LGTBQ - Disclosure Coming Out To Family And Friends

Running head: PSYCHOLOGY 1

LGTBQ - Disclosure (coming out) to Family and friends

Name

Institution

PSYCHOLOGY 2

Introduction

LGBTQ is an acronym that represents lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer. It

has been in use since the late 1990s and was a later adaptation of the acronym LGBT, which

replaced the ‘derogatory' Gay term designating the LGBT community. The LGBT activists held

that the use of the phrase; ‘Gay community' did not accurately represent all orientations that

considered themselves different from the conventional heterosexual. The acronym LGBTQ was

later adopted by a majority of gender identity-based community centers in the USA and other

English-speaking countries. The term Gay indicates a male individual who is sexually attracted

to another man. A Lesbian is a woman sexually attracted to another woman. Bisexual identifies

an individual sexually attracted to both genders. A Transgender is an individual expressing a

sexual character that differs from his or her initially assigned sex. The word Queer refers to the

sexual and gender minorities neither heterosexual nor cisgender.

As demonstrated in the definition, the LGBTQ community is considered as a deviation

from conventional sexual orientation (Heterosexual). As the psychologist, Sigmund Freud asserts

that members of the LGBTQ are born deterministic and that in some, the propensity to be full

blown exists although in some it is occasioned by external factors though later, the tendency

readjusts to normal (Vaughan, 2014). Moreover, he felt that certain orientations trends can be

deeply rooted forms of pronounced LGBTQ which would be difficult or impossible to change

(Vaughan, et, al' 2014). The LGBTQ members have always struggled with severe psychological

challenges starting from self-awareness, denial, anger and ultimate self-awareness. Many

theories are advanced on the genesis of homosexuality with some ascribing it to genetic

propensities as Zurbriggen explains that, for a sexual tendency to be so ingrained in an

individual's personality, it can only be so through genetic reasons (Zurbriggen, 2017).

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However, there exist theories that associate much of the LGBTQ orientations to

environmental factors, that individuals are impacted by the society they live in to assume a

specific sexual orientation as opposed to another. As Verkuyten elaborates, people living in

communities with prevalently high rates of moral decadence are likely to adopt strange carnal

desires that could be hard to reverse (Verkuyten, 2017). Moreover, he affirms that those hard to

change sexual tendencies make it difficult for an individual to ever self-disclose to their friends

or family.

Disclosure is the last step of their self-discovery is still the challenging one since it

involves a decision to either accept one's self but live as a straight person or come out clean to

family and friends. The later choice demands a lot of courage and resolve since it exposes one to

the adverse effects of stigma and societal disassociation that comes with such confidential

disclosures. This paper will treat the various references and analyze how several authors have

addressed this issue of self-disclosure to the family and friends and the challenges involved in it.

Key terms

Self-awareness – being cognizant of one's true identity.

Disclosure – revealing critical information or details that are only known by self to others.

Stigma – a disgraceful feeling associated with revealing one's identity or a character.

Prejudice – an erroneous opinion not based on credible or authentic knowledge or experience.

Homophobia – a feeling of hatred, fear of, or resentment directed towards any member of the

LGBTQ community.

Sexual orientation - the determination of one's position in designating their sexual preferences

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Annotated bibliography

Snapp, S. D., Watson, R. J., Russell, S. T., Diaz, R. M., & Ryan, C. (2015). Social support

networks for LGBT young adults: Low-cost strategies for positive adjustment. Family

Relations, 64(3), 420-430.

The main agenda in this book is the existing structures within the community that support

or make it easier for the LGBTQ community to blend into the society without stigma. The

authors took it upon themselves to conduct research and interviews in major cities in the US and

other major countries around the world. They concentrated on the prejudices, ideologies, and

misconceptions that jeopardize their acceptance and how some of the communities have also

adapted to this reality. Their primary hypothesis was that many societies have not fully accepted

the fact that there exist other sexual orientations other than the conventional straight one. The

researchers had to interview several groups of ordinary people and also renowned and influential

personalities in the field.

They were able to conclude that it's not always the case that people do not acknowledge

that the LGBTQ community exists but that the public acceptance of them would incur

retributions on their part. Most influential people in the community were could not publicly

accept realities because they either had popular votes to score or public ratings to maintain.

