Reducing Stigma toward Sexual Minorities: Acceptance-Based versus Traditional Safe Zone Training.

Homophobia continues to exist in society. Homonegative attitudes are often implicit and can be acquired without direct training, which makes them particularly resistant to change. Relational Frame Theory (RFT) is a behavior analytic account of learning processes and can explain these processes of indirect learning. RFT also suggests therapeutic processes for dismantling stigma using a therapy model named Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT). This paper reviews previous research on traditional multicultural training, and addresses its shortcomings. Specifically, this paper makes the argument that traditional models encourage experiential avoidance and thus further perpetuate the processes that maintain stigma. While a handful of studies have examined stigma interventions using ACT, no ACT studies have been completed specifically on the stigma towards gay and lesbian individuals. This paper concludes with a research proposal for such a study.

What are the Consequences of Consociationalism for Sexual Minorities? : An Analysis of Liberal and Corporate Consociationalism and Sexual Minorities in Northern Ireland and Lebanon'

Date of Acceptance: 07/10/2015

What are the Consequences of Consociationalism for Sexual Minorities? : An Analysis of Liberal and Corporate Consociationalism and Sexual Minorities in Northern Ireland and Lebanon'

Date of Acceptance: 07/10/2015

No Right to Live? Malaysia’s Islam and Implications for Its Sexual Minority Storytellers

This chapter discusses the fast emerging challenges for Malay and Muslim sexual minority storytellers in the face of an aggressive state-sponsored Islamisation of a constitutionally secular Malaysia. I examine the case of Azwan Ismail, a gay Malay and Muslim Malaysian who took part in the local ‘It Gets Better’ project, and who suffered an onslaught of hostile comments from fellow Malay Muslims. Azwan’s experience makes one question how a message of discouraging suicidal tendencies among sexual minority youths can be so vehemently misperceived. Azwan’s existential challenges – stemming from the tension between his own constructions of self and those of others – (re)present a unique challenge in the long struggle for human rights. In my examination of the arising contradictions, I highlight the challenges for Azwan’s existential self – one who is deemed morally bankrupt by hostile audiences. The purist Sunni Islam agenda in a constitutionally secular Malaysia not only rejects the human rights of the sexual minorities in Malaysia but has also influenced, and is often a leading hostile voice in both regional and international blocs. This self-righteous, supremacist and authoritarian Islam discourages discourse and attacks all differing opinions. This resulting disabling environment for vulnerable, minority communities and their human rights manifests in State-endorsed discrimination, compulsory counselling, forced rehabilitation and criminalisation. It places the rights of the sexual minorities to live within such a society in doubt. In discussing the arising issues, I draw upon literature that investigates the way in which personal stories have traditionally been used to advance human rights. Included too, is the significance and implications of the work by social psychologists in explaining the loss of credibility of personal stories. I then advance an analytical framework that will allow storytelling as a very individual form of witnessing to reclaim and regain its ‘truth to power’.

Metafísica de gênero, niilismo e cinismo: uma análise do discurso sexual comtemporâneo

A dissertação aborda as características metafísicas presentes no discurso contemporâneo sobre a sexualidade, oriundas da tradição filosófica e de sua interpretação por teóricos do gênero na atualidade. Busca também analisar a relação desta metafísica com o senso comum e com as políticas que se voltam para as minorias sexuais. Por este motivo, nossa análise engloba três níveis do discurso sobre a sexualidade: o discurso do senso comum, o discurso político e o filosófico. Em contrapartida, o trabalho propõe uma concepção de sexualidade como vontade de potência, recorrendo a Nietzsche e a autores como Deleuze e Guattari. A problematização do conceito de identidade é utilizada como pano de fundo da discussão, indicando sua relação com a crítica nietzschiana do sujeito, o niilismo e o cinismo. O cinismo é compreendido como o modo de funcionamento do niilismo passivo, interpretação que procuramos apoiar em autores como Slavoj iek e Vladimir Safatle. Tal questão será analisada trabalhando-se com a hipótese de que existe um aspecto niilista e cínico no movimento homossexual.

In search of protection : sexual minority women in Canadian refugee determination

Le Canada accepte des demandes d’asile sur la base de l'orientation sexuelle depuis plus de 20 ans. Quoi qu’il en soit, cette recherche permet de douter du fait que les demandes sur la base de l’orientation sexuelle déposées par des femmes soient traitées de façon adéquate. Pour garantir l’accès à la protection des femmes appartenant à des minorités sexuelles, une analyse du risque de persécution fondé sur l'orientation sexuelle doit incorporer des considérations de genre ainsi que divers autres facteurs d’ordre social et culturel. À partir d’une étude de cas de demandes du statut de refugié déposées par des femmes sur la base de l’orientation sexuelle et rejetées par la Commission de l'immigration et du statut de réfugié entre 2010 et 2013, cette recherche identifie des procédés décisionnels problématiques qui font obstacle au droit d’asile de ces femmes. Les résultats de cette étude révèlent qu’une analyse intersectionnelle, laquelle prend acte des formes variées et multiples de l’oppression dans un contexte social donné, est d’importance cruciale pour une évaluation éclairée et non tronquée des risques de persécution pour les minorités sexuelles féminines. À la lumière de ces résultats, ce mémoire propose qu’une analyse intersectionnelle accompagne une nécessaire formation pour les membres de la Commission de l'immigration et du statut de réfugié du Canada sur des questions particulières à des minorités sexuelles.

Proceedings of the Royal Society of Victoria.

List of members in each volume (except v. 6, new ser., v. 27)