Gay demonstration

Inscriptions: Verso: [stamped] Photograph by Freda Leinwand. [463 West Street, Studio 229G, New York, NY 10014].

An evaluation of the implications of the best interests of the child principle in the context of same-sex parenting in Ireland

Same-sex parenting is by no means a new phenomenon but the legal recognition and acceptance of gay and lesbian couples as parents is a relatively recent development in most countries. Traditionally, such recognition has been opposed on the basis of the claim that the best interests of children could not be met by gay and lesbian parents. This thesis examines the validity of this argument and it explores the true implications of the best interests principle in this context. The objective is to move away from subjective or moral conceptions of the best interests principle to an understanding which is informed by relevant sociological and psychological data and which is guided by reference to the rights contained in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. Using this perspective, the thesis addresses the overarching issue of whether the law should offer legal recognition and protection to gay and lesbian families and the more discrete matter of how legal protection should be provided. It is argued that the best interests principle can be used to demand that same-sex parenting arrangements should be afforded legal recognition and protection. Suggestions are also presented as to the most appropriate manner of providing for this recognition. In this regard, guidance is drawn from the English and South African experience in this area. Overall, the objective is to assess the current laws from the perspective of the best interests principle so as to ensure that the law operates in a manner which adheres to the rights and interests of children.

Paternalism and Competent Patient Choice in the Standards of Care for the Health of Transsexual, Transgender, and Gender-Nonconforming People

In 2016 physicians in Ontario will be granted the authority to refer patients with gender dysphoria for sex reassignment surgery. In order to be granted this authority physicians must be trained in the World Professional Association for Transgender Health’s Standards of Care, which outlines healthcare procedures for the treatment of gender dysphoria and provides background information concerning transgender health. The Standards of Care require that patients undergo a process of 12 months of continuous living in a gender role that is congruent with their gender identity prior to being given access to sex reassignment surgery. While this requirement can sometimes be helpful it can also cause more harm than benefit. This paper argues that the requirement is strongly paternalistic in its current form and should no longer be mandatory in most cases.

“Work of Kinship” done by Families in Santiago de Chile

This paper reports the progress achieved in an anthropological investigation based on which there is now a more in depth understanding of some dimensions of the “kinship work” carried out by families in Chile. The main objective is to analyze the work of maintaining family links performed primarily by women within families and show how this work reproduces gender inequalities within them. On the basis of a longitudinal methodology based on semi-structured interviews, it is concluded that the work of maintaining family links performed by women is crucial but goes unnoticed because kinship obligations are seen as a naturally being part of women’s role in the family.

Que(e)rying the Closet in Diversity Management: "Coming-Out" as an Authentic (and Successful) LGBT Employee

This paper will "que(e)ry" "coming-out" as constructed by LGBT-diversity experts to advance our understanding of the relation between the social justice and business case for equality, diversity, and inclusion.

A Hint of the Lavender - The Gay Gangster in British Crime Cinema

This chapter traces the image of the gay gangster in British cinema. It draws upon film history and Queer theory to attempt to understand the fascination of this marginal character.

Comradeship of Cock? Gay porn and the entrepreneurial voyeur

Thirty years of academic and critical scholarship on the subject of gay porn have born witness to significant changes not only in the kinds of porn produced for, and watched by, gay men, but in the modes of production and distribution of that porn, and the legal, economic and social contexts in which it has been made, sold/shared, and watched. Those thirty years have also seen a huge shift in the cultural and political position of gay men, especially in the US and UK, and other apparently ‘advanced’ democracies. Those thirty years of scholarship on the topic of gay porn have produced one striking consensus, which is that gay cultures are especially ‘pornified’: porn has arguably offered gay men not only homoerotic visibility, but a heritage culture and a radical aesthetic. However, neoliberal cultures have transformed the operation and meaning of sexuality, installing new standards of performativity and display, and new responsibilities attached to a ‘democratisation’ that offers women and men apparently expanded terms for articulating both their gender and their sexuality. Does gay porn still have the same urgency in this context? At the level of politics and cultural dissent, what’s ‘gay’ about gay porn now? This essay questions the extent to which processes of legal and social liberalization, and the emergence of networked and digital cultures, have foreclosed or expanded the apparently liberationary opportunities of gay porn. The essay attempts to map some of the political implications of the ‘pornification’ of gay culture on to ongoing debates about materiality, labour and the entrepreneurial subject by analyzing gay porn blogs.

