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This article advances scholarship on the relationship between sexuality, religion, and the law within the United States by analyzing case summaries and court opinions of the federal appellate cases decided between 1990 and 2020 that involve a religion-based claim being used to advance or defend gay and lesbian rights. Contrary to dominant public narratives that position religion uniformly in opposition to progressive sexual values, these cases show how Americans' religious beliefs and practices include diverse sexual identities. We find that the courts' reactions to such cases, however, illustrate the tension within legal discourse and hesitancy for the courts to equate religious and moral values with affirming LGBT identities, people, and rights. Our findings suggest that the courts and litigants define what religion is—and what it is not—by positioning it in relation to sexuality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents a critical discourse analysis of groups on the free speech social media platform Gab that were intended to be LGBTQ+-friendly but became spaces of queerphobia. Results indicate that Gab users deployed discourses of difference to situate the platform as heteronormative and to denigrate the LGBTQ+ community. In particular, discourses utilized in the name of free speech were used to establish LGBTQ+ individuals as abominations, undergird hegemonic masculinity, and marginalize queer folk by reducing them to sex acts and sex organs. This study provides a better understanding of the (in)efficacy of "free speech" as a content moderation policy and unpacks how anti-LGBTQ+ hate speech spreads in digital spaces. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sexual minority individuals often have complicated relationships with conservative religion, including conflicts between their sexual and religious identities. Sexual minority members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (CJCLDS) experience unique struggles, given the policies and doctrine of the CJCLDS and its commitment to heteronormative family structures and gender roles. A better understanding of the identity development trajectory for sexual minority individuals formerly involved in the church can deepens our understanding of sexual identity development in constrained contexts and help promote successful identity integration within this subpopulation. Transcripts from semi-structured interviews with thirty-four sexual minority individuals who identified as former members of the CJCLDS were analyzed using an inductive thematic approach, followed by a deductive theory-building process in which Cass's Homosexual Identity Formation Model and Genia's Religious Identity Development Model were overlaid on themes. We present a model that captures the trajectory of sexual and religious identity development that captures the experiences of sexual minority adults within the constraints of the CJCLDS, a non-affirming religious denomination. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents an invitation to feminist and queer sociology to engage more frequently, enthusiastically, and deeply with animals. Feminist and queer sociology that attend to animals and animality stand to develop better knowledge for animals and animal studies and for women, queers, and feminist and queer sociology. Sociologists working from feminist and queer perspectives are also particularly well‐positioned within the discipline of sociology to contribute to and take advantage of the insights of the field of feminist animal studies. After a brief review of what feminist animal studies is, I proceed through three steps to elaborate the imperative for feminist and queer sociology to consider animals. First, I show how feminist animal studies as a theoretical perspective engages with issues that are core to feminist and queer sociology. Second, I center intersectional feminism and lay out how incorporating species can and does enhance our understanding of intersectional processes. Third, I present an ethical call, grounded in the traditions of feminist ethics and ecofeminism, to attend to species in feminist and queer sociology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Individuals generally hold multiple, and sometimes stereotypically contrasted, group memberships which may change depending on uncontrollable contextual factors. For instance, if someone is a foreigner, there exist certain social stereotypes regarding their nationality which may influence others' conceptualizations. However, how might an intersection of memberships, such as being both foreign and gay, affect natives' perceptions of them when these stereotypes may not converge? Across four experiments, the stereotypes attributed to generalized and specific groups were examined to better understand intersectional prototypicalities. Results indicated certain cases in which immigrants may be "de-immigrantized", or, perceived as less stereotypically immigrant. More specifically, Portuguese participants viewed gay immigrants as less prototypically immigrant, but did not view lesbian immigrants as less prototypically immigrant, bringing into question the complexity of double minority conceptualizations. Additionally, individuals from nationalities with a higher perceived percentage of gays or lesbians in their population (e.g., Brazil and France) were generally viewed as less prototypically immigrant than individuals from nationalities with a lower perceived percentage of gays or lesbians in their population (e.g., India and Japan). Conclusions provide support for intersectional theories and yield additional insights into the categorization of multiple minority groups on the basis of sexuality and nationality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

