (n = 8) and the second with participants who identified as feminine of center (n = 8). Findings indicate that LBQ women of color experience intersectional stigma (e.g., homophobia, racism, sexism) on a daily basis. Participant narratives revealed that white privilege shaped the representations of women of color in a particular way that promoted their exclusion from white LBQ spaces and broader society. By representing queerness as white, LBQ women of color were rendered invisible in both queer and racialized communities. LBQ women of color were further marginalized by constructions of “real” women as passive, feminine and white, and conversely perceptions of women of color as aggressive, emotional, and hypersexualized. These representations inform spatialized practices and social interactions through constructing racialized communities as discriminatory and “backwards” while maintaining the invisibility of white privilege and racism in LBQ spaces. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

While the 1927 Broadway closing of the lesbian-themed play The Captive has been treated as launching the homophobic culture that dominated mid-twentieth-century America, the show actually continued to play in cities around the country. It was regularly greeted by packed houses and critics who scoffed at the reaction in New York. The opposition that did emerge was often generated by publisher William Randolph Hearst, while leading civil libertarians fought against him. This demonstrates that the homophobic policies of the 1920s and '30s were not the product of a deeply homophobic society, but generated by smaller numbers of moralizing entreprenuers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Islam is characterized as an extremely homophobic religion, which strictly forbids the union of two people of the same sex. This belief causes an immeasurable amount of strain and anxiety for lesbians because their feelings, desires, and emotions are considered “unnatural” and aberrant. The homophobic Islamic model of homosexuality thus celebrates heteronormative performances of gender and sexuality. In the present study, the issue of how religious identity interplays with sexual identity is examined. Using data gained from online interviews with five Muslim lesbians, the article considers whether the women are able to create their lesbian identity within a discourse that negates their sexual orientation. Their lives as Muslim lesbians produces a unique intersection where religion and sexuality converge, yet they are forced apart by religiously sanctioned homophobia, preventing them from exploring and expressing their sexuality. The article further examines whether Islam is a source upon which the women draw strength to understand their sexuality and to cope with being in the closet. Despite being members of Imaan, a Muslim LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender) support group, the women continue to experience a significant degree of conflict. A reconciliation of faith with their sexuality is undermined by an unrelenting and intolerant religious attitude toward homosexuality. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Donna Deitch's Desert Hearts, one of the highest-grossing lesbian films ever made, is a groundbreaking and poignant movie about self-discovery and self-acceptance. This article focuses on the societal obstacles—such as vastly different social classes, cultures, and educational backgrounds—that Vivian and Cay must overcome in order to begin their relationship. The article also shows the taboos faced by gays in the 1950s, such as the firing of college professors in that era. The latent lesbian desire of the homophobic Frances, which is rarely addressed in criticism of the film, is discussed in detail. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The 1990s was a notable decade for lesbians and gays in the Canadian military. Two important changes were the 1992 elimination of the official policy permitting discrimination against homosexual service members, and the 1996 introduction of benefits to same-sex partners. These changes radically influenced the psychological day-to-day reality of lesbian and gay military members. Yet, given the military culture, lesbian and gay members only began to come out in significant numbers at the turn of the century. This article presents an overview of our experience with researching the history of lesbians and gays in the Canadian military during the late 1990s and early years of the new century. It reveals the early clandestine nature of our research, and recounts some of the trials, tribulations, resistance, and successes we encountered when dealing with ethics boards and funding sources. It also describes our relationship with the media and how the military actively took steps to stall our efforts. We draw parallels between our experiences as researchers, and those of the lesbian service-members we were interviewing. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Research and education on lesbian health has increased substantially in quantity and quality in the past 40 years, but little of this work has been produced by nursing scholars. We began our academic nursing careers as out lesbian faculty at the same college of nursing in the late 1980s, where we collaborated on the earliest studies of attitudes about lesbians in the nursing profession. Our paths diverged in the early 1990s, but we shared similar experiences in nursing education that highlight the structural and attitudinal barriers within nursing that have inhibited lesbian health studies. The deeply imbedded lesbian phobia within nursing has historic roots that plague contemporary research, education, and practice. In this article, we discuss the inclusion of lesbian health in nursing, share some of our personal stories about the obstacles we encountered, and end with suggestions for changing this stifling climate for future generations of lesbian health scholars. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In this article, I use the ethnographic work I conducted in the summer of 2009 with Black lesbian women from South Carolina to show how Black female masculinity has been influenced by historically based constructions of Black gender. I will argue that these studs strategically construct and perform their masculinity in ways that shield them from sexism, racism, and homophobia both in and out of their Black community. By adopting the particular type of masculinity common among their Black male peers, these studs can gain access to some levels of male privilege and power which, in turn, can act as useful defense mechanisms against multiple types of discrimination and oppression. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study was designed to explore the relationships between multiple forms of oppression and subjective physical health among a community sample of 85 Black lesbian and bisexual women. Self-report surveys assessing health behaviors, physical and mental health status, and experiences with discrimination were administered during a weekend retreat of a community-based organization serving this population. Structural equation modeling showed there were significant, but different, relationships between subjective health and two types of oppression, heterosexism and weight-based discrimination. Further research on the independent and intersectional effects of multiple forms of oppression on health is needed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The biographies of some U.S. women artists who developed professional careers between 1890 and 1950 reveal clues that suggest lesbian same-sex affections, but their works usually focus on the outside world rather than recognizably “lesbian” iconographies. Failure to acknowledge this distinction has led to a silencing that transforms what was present in life to an absence from history. Closer analysis from a queerly curious positioning can reinterpret coded hints, subtle choices, and what might seem absent or invisible to the heteronormative eye. This article suggests new possibilities for discerning lesbian presence and resisting absence given extant historical and visual evidence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores cultural representations of the lesbian in post-apartheid South Africa by focusing on images by the Black lesbian activist and photographer Zanele Muholi. In her work Muholi challenges visual regimes of sexuality and the body by pointing to practices and commodities that transgress normative perceptions of (hetero)sexuality. At the same time her images visualize the negotiations of local representations of female same-sex intimacies and sexual identities with global lesbian cultures and identities. By doing so they are targeting the assumption—and its effects—that homosexuality cannot act as a signifier for a decolonized subject. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study assessed the influence of protective factors on the psychological adjustment of children who had experienced homophobia and whose mothers were participants in a longitudinal study of planned lesbian families. Data were collected as part of the National Longitudinal Lesbian Family Study by interviewing the children and having the mothers complete questionnaires. No significant differences were found in the psychological adjustment of children in the present study and their age-matched peers in a U.S.-population sample. Homophobia had a negative impact on the well-being of children who experienced it. Attending schools with LGBT curricula and their mothers' participation in the lesbian community were found to protect children against the negative influences of homophobia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