Notes for MARAC round-table session on LGBT History Projects

Presentation from the MARAC conference in Roanoke, VA on October 7–10, 2015. S5 - Collaboration and Outreach: Discovering LGBTQ+ History on Campus and in the Community

Modelo de conducta sexual en hombres que tienen sexo con hombres

Evaluar un modelo explicativo de la conducta sexual de los HSH a partir de algunos conceptos del MPS, como las características personales (biológicas, psicológicas y socioculturales), las cogniciones (autoeficacia percibida, beneficios percibidos, barreras percibidas, influencias interpersonales y situacionales) y la conducta de salud, además de los conceptos de identidad sexual, búsqueda de sensaciones sexuales y homofobia internalizada. Se utilizó un diseño de comprobación de modelo. La muestra estuvo conformada por 241 HSH, la cual se calculó con un nivel de significancia de .05, un Coeficiente de Determinación de R2 = .1, una potencia de prueba de 90% para un modelo de Regresión Lineal Multivariado con 14 variables. Se utilizó el muestreo dirigido por entrevistados (MDE). Los instrumentos utilizados fueron: escala de búsqueda de sensaciones sexuales, escala de homofobia internalizada, sub-escala de beneficios percibido de la escala de creencias de salud sida, sub-escala de efectos sobre la experiencia sexual en hombres, escala de autoeficacia para el uso del condón, escala provisión social para sexo seguro para medir el apoyo familiar y de la pareja, escala de influencias situacionales para la conducta sexual en HSH y escala de conducta sexual en HSH estos últimos (2), fueron elaboradas para el presente estudio. Los instrumentos fueron aplicados en lápiz y papel y en línea, éste último aplicado a través del portal SurveyMonkey. Todos los instrumentos mostraron confiabilidad aceptable. Se utilizó estadística descriptiva e inferencial, la prueba de Kolmogorov-Smirnov con corrección de Lilliefors, coeficientes correlación de Sperman, pruebas de Regresión Lineal Múltiple y el Modelo de Ecuaciones Estructurales. Contribución y Conclusiones: La variable número de parejas sexuales en el último año, presentó una media de 10.52 (Mdn= 3.0, DE= 30.54, min= 1, max= 300) y el 12.9% de los participantes señalaron haber tenido al menos una ITS (Media= .13, DE= .33). En relación a los modelos de regresión, en el primer modelo de factores biológicos, socioculturales y psicológicos en la percepción para el uso del condón, se encontró que una identidad bisexual, hombre o gay perciben mayores beneficios (F[6,231]= 3.27, p < .001). También, a mayor escolaridad y búsqueda de sensaciones sexuales perciben mayores barreras para usar el condón (F[6,231]= 6.66, p < .001). Los HSH que se identifican como gay y tienen mayor escolaridad perciben mayor autoeficacia en la comunicación y en el uso correcto del condón (F[6,231]= 4.32, p < .001; F[6,231]= 2.44, p < .05, respectivamente). En el segundo modelo de factores biológicos, socioculturales y psicológicos en las influencias interpersonales para la conducta sexual en HSH, demostró que los HSH con mayor escolaridad y menor búsqueda de sensaciones sexuales tienen mayor apoyo de la pareja para practicar sexo seguro (F [9,210]= 2.61, p < .001).

1st international conference on LGBT psychology and related fields

During the last decades there has been an increase in the theoretical and empirical body of knowledge in LGBT Psychologyandrelatedfields. However, thisnew bodyof knowledgeis still somewhatdispersedandnot widespread, which makes the process of affirming LGBT topics very difficult in the current international scientific scenario.