What's on the gay (legal) agenda? This study addresses this question by examining the press releases of national LGBT legal advocacy organizations in response to both new opportunities, after decisions such as U.S. v. Windsor (2013) and Obergefell v. Hodges (2015), and significant challenges such as the election of Donald Trump in 2016 and his subsequent conservative judicial appointments. Using original data from more than 2,800 press releases filed by the largest LGBT legal advocacy organizations from 2010 to 2019, we analyze the LGBT legal agenda and explore how it evolved throughout this period in reaction to changes in the legal opportunity structure. We find that LGBT legal advocacy organizations are strategic and adapt their agendas to shifts in their legal opportunities to achieve social movement goals. Specifically, we find that after marriage equality was achieved, significant shifts in the legal opportunity structure, including conservative countermobilization and new cultural and legal frames, placed transgender rights at the top of the LGBT legal agenda. These findings shed light on the politics of LGBT legal advocacy organizations, provide insight into LGBT politics after Obergefell, and contribute to our understanding of how legal advocacy organizations respond to changing legal opportunities in social movements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

eHealth is promoted as a viable platform for health service provision, as it can deliver relevant information instantaneously and anonymously, whilst circumventing geographical and discriminatory barriers that can occur in face-to-face settings. Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex and queer (LGBTIQ+) communities stand to benefit greatly from eHealth services, however, the way in which culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) LGBTIQ+ users are included within eHealth service provision is currently unknown. The current study observed the way in which Australian LGBTIQ+ health service websites are inclusive of CALD users. Quantitative content analysis was performed on 19 Australian LGBTIQ+ health service websites, with a focus on translation of services and materials, English and digital literacy, and CALD specific resources. Results showed limited translated information across all websites, an absence of translation tools embedded in the home page, as well as moderate to high levels of digital and English literacy required, and largely absent CALD specific resources. These results suggest that Australian LGBTIQ+ health service websites are not currently meeting the unique needs of their CALD constituents. Increased availability of translation services, navigation tools, and CALD LGBTIQ+ stakeholder inclusion during website development is recommended to ensure more equitable access for CALD LGBTIQ+ communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the past 20 years, Québec has seen significant legislative changes that have led to an increase in the number of families with LGBTQ+ parents. Moreover, Québec has been a pioneer in recognizing LGBTQ+ families since 2002 with Bill 84. In fact, no nation had gone as far in terms of recognition. However, despite this avant-garde legal context, which has made it possible for many same-sex couples to establish their families with greater ease and recognition, unequal access to this institution still affects LGBTQ+ parents. In fact, these parents do not all experience the same realities, and the possibilities for forming a family remain complex for many, especially for trans and non-binary parents. Based on 38 in-depth interviews with LGBTQ+ parents, this article explores the multiple forms of families and the different experiences of oppressions these families encounter based on their different social locations. These data are part of the important SAVIE-LGBTQ research partnership (SSHRC 2016–2023), which aims to identify the different experiences of inclusion and exclusion encountered by LGBTQ+ communities in Québec. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: This article has two objectives. The first is to describe the procedures, characteristics, and, above all, the rationalities present in three Chilean State institutions in matters of filiation. The second is to analyze how these rationalities impact families that are not represented in public policies, such as LGBTIQ+ families. Method: A documentary analysis was used. The analysis focused on official documents, freely accessible, from three public institutions, understood as local centers of experience. Specifically: (a) the Assisted Reproduction Program of the National Health Fund (FONASA); (b) the State Adoption Office "Mejor Niñez" [Better Childhood]; and (c) the Civil Registry. For the above, approaches to governmentality and post-structuralist analysis of public policies within a documentary analysis methodology were considered to be theoretical–conceptual supports. Results and analysis: The findings reveal a general lack of mention of LGBTIQ+ families and a heteronormative structure in the process of designing official documents from the State. This may exclude these families from public policies. Conclusions: It is concluded that a broader and more diverse understanding of the problems that the State should seek to represent would contribute to a greater representation of diversity in public policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: This article has two objectives. The first is to describe the procedures, characteristics, and, above all, the rationalities present in three Chilean State institutions in matters of filiation. The second is to analyze how these rationalities impact families that are not represented in public policies, such as LGBTIQ+ families. Method: A documentary analysis was used. The analysis focused on official documents, freely accessible, from three public institutions, understood as local centers of experience. Specifically: (a) the Assisted Reproduction Program of the National Health Fund (FONASA); (b) the State Adoption Office “Mejor Niñez” [Better Childhood]; and (c) the Civil Registry. For the above, approaches to governmentality and post-structuralist analysis of public policies within a documentary analysis methodology were considered to be theoretical–conceptual supports. Results and analysis: The findings reveal a general lack of mention of LGBTIQ+ families and a heteronormative structure in the process of designing official documents from the State. This may exclude these families from public policies. Conclusions: It is concluded that a broader and more diverse understanding of the problems that the State should seek to represent would contribute to a greater representation of diversity in public policies.