However, the most striking discovery by the authors is how the religious institutions dealt with

the issue. Torn in between loving and caring for all their flock regardless their weaknesses or

nature and also ascribing to the socially acceptable norms was quite a challenge. However, some

religious groups had set up social networking platforms such as social groups and church-based

community activities that engaged all people regardless their differences within the community.

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That cold social reception of the LGBTQ community within the society goes a long way adding

to the challenges of the same people.

This book goes a long way into identifying the underlying societal ideologies and

perception facing this community and how instituting socially based activities that are Christian

based can work towards creating a platform for interaction and demystifying of the grey areas

surrounding those individuals. By these analyses, the authors open the public to the challenges

facing the LGBTQ individuals. Moreover, they begin platforms for the scientific researchers to

delve more into the human social interaction behaviors and how opinions and misguided

ideologies can influence one's thinking and actions.

This book improves on the knowledge about the psychology of coming out within the

LGBTQ community since it highlights the societal elements possible of causing stigma to the

individuals willing to come out. It further offers in-depth insight into how societies can be

restructured to provide networking platforms for comfortable interactions.

Baiocco, R., Fontanesi, L., Santamaria, F., Ioverno, S., Marasco, B., Baumgartner, E.,

...Laghi, F. (2015). Negative parental responses to coming out and family functioning in a

sample of lesbian and gay young adults. Journal of Child and Family Studies, 24(5), 1490-

1500.

The authors of this book wrote it in response to the negative challenges that rocked most

young adults' after coming out and disclosing their sexual orientations to their families. The

authors set out to analyze the various forms of negative parental responses that most members of

this community go through once they decide to come out. Their major hypothesis was that truth

about one's sexual orientation is not always socially acceptable to the community especially if it

goes contrary to the conventional expectations. They set out to gather such data be interviewing

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several parents and young adults from the wealthy earning families on their responses. The

interviews were mainly Yes or No with some exceptions to when the parents would be asked to

give their own opinion.

In the course of their research the authors discovered that even though much of the

responses were negative, the degree of their negativity varied. Parents from wealthy backgrounds

were more susceptible to adverse negative opinions about their children being LGBTQ. Their

worries mainly centered on how the community would perceive them. Most of the wealthy

people were either politicians or people commanding mutual respect, and therefore any speck of

disconformity in their ranks would be a topic worth mudslinging on them.That reality also

translated to the kids from wealthy backgrounds, in as much as they could not disclose

themselves or associate with others of the same community in fear of losing their prestige, most

of them have been threatened with possible disinheritance by their parents. Those findings go

along way into listing the challenges that the young adults from wealthy families go through in

their attempt to disclosure. The psychological warfare in those fields is more of an intimidation

one, the young adults though never physically compelled to change their orientation, they are in

effect forced to by the dire repercussions that come with not doing so.

This book further opens the forum for the scientific researchers to identify to what extent

parental opinion and validation can affect a young person's independence and self-awareness and

disclosure. The role of parents and their shadowing might be established to identify the patterns

of behavior that relate to such circumstances.

This book has expanded efficiently the scientific knowledge of this topic be presenting

the statistics on the various parental responses to matters LGBTQ. It has offered more detailed

views that have indicated that wealthy parents are more prone to adverse reactions that average

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or low-income parents. Such knowledge is fundamental in pointing to the society which cluster

of young people are more vulnerable to stigma and which is less susceptible.

Eaton, A. A., & Rios, D. (2017). Social challenges faced by queer Latino college men:

Navigating negative responses to coming out in a double minority sample of emerging

adults. Cultural diversity and ethnic minority psychology, 23(4), 457.

The background of this book is based on the social challenges faced by young adults of

different ethnic groups and races in their efforts to come out. The authors of this book

endeavored to investigate if race or one's ethnicity impacted on the overall reception of a person

seeking full disclosure of his sexual orientation.

Their central hypothesis was that race and ethnicity are the main contributors to sexual

stigmatism within most young adults in many social institutions of learning or communities. To

research on this, they interacted with several students for different colleges, individuals who

were of different races and ethnic groups and compared their findings with the results they

gathered from members of the same race and ethnic groups.

In their findings, they discovered that there were more cases of adverse stigmatism within

students of the same ethnic group than those from without. That was occasioned by the fact that

the student perceived the other individuals from the same category as indicating a possible notion

that people from that ethnic group were susceptible to such an orientation. Many feared that it

would lead to the racial generalization. Comparing these statistics with those from different

groups, the discoveries indicated that the people from either race for instance Latinos were rarely

affected by stigma in disclosing their orientation to their non-Latino friends, they felt some sense

of individuality.

