Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender psychology: An international conversation among researchers

This paper reports on a conversation between 12 lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) psychologists at the first international LGBT Psychology Summer Institute at the University of Michigan in August 2009. Participants discuss how their work in LGBT psychology is affected by national policy, funding, and academic contexts and the transnational influence of the US-based stigma model of LGBT psychology. The challenges and possibilities posed by internationalism are discussed with reference to the dominance of the United States, the cultural limits of terms such as “lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender”, intergenerational communication between researchers, and the role of events such as the Summer Institute in creating an international community of LGBT psychologists

'I want my story to be heard…’:Examining the Production of Digital Stories by Queer Youth in East and South-East Asia

In August 2013 a call to action was broadcast online calling on “Independent Filmmakers” across East and South-East Asia to share the stories of “young people who are comfortable and happy with who they are regardless of their sexual orientation or gender identity”. Organised and funded by a regional-based community development organisation, the call-to-action sought to fund “stories told by the [young] people themselves” about diverse sexuality and gender identity, which could be shared across video-sharing platforms, such as YouTube. By November 2013, seven filmmakers were successful and were awarded US$2000 to produce their films. This chapter examines how the filmmakers and storytellers told and constructed these stories. Regionally across Asia, queer/LGBTIQ+ young people continue to face ongoing experiences of stigma and marginalisation. Discrimination remains embedded in legislation (Carroll & Mendos, 2017), evident, for instance, in Singapore, Bhutan, Brunei, Malaysia, India and Aceh in Indonesia. In addition, in some countries, such as Indonesia (see Ridwan & Wu, 2018, for more), there is also evidence of increasing intolerance towards LGBT people. Such forms of exclusion can work to prevent access to local supportive resources, decrease the health and well-being of those who experience this marginality, as well as contribute to forms of economic exclusion (see, e.g., Badgett, Park, & Flores, 2018; Dyson et al., 2003; Manalastas, 2013; Manalastas et al., 2017; Thoreson, 2011)