Women's Studies is first introduced in Indian academia in the 1970s. There are now more than 150 centres conducting research on women and gender as well as numerous teaching programmes on these topics in India. Research on sexualities and non-heterosexual identities and practices, while less developed, also emerged in the 1990s. As in any academic field, research on Women's Studies, gender, and sexuality has been marked by epistemic debates, in particular "terminology debates" (i.e., debates about the proper concepts for discussing gender and sexuality in India). Using a corpus of academic texts, course syllabi, and other academic documents as well as 15 interviews with academics involved in Women's Studies, Gender Studies, and/or research on sexuality in India, this article examines two of these terminology debates. The first concerns the use of the term "Gender Studies" rather than "Women's Studies", and the second looks at the relevance of terms such as LGBT and queer to designate non-heterosexual individuals, groups, and practices. In both debates the question of North/South domination and (post)colonialism are central and are also connected to issues of gender, class, and caste domination. Moreover, both debates question the link between academia and feminist/LGBT/queer activism. This article shows that the process of defining the subject of academic knowledge is highly political and embedded in complex power dynamics that are both localized and globalized. It also highlights the epistemic creativity of the knowledge produced in India to discuss women, gender, and non-heterosexuality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Editorial

Previous scholarship on queer youth in small town and rural educational contexts has primarily documented educators' perspectives and experiences of youth victimization. Drawing from a broader, interview-based teacher inquiry project, I extend this research by considering a queer youth's voice and agency. Using queer theorizations of time and space, I examine the telling case of Sylvia, a queer young woman in a semi-rural, small Midwestern US town. Through her participation in the educational context of an interdenominational Christian youth group, she experienced pedagogical encounters that helped her challenge and reconfigure normative constructions of time, space, and queerness, which facilitated movement toward greater healthiness and happiness, even as she reproduced racial and class normativities through a politics of respectability. Sylvia's experiences suggest the need to attend to heterogeneity and agency in working with queer rural youth and the importance of considering constructions of time, space, and queerness in queer-inclusive curricular texts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Canada is at the global forefront in providing legal recognition to queer parents. To date, three of its ten provinces (British Columbia, Ontario, and Saskatchewan) will grant parental status to three or more intentional parents and enable their identification on birth registration. All provinces and territories permit the registration of an “other parent” on birth registration, and all jurisdictions enable queer couples to adopt. Notably, these legislative accomplishments have not attracted a great deal of political resistance. The relatively slow process of reforming parentage law to adapt to same-sex marriage and common law relationships, favourable court rulings, and the combination of the need to address parentage in situations involving both assisted reproduction and queer families have been significant factors in the Canadian story. Moreover, the terms of the legal provisions continue to rely largely on conjugality and biology as the basis of parentage claims. These developments have clearly been important for some queer families, but they exist within fairly conventional parameters, begging the question as to how queer Canada’s parentage recognition really is.

