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The present study explored strategies that LGBTQ people used to cope during the U.S. presidential administration of Donald Trump. Coping strategies can buffer the impact of identity-related stigma and decreased psychological well-being, however, little is known about the ongoing coping strategies used by LGBTQ people during Trump’s presidential administration. This research addresses this gap in the literature. Participants included 335 LGBTQ individuals who were negatively impacted by the discriminatory policies of the Trump administration. Participants completed an online survey where they discussed the coping strategies they used during the Trump administration. Thematic analysis revealed five coping-related themes, including: (a) Coping Through Connecting With People, (b) Coping Through Self-Care and Self-Preservation Activities, (c) Coping Through Relational Disengagement, (d) Coping Through Activism, and (e) Coping Through Outness Decisions. Our discussion explores how counseling psychologists can work with LGBTQ clients to maximize coping strategies for managing distress during anti-LGBTQ presidential administrations.

Belonging and community connection are important for all people, but are particularly important for bi+ (including bisexual, pansexual, queer, and other plurisexual) individuals due to experiences ...

Purpose: Clinical definitions of gender dysphoria have primarily centered on a binary conceptualization of gender. This study aimed to understand nonbinary transindividuals' experiences of gender dysphoria. Methods: Data were collected online from a nonclinical sample comprised of 205 nonbinary and agender participants. Analysis focused on answers to a single open-ended question prompting participants to describe their gender dysphoria as it relates to their body and/or appearance. Results: First, content analysis was used to document 11 contextual elements in which participants described their dysphoria with regard to three overarching categories, including no gender dysphoria (no issues with body, no dysphoria), aspects of gender/sex (naming gender identity, naming assigned sex, gender role, or expression), and aspects of body (body shape, genitals, chest, secondary sex characteristics, hormones, reproductive capability). Second, thematic analysis revealed six central themes describing the unique way gender dysphoria is experienced by nonbinary individuals: (1) Androgyny or Fluidity, (2) Feminine and Masculine Traits, (3) Dysphoria vs. Expression or Appearance, (4) Varying or Shifting Dysphoria, (5) No Solution, and (6) Trade-off/Loss. Conclusion: Results of this study suggest that nonbinary transindividuals experience gender dysphoria in unique ways. These findings highlight the need to develop clinical assessments of gender dysphoria that reflect nonbinary experience, and to outline explicit medical protocols for interventions tailored to achieve a desired outcome of physical androgyny.

Background: Transgender individuals experience barriers to accessing healthcare including financial difficulties, lack of insurance, and discrimination and victimization by medical providers. Trans...

Gender dysphoria has historically been explained through both a clinical lens and the narrative of body dissatisfaction. Because clinicians serve in a gatekeeping role for gender affirming medical services, trans clients may feel the need to report symptoms consistent with diagnostic criteria. Clinicians’ accounts of dysphoria, then, may not be the most comprehensive descriptions of gender dysphoria. The present study aimed to understand how trans individuals describe their experience of dysphoria in relation to their body and appearance. Using a non-clinical sample, qualitative data were collected online from 463 participants who identified as transgender, transsexual, non-binary, or having a transgender history, and ranged in age from 18 to 74 (M = 26.89 SD= 8.03). The sample was predominantly White (84.9%), with 15.1% identifying as a racial or ethnic minority. Participants answered an open-ended prompt describing their experience of body dysphoria. Three overarching themes emerged via thematic analysis: 1) Disconnection from Body; 2) Manifestations of Distress; and 3) Changes in Dysphoria. Participants' responses clearly disaggregated the concept of gender dysphoria by independently describing their body (Disconnection from Body) and their distress (Manifestations of Distress). Our participants also specifically described how their dysphoria changed over time and fluctuated in other ways (Changes in Dysphoria). The present findings suggest that trans individuals’ experience of dysphoria is heterogeneous and highlight the ways that lived experiences both support and extend current understandings of gender dysphoria. Discussion focuses on the implications for current clinical practices regarding assessment and diagnosis of gender dysphoria.

Parental acceptance is critical to the well-being of sexual minority youth, yet little research has been conducted with fathers, or with Latinx parents of sexual minorities. Understanding Latinx fa...

BACKGROUND: Transgender Women of Color are more likely to experience oppression at the hands of healthcare providers than their transgender White counterparts. However, there is a paucity of research on the experiences of Latina transgender women in the United States. AIMS: Using an intersectionality theory framework, the present study aimed to investigate the factors that contribute to Latina transgender women’s decision to seek or refuse healthcare services and Latina transgender women’s experiences with healthcare providers in the United States. METHODS: A community sample of 15 Latina transgender women at a large metropolitan city in Florida participated in a focus group to explore their experiences with seeking out and accessing healthcare services. RESULTS: Thematic analysis revealed five themes: 1) experiences in seeking healthcare, 2) the effects of hormones on mental health, 3) resistance, 4) imparting collective knowledge, and 5) recommendations to healthcare providers. CONCLUSIONS: Through collective dialog these women gave voice to their needs and pains in the context of healthcare while also positioning themselves as agentic, resistant, and aware of the power of collectivism in the process of healing. The current findings support and extend calls for training improvements related to transgender populations, giving voice not only to the need for training but specifying immigrant Latina transgender women’s desire for such training. Also, elements related to Latinx cultural values (e.g., convivencia, familismo) must be considered when working with Latina transgender women.

This study focuses on the microaggressions that gender non-conforming and agender identified transgender individuals receive from their romantic partners. While microaggressions have been studied i...

