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6: Prejudice and Discrimination against LGBTQ+ People

  • Page ID
    240433
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    Learning Objectives

    Upon completion of this chapter, students will be able to do the following:

    • Describe the connections between identities and embodied experiences.
    • Analyze how key social institutions shape, define, and enforce structures of inequality.
    • Describe how people struggle for social justice within historical contexts of inequality.
    • Explain how different understandings of sexuality and gender affect self- and community-understanding of LGBTQ+ people.

    • 6.1: Prejudice and Discrimination against LGBTQ+ People - Overview
      This section discusses prejudice, defined by Gordon Allport as antipathy rooted in rigid generalizations. Violence against LGBTQ+ people, including the Trans Day of Remembrance and thousands of reported hate incidents, bullying and harassment of LGBTQ+ youth, linking it to poor academic and mental health outcomes. It also discusses employment discrimination and health care inequities, noting persistent barriers despite growing state protections.
    • 6.2: Measuring Anti-LGBTQ+ Prejudice
      This section discusses homophobia, coined by George Weinberg, and early research measuring prejudice against LGBTQ+ people. Showing how heterosexism and heteronormativity, and compulsory heterosexuality shapes institutions and restricts LGBTQ+ rights. It discusses Microaggressions, which are subtle daily assaults that harm mental health. It points out minority stress, internalized homophobia, and heterosexism, emphasizing their psychological impact.
    • 6.3: Profile - Minority Stress and Same-Sex Couples
      This section discusses David Frost’s research on stigma in same‑sex relationships, showing how prejudice harms intimacy and mental health. The minority stress model, explaining how disadvantaged social status creates excess stressors for sexual minorities as well as barriers to relationship goals, linking stigma to poorer well‑being. It highlights unequal recognitions's impact on persistent minority stress post‑marriage equality, and also resilience and resistance within same‑sex couples.
    • 6.4: Research Resources
    • 6.5: Glossary
    • 6.6: Footnotes

    Thumbnail image attribution: "Stonewall Inn with Orlando nightclub shooting memorial during Pride 2016" by Rhododendrites is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0

    A memorial to victims of the Pulse nightclub shooting in front the Stonewall Inn in New York City. On June 12, 2016, a terrorist had shot and killed 49 people and wounded 53 more in a mass shooting at Pulse, a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida, USA.


    This page titled 6: Prejudice and Discrimination against LGBTQ+ People is shared under a CC BY 4.0 license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by Sean G. Massey, Sarah R. Young, Ann Merriwether, & Ann Merriwether.