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These findings go along way into highlighting the friendship networks or communal

setups that can foster an easy disclosure or ones that cannot. The critical focus is the

psychological effect on a disclosing member of the LGBTQ, and as the discoveries indicate,

there is a more negative reception from members of the same race and ethnic community as it is

from those of without. This book further widens the psychological knowledge of understanding

how rather than there being the profound security within members of a given race or ethnic

group there is instead more stigma.

This book has dramatically increased the knowledge on this topic by pointing out the race

and ethnic-based prejudices that derail the course of coming out of several LGBTQ members. It

has managed efficiently to also indicate the common negative responses in members of the same

race and those from without.

McConnell, E. A., Clifford, A., Korpak, A. K., Phillips II, G., &Birkett, M. (2017). Identity,

victimization, and support: Facebook experiences and mental health among LGBTQ

youth. Computers in Human Behavior, 76, 237-244.

This book was authored as a response to the debilitating effects of social media bullying

and intimidation that has in the past and present led many young adults to mental despair and

unfortunate suicide. The authors investigated the extent to which social media platforms such as

Facebook and Twitter among the rest, have affected the possible coming out of the LGBTQ

members. They hypothesized that social media though meant to be an interactive platform

transformed to be a platform of intimidation and stigmatization for these people who don't

subscribe to the popular trends. They discovered that most of the people turn to social media as a

platform that would make their worlds better by creating a form of interaction, however they end

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up disclosing intimate details that cannot have social acceptance within the forum. That scenario

opens them to predation by bullies and other homophobic people.

This research relates to the topic since it tackles the modern issues affecting the young

people (social media mania) and how the popular trends in it hamper the possibilities of one

coming out. The mental intimidation, name-calling, and disdain perpetuated within the platform

is sufficient torture that would rescind a resolve to disclose one's orientation. The research

further indicates how popular social trends affect the behavior patterns of both straight and

LGBTQ members.

This book has significantly contributed to this topic by identifying the place and impact

of social media on the LGBTQ disclosures. It has identified the patterns of behavior considerably

within the platforms that primary appears to be safe zones for members of this community to

interact and disclose their orientations only to turn around and be the unfortunate sources of

stigma. It sensitizes the young adults on deciding which information is private and which can be

safely shared out on these platforms without repercussions

Kite, M. E., & Bryant-Lees, K. B. (2016). Historical and contemporary attitudes toward

homosexuality. The teaching of Psychology, 43(2), 164-170.

This book was authored as a response to the social prevalent attitudes and perceptions

that significantly impact on the coming out, living free and acceptance of the LGBTQ members.

The authors investigated the different cultural beliefs from a historical perspective and how they

have shaped the contemporary views on homosexuality. Their hypothesis was culture, and its

related tenets have a substantial impact on the acceptance of the LGBTQ members.

Their discoveries were that; in most cultures, such orientations are abhorred and

sanctioned. Cultures shape peoples personalities and opinions. Therefore it is hard to change a

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cultural viewpoint. Moreover, some cultures especially those that are not strictly conservative

were open to the idea that people can have different orientations and that their opinions would be

more accommodative than homophobic.

This research relates to the topic since it illustrates how different cultures and beliefs can

hamper one resolve to come out and disclose his or her orientation. Culture is an aspect of the

human person that cannot be disassociated from self, and hence there is need to create more

dialogue by means of resolving this impasse

This book efficiently increases the knowledge of this topic by presenting the impacts

caused by cultural beliefs and norms. It further illustrates the statistics of how people of a given

community however literate can be influenced by their cultural biases to judging that which is

indifferent (regarding matters sexual orientation, as unconventional and abhorred).

Shortcomings of the analysis in the listed references

Although the book authored by Snapp deals with the social networking platforms that

support the coming out of the LGBTQ community, it failed to address what the communities can

do to promote a mental change by inculcating ideas that would lead to a social reconstruction. A

social ideological revamp as necessary to create a secure forum for disclosure.

Baiocco in his book did substantial work in analyzing the parental responses to the

LGBTQ disclosures of their children. However, it only compared statistics from families of a

wealthy background and not across the board to include middle and low-income families. Hence

their analysis may not be thorough or conclusive.