Microaffirmations are small, interpersonal interactions that communicate validation for an identity. The present study focuses on transgender microaffirmations received from romantic partners. Part...

Background: Transgender microaffirmations are subtle endorsements of a person’s gender identity through both verbal acknowledgements and behavioral gestures. Microaffirmations positively impact individuals who identify as transgender by acknowledging their gender identity and by communicating a sense of support and validation. Aims: This study focuses on microaffirmations specifically directed toward nonbinary transgender individuals within romantic relationships. Methods: Participants included 161 adults who identified as nonbinary: 85 who identified as gender nonconforming and 76 who identified as agender. These participants were either currently in a romantic relationship or had been in a romantic relationship within the past 5 years. Participants completed an online survey and provided examples of the microaffirmations they experienced from their romantic partners. Results: Responses were analyzed via thematic analysis, resulting in four overarching themes: (1) Identity Validations, acknowledgement and acceptance of nonbinary identity; (2) Identity Endorsements, active endorsements of nonbinary through language or behavior; (3) Active Learning, self-education about nonbinary identities; and (4) Active Defense, interruptions of others’ negative actions directed at nonbinary partners. Discussion: Discussion of the results focuses on understanding how microaffirmations operate to complicate binary notions of gender/sex and positively influence nonbinary transgender individuals in interpersonal relationships.

This study focuses on the impact of the 2016 US presidential election on gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and queer (GLBTQ) peoples' relationships with their family-of-origin. Although family relationships play an important role for all people, GLBTQ individuals' relationships with their families are particularly important during times of sociopolitical change, and when GLBTQ rights are being threatened. Specifically, the election of Donald J. Trump mandates a direct need to more thoroughly explore how the 2016 US presidential election has impacted GLBTQ individuals' relationships with their families. Participants included 274 individuals who identified as a part of the GLBTQ community, and completed an online survey in which they discussed the impact that the 2016 US presidential election had on their family-of-origin. Thematic analysis revealed three relationship-salient themes: (a) family divisions, (b) family cohesions, and (c) no change. Discussion of the results focuses on the critical r...

Microaggressions are brief verbal, behavioural or environmental slights that communicate hostility or offence. Microaggressions that come from an individual’s friends can be seen as more interpersonally aggressive and more upsetting than when coming from someone who the individual does not know. The present study examines transgender microaggressions that occur in friendships and specifically explores how microaggressions are experienced differently for transfeminine, transmasculine, gender nonconforming and agender individuals. Participants included 211 transgender adults who ranged in age from 18 to 65. Participants identified as transfeminine (28.4%), transmasculine (47.4%), gender nonconforming (18.0%) or agender (6.2%). Participants completed an online survey and provided qualitative information regarding their experiences of microaggressions from their friends. Responses were analysed via thematic analysis with a focus on explicating differences in experiences of microaggressions across gend...

For them, the decision to have cosmetic surgery is described as a way to become ‘ordinary’, ‘normal’—‘just like everyone else’. Based on these stories, I concluded that it makes more sense to frame...

The present research explored transgender individuals’ subjective ratings of two clinical measures of gender dysphoria: the Gender Identity/Gender Dysphoria Questionnaire for Adolescents and Adults (GIDYQ-AA) and the Utrecht Gender Dysphoria Scale (UGDS). Participants read each scale and provided a global rating regarding how well they captured their experiences of gender dysphoria. Participants included 622 transgender individuals who identified as transfeminine (n = 221), transmasculine (n = 206), and non-binary/agender (n = 195). Findings indicated clear patterns of responses across gender identity and assigned sex, but not clinical diagnosis. For the GIDYQ-AA, transfeminine and transmasculine individuals rated the scales more positively than did non-binary/agender individuals. In addition, participants who were assigned male rated the scale to be a more accurate measure of their dysphoria than did participants who were assigned female. For the UGDS, transfeminine individuals rated the scale most positively, followed by transmasculine individuals, and then non-binary/agender individuals. All pairwise comparisons were significant. Likewise, participants who were assigned male rated the scale to be a more accurate measure than did those who were assigned female. It is important to note that subjective ratings were relatively low (M = 3.40, SD = 1.09 for GIDYQ-AA; M = 3.43, SD = 1.22 for UGDS on a 5-point scale) where little more than half of the participants (52.5% GIDYQ-AA; 54% UGDS) agreed or strongly agreed that the scales captured their experience. Discussion focused on the implications for using these measures of gender dysphoria in both clinical and research settings.

Gender is one of the first identities we learn and binary distinctions based on gender (e.g. girl/boy, woman/man, cisgender/transgender) are pervasive. The conceptualization of gender identity among transgender individuals is uniquely complicated by dichotomous notions of gender/sex. This is particularly true for individuals in the transgender community who are gender non-conforming or experience their gender outside the binary. The present research investigates the conceptualization of gender identity among non-binary transgender individuals by exploring the gender identity labels they choose and the descriptions they provide for their gender identity and experience. Participants included 197 adults recruited from a larger study on transgender experience who completed an online study. Participants ranged in age between 18-70 and self-identified as gender variant (n = 129) or agender (n = 68). Qualitative responses were analyzed via thematic analysis. Six themes were identified as related to the way gender non-conforming individuals describe their gender identity: 1) Gender Identity Using Binary Terms of Gender/Sex; 2) Gender Identity as Blended; 3) Gender Identity as Fluid; 4) Gender Identity as Non-Binary; 5) Transgender as Gender Identity; and 6) Agender Conceptualizations. Discussion focuses on the ways that gender non-conforming individuals’ experience of gender identity may contribute to the way we conceptualize identity flexibility.