The objective of this study is to enlarge the concept of translation with the theoretical basis of the proposals from Edwin Gentzler's "post-translation studies" (2017) and Susan Bassnett's "outward turn" (2017). These contributions represent a turning point in the field of translation studies due to the opportunities they present to discover new discursive limits in the rewriting process. Based on this extended concept of translation, this article analyzes the body as a text which is determined by acts of rewriting and, at the same time, as a subversive element that allows us to bring into question the social and cultural rules that define the normativity of sexuality. This article refers to feminist currents including LGBTIQ studies and queer theory, in order to build the necessary theoretical structure to analyze the power of (translated) discourses in the construction of the body and its sexuality. Finally, this article applies this proposal to the analyses of specific cases of non-normative bodies so as to observe the power and the influence of translation on the definition and classification of sexual identities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This dossier seeks to make the Indian Caribbean more visible and more pertinent to critical debates within Caribbean discourses. Few studies have undertaken serious analyses of Indian Caribbean creative expression, and most ignore the newness and complex fusions that characterize music, dance, and visual cultures in the postindenture diaspora. We endeavor to nuance conversations around marginalized Caribbean cultural production and multilocal identity, understanding the arts as useful historical archives. An overview of Indian indentureship precedes the presentation of the articles, which provide deep analyses that critically address these issues: how Indian identity is expressed and debated in performative and artistic practices, including LGBTQ challenges to categories of race and gender; what comparative analyses reveal about continuity, change, and exchange across the Indian Caribbean diaspora; how racial and cultural alterities are resolved within an African "creole" and/or multicultural framework; and how orientations to India, citizenship, and transnational belonging are expressed and processed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Big cities have become the preeminent area for studies on sexual and gender diversity. Major Western cities dominate the panorama of stories, discourses and practices regarding sexual and gender diversity in urban studies. However, many LGBT people reside outside of large cities. This paper intends to challenge the hegemony of the 'big city' as the intrinsic center of production of discourse on what is meant by 'LGBT' and to analyze how social relationships among LGBT people emerge in the environment of a medium-sized city. To this end, ethnographic research, including interviews and participant observation, was conducted for my research. One of the main conclusions from this work is that, despite the fact that big cities play a dominant role in the construction of LGBT lifestyles, aspirations and desires, there are other LGBT narratives outside of big cities that deserve to be considered in order to provide a more complex and nuanced understanding of sexual and gender diversity. This research challenges the assumption that LGBT life outside the big city is associated with isolation, loneliness and discomfort, as we demonstrate that many LGBT people who live outside the big city are content about their everyday lives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Questo numero di “Fuori Luogo” si apre con due saggi sul tema della comunità omosessuale. Sono sempre più numerosi e diffusi i lavori sociologici su Gay, Lesbiche, Bisessuali e Transessuali. Persone le cui identità, rivendicazioni e peculiarità si compongono e ricompongono nell’acronimo LGBT. I primi due saggi della nostra rivista offrono alle lettrici e ai lettori la risposta ad alcune delle domande sociologiche poste sulla comunità LGBT in tema di consumi culturali, attraverso dati inediti di ricerca su campo. Il contributo di Roberta Bartoletti e Lorenzo Giannini inaugura la sezione tematica con un saggio, di taglio empirico, sul turismo LGBT. Vengono presentati i dati di un’indagine esplorativa su giovani turisti italiani omosessuali, finalizzata a raccogliere narrazioni delle loro esperienze di viaggio con una focalizzazione su opportunità e limiti di un’inclusione sociale delle identità di genere non eterosessuali mediata dal mercato. Viene restituito un quadro delle pratiche di consumo, messe in atto dalle persone omosessuali che intrecciano rappresentazioni sociali dell’omosessualità e stigma, comportamenti autodiretti e prassi comportamentali che connotano talune differenze negli stili di viaggio e di vacanza delle persone omosessuali rispetto ai comportamenti della popolazione mainstream. [...]