Eaton’s book articulates and analyzes the complications surrounding young adults of

different races and ethnic groups within college centers. However, it also fails to compare those

statistics with adults of the same race and ethnic groups.

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The book by McConnell critically analyses the social media effects on the coming out of

the same sex community, but it fails to give alternatives to the social media that the young

LGBTQ members can interact in without suffering the effects of stigma before, during or after

disclosure.

In his book, Kite researches thoroughly on the impact of culture on the contemporary

views and opinions prevalent against the LGBTQ members. However, his book fails to identify

ways through which these entrenched cultural; beliefs and content can be resolved to create room

for acceptance of this community members before, during and after disclosure.

Relevance of the topic to the LGBTQ daily lives

Coming out is a very substantial issue within the LGBTQ community. It entails the final

resolve to live freely and in the open in consonance with one self-sense and true identity.

However, living in communities that are significantly impacted by social, cultural, popular and

fashionable trends than the drive to disclose becomes impeded. The most significant challenge is

the psychological warfare that one goes through before, during and after disclosure of their

orientation. The issue may seem mundane to those who don't have this daily struggle, but for an

individual LGBTQ member, it is their everyday life, fears, and conflict.

Possible Suggestions for research

Having gone through the details analyzed by the different authors in the various books,

it's vivid that much has to be done to change the ideological setups of the societies we live. As

evidenced in the analysis of the various books; much of the stigma is precipitated by cultural,

popular and conservative trends prevalent in the community. Those problems raise the crucial

questions on what can be done to change the mindsets of the people towards accepting,

accommodating or tolerating members of different sexual orientations. To curb these, I would

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indulge in more research on ways that the modern communities would be channeled into

productive training that would lead to shifts in ideological paradigms. Such changes in mental

perceptions would make the ordinary people more acceptable to the LGBTQ as opposed to the

phobia that spreads around.

Another question that arises is the how the communities can legislate more stringent laws

that can deter online buying and intimidation. Although there exists freedom of speech as

guaranteed in many constitutions, there is need to have limits to how far in content and actions

can free speech extend. More research needs to be undertaken on the various ways of balancing

the fundamentals of freedom while still deterring their abuses.

Another question would be how institutions of learning such as colleges and universities

can implement programs, well incorporated into their learning curriculum to aid desensitization

and demystification of matters LGBTQ. As the analysis on the books illustrated previously

indicate, most of the challenges that young adults face while deciding whether to come out or not

is precipitated by ignorance of many of their friends and family. Learning systems have to be

adapted to addressing this issue so that students are sensitized on the need to be tolerant and

accommodating not only to the LGBTQ Community to anyone different from them.

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References

Baiocco, R., Fontanesi, L., Santamaria, F., Ioverno, S., Marasco, B., Baumgartner, E., ...Laghi, F.

(2015). Negative parental responses to coming out and family functioning in a sample of

lesbian and gay young adults. Journal of Child and Family Studies, 24(5),1490-1500.

Eaton, A. A., & Rios, D. (2017). Social challenges faced by queer Latino college

men:Navigating negative responses to coming out in a double minority sample of

emerging adults. Cultural diversity and ethnic minority psychology, 23(4), 457.

Kite, M. E., & Bryant-Lees, K. B. (2016). Historical and contemporary attitudes toward

homosexuality. The teaching of Psychology, 43(2), 164-170.

McConnell, E. A., Clifford, A., Korpak, A. K., Phillips II, G., &Birkett, M. (2017). Identity,

victimization, and support: Facebook experiences and mental health among LGBTQ

youth. Computers in Human Behavior, 76, 237-244.

Snapp, S. D., Watson, R. J., Russell, S. T., Diaz, R. M., & Ryan, C. (2015). Social support

networks for LGBT young adults: Low-cost strategies for positive adjustment.

FamilyRelations, 64(3), 420-430.

Vaughan, M. D., & Rodriguez, E. M. (2014). LGBT strengths: Incorporating positive

psychology into theory, research, training, and practice. Psychology of Sexual Orientation

and Gender Diversity, 1(4), 325.

Verkuyten, M., &Yogeeswaran, K. (2017). The Social Psychology of Intergroup Toleration: a

roadmap for Theory and Research. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 21(1),72-

96.

Zurbriggen, E. L. (2017). Gender, Sexuality, and Psychology: History, Theory, Debates, andNew

Directions.Feminism & Psychology, 40, 120.

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