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To identify the most critical needs facing lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, queer/questioning, plus (LGBTQ+) communities in Wisconsin postmarriage equality, this case study utilizes intersectionality as a theoretical framework for conducting a needs assessment through collaborative engagement with social service agency leaders, a community foundation, and a university research center. Adopting intersectionality as a framework allows for a more nuanced understanding of the various communities (racial, class, sexual orientation, gender, etc.) comprising the LGBTQ+ population and, just as critically, generates important qualitative data about the ways in which key social determinants, such as poverty, discrimination, and violence, impact certain communities in more substantive ways.

Marlon M. Bailey and Darius Bost: We have brought this group together because we know that your varying perspectives will produce a robust conversation. Thank you again for your participation, and ...

The rise of the popular Internet has coincided with the increasing acceptance, even assimilation, of lesbians into mainstream society. The visible presence of lesbians in the tech industry and in digitally mediated spaces raises a set of questions about the relationship between queer identities and Internet technologies. This introduction to a special issue of Journal of Lesbian Studies explores some of these questions and provides an overview of the articles that follow.

This study is an investigation of the discourse surrounding trafficked persons. The U.S. federal government constructs human trafficking as “illegal immigration” and “prostitution.” As such, it may prioritize punishing those who violate trafficking laws. In order to examine this, a content analysis was conducted examining the United Nations Protocol on Human Trafficking and the U.S. Trafficking Victims Protection Act. Findings suggest that the way in which these laws construct the meaning of trafficking and the surrounding discourse may be influenced by political agendas and subsequently may also influence the utilization of policies and the allocation of social services.

While challenging stereotypical narratives, this chapter focuses on major themes as it relates to Asian and Pacific Islander LGBT communities: diversity in religious experiences and homophobia.

This concluding chapter provides the methodology employed for the completion of the Social Justice Sexuality (SJS) Project. Each of the five phases is delineated, providing more detail about the process. Particular attention is given to the quantitative and qualitative portions.

This paper compares and contrasts the sociopolitical involvement of Black, Latino, and Asian/Pacific Islander men within lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) communities of color. We hypo...

Employing a national sample of over 800 same-gender-loving black men, we explore the relative impact of community-level support/comfort and the importance of sexual orientation and racial identity on two dependent variables—sociopolitical involvement within lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) communities and sociopolitical involvement within people of color (POC) communities. Findings indicate that feelings of connectedness to LBGT communities is the most important predictor of sociopolitical involvement within both LGBT and POC communities; while, counterintuitively, being comfortable within the LGBT community had a negative impact on the sociopolitical involvement of these men. Further, the impact of the importance of identity was negligible.

Employing a national sample of over 600 same-gender loving (SGL) black women, we explore the relative impact of community-level support/comfort and the importance of sexual orientation and racial identity on two dependent variables-sociopolitical involvement within lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) communities as well as sociopolitical involvement within people of color (POC) communities. Findings indicate that feelings of connectedness to the LGBT community are the most important predictor of sociopolitical involvement within both LGBT and POC communities; while, counterintuitively, being comfortable within the LGBT community had a negative impact. Further, the impact of the importance of identity was negligible.

This article employs a national sample of almost 400 bisexual and lesbian Latinas to examine the impact of community-level support/comfort, as well as the importance of sexual orientation and racial identity, on sociopolitical involvement. Results indicate that feelings of connectedness to the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community are the most important predictor of sociopolitical involvement within both LGBT and people of color (POC) communities. While comfort within the LGBT community had no impact on LGBT sociopolitical involvement, it had a negative impact on POC sociopolitical involvement.

This qualitative study examines the construction and framing of HIV/AIDS education and information targeting Black religious institutions in New York City. Research on the high HIV infections rates within the Black community highlight the slow response Black Church leaders took to the emerging epidemic. This research argues that the lack of a response on the part of most Black Church leaders was not a result of homophobia within these churches, as maintained by previous literature, but that HIV/AIDS information and facts were not framed in an appropriate manner for the Black Church. Findings also emphasized the importance of trust in the development of HIV/AIDS promotion materials targeting the Black Church.

Listening to the needs of the community is an important step toward reducing health disparities. Researchers may need to adjust their methods to maximize participation and benefit to the community. This report describes how the project team adjusted its approach to a weight loss intervention to support a community of African American women seeking to improve their health.

This article compares and contrasts the sociopolitical involvement of Black, Latina, and Asian/Pacific Islander American sexual minority women within lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) communities of color. For the analysis, a sample of over 1,200 women from the Social Justice Sexuality project was analyzed. Findings indicate that, for all groups of women, feelings of connectedness to the LGBT community was the most significant predictor of sociopolitical involvement within LGBT communities of color.

From its origins in the Black feminist legal scholarship of Kimberle Williams Crenshaw to its contemporary centrality in online activist debates, intersectionality has always signaled both academic insights and activist implications. As a basic definition, intersectionality refers to the ways in which race, class, gender, sexual orientation, age, religion, and other locations of social group membership impact lived experiences and social relations. The term emphasizes the mobility of social group identities and locations, not simply of their appearances in individual bodies. This chapter examines intersectionality and how it is used in the social sciences, including research in religion, health, gender-based violence, and interdisciplinary studies. In addition to providing definitions and an overview of the history of intersectionality as a theoretical tradition, this chapter also explores how it has been applied in social science research and methodologies, and recommends that future social science research continue both the academic and activist heritage of the intersectional framework.

My few memories of kindergarten include being told to take a nap, learning how to write the number “5,” and being introduced to the concept of injustice. As with most Catholic elementary schools, on the first Wednesday of the month, we would go to church for mass and the priest would often come to the school afterwards. The Sisters of St. Joseph—a Catholic religious order of nuns focused on education and helping the poor—ran the elementary school. Many of the sisters who taught at the school, including my teacher, lived in a convent next to the school and shared an old, beat-up, blue car. Meanwhile, the priest lived by himself in the large rectory across the street and next to the church. He also drove a really nice Cadillac. Confused by this disparity, I asked my teacher why she became a nun instead of a priest. I clearly remember her telling me that only men could become priests because Jesus was a man. It simply did not seem fair; that logic puzzled me. It was the first time that I consciously remember being bothered by the fact that people were treated differently for seemingly minor reasons that they could not help, such as the color of their skin or gender; and I could not understand why people allowed this to happen.