Our article tackles gender and sexual diversity scholarship in Colombia and Perú, two countries without institutionalized LGBT studies programs. By analyzing the impact of literary works in Perú and an annual conference in Colombia's capital, we show how LGBT-related scholarship (and activism) has been advanced in these Andean countries with tactful maneuvering, as they offset contemporary violence—and a strong religious influence. Our comparison allows us to showcase two of the most common ways through which these countries have engaged in LGBT research and activism. This region-centered, dual-country approach underscores the broader need of researching and documenting these efforts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study asks, What are the material conditions under which queer studies is done in the academy? It finds a longstanding association of queer studies with the well-resourced, selective colleges and flagship campuses that are the drivers of class and race stratification in higher education in the U.S. That is, the field of queer studies, as a recognizable academic formation, has been structured by the material and intellectual resources of precisely those institutions that most steadfastly refuse to adequately serve poor and minority students, including poor and minority queer students. In response, "poor queer studies" calls for a critical reorientation of queer studies toward working-poor schools, students, theories, and pedagogies. Taking the College of Staten Island, CUNY as a case study, it argues for structural crossing over or "queer-class ferrying" between high-status institutions that have so brilliantly dominated queer studies' history and low-status worksites of poor queer studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the need to understand lesbian and bisexual women's vulnerability to mental health affections in connection with expressions of stigma, LGBT studies in Mexico often do not take them into consideration. Current data show that among lesbians and bisexual women, variables such as internalized homonegativity and community connectedness correlate with mental health indicators. The specific relationship between mental health outcomes, community connectedness, and stigma in the forms of internalized homonegativity, discrimination, and violence has not been explored for Mexican lesbian and bisexual women. This paper attempts to identify if this relationship exists through the participation of 150 lesbian and bisexual women who were asked to answer a survey at the annual Sexual Diversity and Pride March in Mexico City 2015. The same survey was available online; both explored internalized homonegativity, community connectedness, discrimination, violence, depression, and alcohol use and abuse. Results show that internalized homonegativity and community connectedness are the strongest predictors of mental health. These results are indicative of how lesbian and bisexual women suffer from the cognitive and emotional consequences of homonegativity in connection to mental health rather than direct discrimination and violence. Lastly, it is recommended that more research be undertaken on this relationship to find interventions that focus on the eradication of discrimination and violence against non-heterosexual women. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This analysis focuses on a series of industry scandals that created a need for and the development of a lesbian story line on Grey's Anatomy (ABC, 2005–), resulting in the creation of a lesbian-focused fan group dedicated to the lesbian pairing, Erica_Callie on LiveJournal. The resulting constructed representation portrays authentic lesbian and bisexual characters on mainstream broadcast television, promising inclusion to those who identify with these characters.

The main intention of Samuel Nowak—the author of Sexual Capital—is to define “what the mass media are for men labelling themselves as gay, taking into account various, although always treated collectively, contexts: economic, political and medial”(p. 9). The sub-title of the study, which defines the direction of the whole text, is Wyobrażone wspólnotysmaku i medialne tożsamości polskich gejów (“Imagined Communities of Taste and Medial Identities of Polish Gay Persons”). In the Nowak’s study, important is the evaluation from outside (as viewed by science) and from within (as viewed by proponents of LGBT). The critical review of Sexual Capital is compatible with the structure of the original text: originally focuses on scientific theories in order to end with the examples from Polish medial realities.

Edith Simcox (1844-1901) was a pioneer in scholarly literary criticism with a rigor of research and logic that are commonly practiced today but innovative then. Along with her essays for the Academy, her writing blazed trails for equal education opportunities and other rights for women. Her articles were motivated by a desire to bring about social change on numerous fronts, to alter the way gender was perceived and prescribed, and to inspire others to be tolerant and open-minded about difference. