The Impact of the Criminalization of HIV Non-Disclosure on the Health and Human Rights of “Black” Communities

The criminalization of HIV non-disclosure has become a hot topic for discussion and debate amongst human rights advocates, HIV/AIDS service providers, and people infected and affected by HIV/AIDS. This paper explores the inherent problems with HIV non-disclosure laws. These laws are ambiguous and pose a serious threat to public health policy and programming by obstructing the fundamental human rights of people infected and affected by HIV/AIDS. Using a human rights framework, this paper explores the impact of non-disclosure laws on the health and rights of African, Caribbean, and Black-Canadian communities and proposes ways to address the shortcomings of HIV non-disclosure laws and inadequate social policies

Out for Change: Racial and Economic Justice Issues in Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Communities

This research report identifies the range and complexity of issues faced by low-income LGBT people and LGBT people of color, including poverty and economic hardship, homelessness, the criminal justice system, violence and discrimination, and immigrant rights. The report concludes with a series of recommendations for grantmakers to support these issues

2013 Tracking Report: Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer Grantmaking by U.S. Foundations

The 2013 Tracking Report (2014) explores the scope and character of foundation funding for LGBTQ issues in the calendar year 2013. The report analyzes 4,146 grants from 331 foundations, making it the most comprehensiveness assessment of LGBTQ funding available. In 2013, funding for LGBTQ issues reached a record high of $129.1 million

A Roadmap for Change: Federal Policy Recommendations for Addressing the Criminilization of LGBT People and People Living with HIV

Each year in the United States, thousands of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, Two Spirit, queer, questioning and gender non-conforming (LGBT) people and people living with HIV come in contact with the criminal justice system and fall victim to similar miscarriages of justice.According to a recent national study, a startling 73% of all LGBT people and PLWH surveyed have had face-to-face contact with police during the past five years.1 Five percent of these respondents also report having spent time in jail or prison, a rate that is markedly higher than the nearly 3% of the U.S. adult population whoare under some form of correctional supervision (jail, prison, probation, or parole) at any point in time.In fact, LGBT people and PLWH, especially Native and LGBT people and PLWH of color, aresignificantly overrepresented in all aspects of the penal system, from policing, to adjudication,to incarceration. Yet their experiences are often overlooked, and little headway has been madein dismantling the cycles of criminalization that perpetuate poor life outcomes and push already vulnerable populations to the margins of society.The disproportionate rate of LGBT people and PLWH in the criminal system can best be understoodin the larger context of widespread and continuing discrimination in employment, education, socialservices, health care, and responses to violence

A Forward to the Special Issue on Neoliberalism in Education The Long Road to Redemption: Critical Pedagogy and the Struggle for the Future

A Forward to the Special Issue on Neoliberalism in EducationEducatio

The Right to Relate: A Lecture on the Importance of “Orientation” in Comparative Sexual Orientation Law

The right to establish and develop relationships with other human beings was first articulated—as an aspect of the right to respect for private life— by the European Commission of Human Rights in 1976. Since then such a right has been recognized in similar words by national and international courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court (Roberts v. United States Jaycees), the European Court of Human Rights (Niemietz v. Germany), the Constitutional Court of South Africa (National Coalition for Gay and Lesbian Equality v. Minister of Justice), and the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (Fernández Ortega v. Mexico). This lecture traces the origins of this right, linking it to the meaning of the word orientation and to the basic psychological need for love, affection, and belongingness. It proposes to speak of the right to relate and argues that this right can be seen as the common theme in all issues of sexual orientation law (ranging from decriminalization and anti-discrimination to the recognition of refugees and of same-sex parenting). This right can be used as the common denominator in the comparative study of all those laws in the world that are anti-homosexual or that are same-sex-friendly. The right to establish (same-sex) relationships implies both a right to come out and a right to come together. The right to develop (same-sex) relationships is being made operational through legal respect, legal protection, legal recognition, legal formalization, and legal recognition of foreign formalization

Addressing Trauma Among Gay, Bisexual, and Queer Boys of Color

A growing body of research reveals that lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) people experience a disproportionate amount of mental health challenges when compared with those who are heterosexual and cisgender. LGBTQ people, in general, have a higher prevalence of suicidal thoughts, attempts, and completions (Hatzenbuehler, 2011); depression and anxiety (Cochran, Sullivan, & Mays, 2003), and substance use and abuse (Marshal et al., 2008). LGBTQ people are more likely than heterosexual or cisgender people to have histories of childhood sexual abuse (Balsam, Lehavot, Beadnell, & Circo, 2010) and are more likely to be homeless (Rosario, Schrimshaw, & Hunter, 2012).This is true of young LGBTQ people as well. Studies find that young adults under 24 years of age who identify as LGBTQ, have a higher likelihood of depression and suicide than heterosexual youth (Marshal et al., 2013), are more likely to engage in self-harming behaviors (Jiang et al., 2010), and have increased rates of being a victim of bullying (Berlan, Corliss, Field, Goodman, & Austin, 2010) than their heterosexual counterparts

Health and health promotion and applied health psychology in sexual and stigmatized minority populations : a collection of papers and a monograph presented in application for the degree of Doctor of Science at Massey University

This Doctor of Science comprises a number of published works, listed in the attached file. As such due to copyright restriction they are not included here but can be accessed individually from the publisher. The author's Curriculum Vitae has been redacted from the attached file for privacy reasons.In a career lifetime of working in both universities and in and with health departments, my work in applied psychology has dealt with stigmatized sexual minorities (particularly MSM) in many countries and settings, including before, during, and after the main impact of the AIDS epidemic (which in many locations and populations is still epidemic or in a subsequent “wave”). Applied health psychology must of necessity make use of many opportunities that cannot be planned in advance, or of situations where study of stigmatized groups is both dangerous (for them and for researchers) and difficult. The unifying theme in this DSc is the stigmatized minority group, the stigmatized disease, and the stigmatized setting. Massey University provided the training for the first “bookend” of my career at its beginning, and this dissertation as the second “bookend” some 45 years later of a career of surprises, opportunities, and challenges – some of the better parts of which are reflected in these pages

Widening the Lens on Boys and Men of Color

Current philanthropic initiatives on boys and men of color use research that often fails to disaggregate the "Asian" category, and disadvantaged AAPI and AMEMSA boys and men are often excluded from these funding initiatives.  In response to AAPI and AMEMSA organizations' concerns about the lack of attention to boys and men in their communities, AAPIP undertook a community-based research effort as an initial step towards building knowledge within philanthropy about AAPI and AMEMSA boys and men of color.

"Our Own Gayful Rest": A Postcolonial Archive

My subject is an archive of gay and lesbian activism that helps us understand a postcolonial counterpublic. The project I undertake is of historical recovery and theoretical elaboration of the specificities of postcolonial sexuality-based movements as necessary and long overdue supplements to global sexual activism