SUMMARY. The psychological experiences of lesbian mothers, both coupled and single, are compared and contrasted with heterosexual and gay parents who use assisted reproductive technology, focusing on issues of parental desire, fertility, babies conceived from science rather than sex, presence of an outside party in conception, genetic asymmetry, social anxieties, legal protections, disclosure, and gender. The psychological meaning of the donor or surrogate as an "extra" and "missing" piece of the family, along with the interactive effects of homophobia and "reproductive technophobia" are considered. Lesbian families are recognized to be constructing a new narrative of a bio-social family as they define and live their experience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This collection of research articles and personal essays on "Lesbians and Work" is introduced, highlighting some of the advantages and disadvantages that lesbians experience when they engage in paid work outside the home. Although lesbians in the U.S. and elsewhere experience similar workplace discrimination and stress, there are many different ways in which lesbian women respond to discrimination and manage stress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lesbians' coping strategies for dealing with heteronormativity and homophobia in German workplaces are explored. Consistent with previous research in Germany, half of the ten women interviewed are mostly or completely open about their sexuality at work, while the other half are mostly or completely "closeted" at work. Qualitative analyses reveal that the women have a variety of reasons for being "out" or "closeted" in the workplace. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

"Lesbian existence" is still invisible in Japanese society, although Japan is portrayed as being "tolerant" toward homosexuality. However, there is strong activism that tries to make lesbians visible. An example is Christian women's activism against homophobic discourses in the United Church of Christ in Japan (UCCJ/Kyodan) which is a denomination of Protestant Churches in Japan. This case helps us analyse the positionality of lesbians in the discourses of Christianity in a non-Christian society, Japan. Introduced to English-speaking audiences for the first time, this case shows clearly that the forces which produce the exclusion of lesbians and gays do not only have a religious origin but also a social background. This particular religious-social context sets the gay men as the object of discrimination but brings forth resistance activism by women-lesbians, bisexuals, and heterosexuals. Such women's activism against homophobia is analyzed as an example of the "lesbian continuum" (Adrienne Rich) and the possibilities and limitations of the continuum are explored. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using data from both partners in female same-sex couples, individual and dyadic (individual/actor-partner) level analyses were conducted to determine the associations between couple members' global mental health, internalized homophobia, and perceptions of relationship qualities and satisfaction (N = 90). Findings at the dyadic level indicated that an individual's global mental health was uniquely associated with her partner's assessment of relationship satisfaction and qualities, beyond the effects of the individual's own mental health and internalized homophobia. Implications for further research on the strengths and challenges within female same-sex couple relationships are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The intensity of falling in love is expressed through sexual longing and is focused on pleasures of the body. Fresh fruits and vegetables and other elements of nature--wind, birds, foliage--form part of the setting of seduction. Being in love with another woman makes the entire world beautiful. But the lesbian paradise is eventually eclipsed by bitter realities that intrude upon the relationship--the ever-present ex-lover (still in the picture), family ties (with homophobic overtones), business connections (that imperil lesbian economic independence), and issues of commitment and honesty that eventually lead to betrayal and a bittersweet breakup. Based on correspondence originally written in Spanish, "Neurotic Love Letters" is a testament to an unfortunate fact--that all the love and lust between two women cannot always conquer dubious circumstances and harsh realities unique to lesbian relationships. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article combines poetry and prose to discuss a range of ex-lovers: the ones where together a world is built and the ones who floated away....Some are identified as troubling voices whose internalized critique is still experienced as significant and formative. The author explores in some depth an experience of co-parenting in which she was supported in her parenting of two sons by a lover who then gave birth to a daughter. These children in some ways identify themselves as a family, but there are also points of tension and discomfort. The dark and bright aspects of this particular ex-lover relationship are described. In addition, some characteristics of the world/home aimed for by this lesbian family are referred to, including such things as empowerment of all through group life, respect for physical labor, emotional intelligence, and sharing of resources.. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This essay describes my personal path towards becoming an openly lesbian therapist, the internalized homophobia that interfered with this evolution, and the impact of this process on my patients. I then explore the interplay between when and how the therapist and/or the patient disclose in therapy, the link between homophobia and shame to the fear of disclosure, and the subsequent development of a more trusting therapeutic relationship that results from disclosure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Most lesbian and gay people are traumatized by being raised in a society that denigrates and devalues their sexual orientation. Experiences of trauma during identity development are non-mirroring and can be psychic assaults. The ever-presence of the trauma renders it hidden and difficult for the patient and therapist to address. This paper will examine the psychic impact of this trauma and treatment concerns, particularly problems of shame, hiding, and empathy. Special attention will be paid to finding external communities that support and give recognition to lesbian, gay, and bisexual identities and internalizing this influence into psychic "internal communities." [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Stephen Mitchell, one of the founders of relational psychoanalysis, wrote two early (1978, 1981) articles challenging the then widely held view in psychoanalysis that love between same-sex persons was inextricably pathological. His writings gave me hope that, as a lesbian-identified therapist I could actively participate in a psychoanalytic community of ideas and practice. However, in the 1980s, when I entered psychoanalytic training, the sandcastle of hope I had built from Mitchell's papers was destroyed with the incoming tide. I describe here a personal journey related to lesbian identity in various contexts from 1978 and 1981 when Mitchell spoke so authoritatively about psychoanalytic attitudes towards homosexuality to 1996 when he described "the plight of the perplexed clinician" with regard to "gender and sexual orientation in the age of postmodernism." [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Homophobic violence and same-sex domestic violence against lesbians are described in this paper based on survey research and hotline calls conducted by a community anti-violence project. A community survey of 229 lesbians indicated that during a one-year period, about fifteen percent had been the target of homophobic violence and twelve percent had been the victim of same-sex partner violence. Violence was defined as including assault with a weapon, physical assault, sexual assault, stalking, and property destruction. The prevalence study was contrasted with actual hotline calls from lesbians during a five-year period. Examples illustrate how interventions based on these findings were used to influence police response, victim services, and legislation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Discusses the importance of studying internalized homophobia, and provides a rationale for studying internalized homophobia in lesbians apart from gay men. Assessment of internalized homophobia in lesbians; Correlates of lesbian internalized homophobia; Implications for treatment and research of internalized homophobia.

Provides a contextual approach to understanding traumatic victimization experiences of lesbian and bisexual women over the life span. Role of societal homophobia in shaping the experience of victimization for lesbian and bisexual women; Prevalence and impact of traumatic victimization experiences in the lives of lesbian and bisexual women; Risk and resilience factors that result from living with cultural victimization.

Discusses the assessment of students' attitudes and how it is essential to the process of teaching about heterosexism. Pedagogical issues and concerns over teaching about heterosexism and homophobia; Benefits of visual media to create empathic responsiveness; Factor important in an overall pedagogy around heterosexism and homophobia.