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Our Love on Fire: Gay Men’s Stories of Violence and Hope in Haitiis a performance script devised from an oral history project to offer insights into populations where machismo and homophobia are cultivated as regulatory and repressive mechanisms instead of sodomy laws. The script recounts events that took place on the evening of August 10, 2013, during which an engagement ceremony between a Haitian man and a gay British Red Cross officer attracted the wrath of their Port-au-Prince neighborhood residents. Those outside the compound where the engagement ceremony took place rioted, torched the upscale residence of ex-patriates, lit cars on fire, and terrorized guests. Despite or because of the fiery clash, queer islanders celebrated their love more creatively and fervently afterwards. Set against the background of mass anti-homosexuality marches nationwide, the ring exchange ceremony looms large in queer Haitians’ memory as an act of activism that retaliates against the general population’s incessant physical and psychological abuses, calls for legislation respectful of broad gender and sexual expressions, and redefines normative identity performances and queer sub-cultural codes. The performance of queer resistance in Haiti is the larger project’s core focus: the author documents the significance of festive gatherings for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex (LGBTI) human rights activism in Haiti, in contrast to public responses to the community’s creation of liberatory spaces. Specifically,Our Love on Fireattests to queer Haitian subjects’ activist struggles and their denouncement of punitive measures by the general population who view non-normative expressions of gender and sexual identities as imported and/or elite behaviors to be uprooted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AIMThe purpose of the study was to examine how the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community (LGBT) population is represented and portrayed in mainstream obstetrical nursing courses, curricula, textbook, and syllabi. BACKGROUND Researchers have indicated that LGBT patients are often dissatisfied with their health care experiences because of the limited training received by nursing professionals. METHODThis study employed a qualitative, intrinsic case study researchmethod. Qualitative data were collected via document reviews and unstructured interviews with open-ended questions. The data were analyzed by theme analysis and constant comparison. RESULTS Data analysis indicated that nurse faculty are not knowledgeable about LGBT obstetrical health issues and how to incorporate LGBT issues into the curriculum. CONCLUSION There is a critical need for faculty development on how to infuse information on LGBT content in obstetrics curricula. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction Despite several recent studies documenting high rates of intimate partner violence (IPV) among gay and bisexual men (GBM), the literature is silent regarding GBM’s perceptions of IPV within their community. We examine GBM’s perceptions of same-sex IPV: its commonness, its severity, and the helpfulness of a hypothetical police response to a GBM experiencing IPV.Methods: We drew data from a 2011 survey of venue-recruited GBM (n¼989). Respondents were asked to describe the commonness of IPV, severity of IPV, and helpfulness of a hypothetical police response to IPV among GBM and among heterosexual women. We fitted a logistic model for the outcome of viewing the police response to a gay/bisexual IPV victim as less helpful than for a female heterosexual IPV victim. The regression model controlled for age, race/ethnicity, education, sexual orientation, employment status, and recent receipt of physical, emotional, and sexual IPV, with key covariates being internalized homophobia and experiences of homophobic discrimination.Results: The majority of respondents viewed IPV among GBM as common (54.9%) and problematic(63.8%). While most respondents had identical perceptions of the commonness (82.7%) and severity (84.1%) of IPV in GBM compared to heterosexual women, the majority of the sample (59.1%) reported perceiving that contacting the police would be less helpful for a GBM IPV victim than for a heterosexual female IPV victim. In regression, respondents who reported more lifetime experiences of homophobic discrimination were more likely to have this comparatively negative perception (odds ratio: 1.11, 95% confidence interval: 1.06, 1.17).Conclusion: The results support a minority stress hypothesis to understand GBM’s perceptions of police helpfulness in response to IPV. While IPV was viewed as both common and problematic among GBM, their previous experiences of homophobia were correlated with a learned anticipation of rejection and stigma from law enforcement. As the response to same-sex IPV grows, legal and health practitioners should ensure that laws and policies afford all protections to GBM IPV victims that are afforded to female IPV victims, and should consider methods to minimize the negative impact that homophobic stigma has upon GBM’s access of police assistance. [West J Emerg Med. 2013;14(4):354–362.]

One culture within a culture is the culture of LGBT people in Latvia or, to use a contemporary designation, queer culture. In Latvia, queer culture is still practically invisible. In this paper I will analyse two types of queer narratives: documentary life stories collected by Rita Ruduša in her book Forced Underground (2012) and the manuscript of a collection of 12 short stories by Klāvs Smilgzieds (2014), originally published serially during the 1990s in an under ground Latvian gay magazine. Both types of texts employ different emphasis talking about queers in Soviet and post-Soviet life. Ruduša’s interviews reflect on the situation of being in the closet and on fear and loneliness, while Smilgzieds’ stories celebrate the male body, casual sex, and unfulfilled loves. While Ruduša’s interlocutors (mostly gay men, more or less closeted) construct their narratives to seem acceptable to straight women, Smilgzieds, a closeted bisexual himself (or, as he calls himself in Latvian, divdabis), uses various modes of narrative (parable, miniature, pornographic prose) to express both his experience and imagination. Both Ruduša and Smilgzieds reveal the slow changes in consciousness taking place in Latvia in its transition from a Soviet to a post- Soviet society that result in actions such as the decriminalization of male homosexuality, the existence of LGBT organizations and clubs, the use of queer issues as topics for tabloids and TV shows etc. The habitus of gay people is changing very slowly as a consequence. In this paper the construction of queer Latvian narratives is analysed in comparison to other queer narratives.

The author examines the "It Gets Better" (IGB) anti-gay bullying project, focusing particular attention on social class narratives in videos made for the campaign. Results, based on a content analysis of 128 videos, indicate that individuals most commonly began by describing negative experiences during adolescence before shifting to a narrative of progress, emphasizing how their life had improved since high school. In doing so, the makers of the videos drew on class-based standards of success such as traveling, attending college, and moving to a big city. At the same time, lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people sometimes stigmatized the bullies in classist ways. Thus, as IGB encourages makers of the videos to underscore their financial success and to condemn the perpetrators of anti-gay bullying, the project reinforces the cultural elements of neoliberalism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The problem that this paper seeks to address is ostensibly a simple one: why did the Irish Supreme Court dramatically reverse its long-term stance between 1990 and 2003, with regard to the sanctity of the family unit, including that of non-Irish nationals who had children in Ireland, to adopt one emphasizing the sanctity of state sovereignty? The answer, it is argued, requires looking at a complex matrix of interlocking sociological factors including a rise in asylum applications from Nigeria, a decline in the power of the Catholic church, the emergence of the Celtic Tiger economy, a shift in the meaning of Irish nationalism, and finally the interests and world-view of the Irish judicial doxa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the late 1970s, communication scholars have been playing a significant role in LGBTQ scholarship. To understand the state-of-the-art LGBTQ studies within the communication discipline, I present a systematic review of 237 LGBTQ-related articles that were published in communication journals from 2010 to 2015. I examine the objects of study, the methodological approaches, and the themes of research of these articles. Nine themes of research are identified. Based on the review, I point out four emerging currents where communication scholarship can further contribute to larger LGBTQ studies: (1) balancing L/G/B/T/Q, (2) addressing intersectionality, (3) internationalizing LGBTQ research, and (4) embracing interdisciplinarity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The author argues for the concept of "gentle" neoliberalism to account for how discourse in anti-bullying texts has increasingly presented itself as gentle and kind, while simultaneously reinforcing systems of surveillance and control. Results, based on a grounded theory analysis of 22 anti-bullying books, reveal that the texts generally decoupled bullying from power relations based on sexuality, overlooking homophobia and heteronormativity and marginalizing the experiences of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) youth. Further, findings demonstrate a shift over time in the texts from an explicitly harsh description of the bullies to a seemingly kinder emphasis on reporting and intervening on behalf of the individual being bullied. This shift to interventionist discourse potentially expands mechanisms of control and reinforces inequalities based on race and social class, as bystanders are increasingly held accountable and students are encouraged to report their peers to authority figures. In response to neoliberal anti-bullying discourse, the author argues for scholarship and policy solutions that undermine unequal power structures and yet also oppose surveillance strategies of monitoring, reporting, and intervening. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study centers on interviews with 30 individuals, all of whom are engaged in coming out related to their sexualities. Among all of the themes shared across the interviews, one of the more prevalent dimensions was that of temporality. Participants shared numerous experiences (both directly and contextually) about how long coming out takes and whether or not it ever truly ends. Despite participants alluding to the point-in-time and processional nature of coming out, the broader experiences shared by participants uncovered an enduring reality-that coming out is a career. Building on the works of prior social scientists, this manuscript provides support for a redefinition of coming out as a perpetual endeavor based in the concurrent management of internal and external matters related to sexual identity formation and maintenance in a heteronormative society. More succinctly, coming out is not a process to be completed, but a career to be managed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Numerous studies attempting to establish a genetic cause for homosexuality have been conducted since the early 1990s that have not been proven to be either valid or reliable. To date, the quest to establish the existence of a single chromosome in humans that would identify a person's homosexual identity seems futile as there are no scientific findings or DNA test results that have proven that such a third gender can be biologically determined. Therefore, on the premise that homosexuality, like race, is related to nurture rather than nature in the great nature versus nurture debate, this paper focuses on analysing the minds of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transsexual (LGBT) individuals by investigating the turning points to gaydom of several characters in selected short stories from the collection in Body 2 Body - A Malaysian Queer Anthology by examining their feelings and decisions when they decide to adopt LGBT identity. This paper also discusses the processes that are involved in the transformation of the characters' sexual identity. In addition, with Freudian psychic zones in mind, this paper also tries to determine whether these characters' id, as opposed to their ego and superego, take control of their desires, or whether the tendency towards homosexuality exists naturally within them and is the reason they choose to become and remain part of the LGBT community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research examines the use of Participatory Action Research (PAR) methods in conducting a media messaging campaign designed to increase the visibility of queer people of color in a local community. Rather than focusing on the impact of viewing the campaign on the local community, this project assesses the way that participating in creating a campaign can positively impact a grassroots social justice organization. Here we see that the process of creating and managing an image campaign can serve as an opportunity for education and capacity-building for organizations that is distinct from the impact of the media campaign on its target audience. This includes achievements such as expanding the capacity of the organization to engage in strategic media work now and in the future, developing the ability for members of the organization to clearly articulate the goals of the media campaign and engage in productive conversations about the campaign within the community, and strengthening community buy-in for the campaign and its message. Together, this project demonstrates a new way of linking PAR to a media messaging campaign, and articulates some of the potential gains in building media capacity for grassroots community organizations. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

One culture within a culture is the culture of LGBT people in Latvia or, to use a contemporary designation, queer culture. In Latvia, queer culture is still practically invisible. In this paper I will analyse two types of queer narratives: documentary life stories collected by Rita Ruduša in her book Forced Underground (2012) and the manuscript of a collection of 12 short stories by Klāvs Smilgzieds (2014), originally published serially during the 1990s in an under ground Latvian gay magazine. Both types of texts employ different emphasis talking about queers in Soviet and post-Soviet life. Ruduša's interviews reflect on the situation of being in the closet and on fear and loneliness, while Smilgzieds' stories celebrate the male body, casual sex, and unfulfilled loves. While Ruduša's interlocutors (mostly gay men, more or less closeted) construct their narratives to seem acceptable to straight women, Smilgzieds, a closeted bisexual himself (or, as he calls himself in Latvian, divdabis), uses various modes of narrative (parable, miniature, pornographic prose) to express both his experience and imagination. Both Ruduša and Smilgzieds reveal the slow changes in consciousness taking place in Latvia in its transition from a Soviet to a post- Soviet society that result in actions such as the decriminalization of male homosexuality, the existence of LGBT organizations and clubs, the use of queer issues as topics for tabloids and TV shows etc. The habitus of gay people is changing very slowly as a consequence. In this paper the construction of queer Latvian narratives is analysed in comparison to other queer narratives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Through the years, the LGBT community has established a universal network of social relations for homosexual people, defying social, cultural and political borders. What is promoted is a global community that shares a common historical past and an array of invented/established traditions that venerates it. Historically, the LGBT community has valorized the Stonewall riots of 1969 as the nodal point of gay and lesbian politicization and June has been set up as the month of LGBT Pride in order to keep the memory of homosexual revolution and liberation alive. Yet, the Stonewall riots along with the impulse of the LGBT movement and its subsequent traditions have been defined as solely Western practices that predominantly derive from the American experience of the incidents, thus excluding non-Western perspectives. Furthermore, the ideal global community often requires a common, unified identity based on codes and symbols of LGBT history. In my paper, I would argue that the politics of the gay community, despite its Western-oriented milieu, have managed to promote and affirm a universal gay identity through invented traditions in order to provide a "home," to project an imagined community that evades cultural, social, and racial frontiers, but above all to make this idea of "home" an available option. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article is a personal reflection on editing two issues of the journal that focused on bisexual men. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]