Week 7 Discussion Response To Classmates
I NEED THIS DONE TODAY!!!!
Please no plagiarism and make sure you are able to access all resources on your own before you bid. Main references come from Murray, C., Pope, A., & Willis, B. (2017) and/or American Psychological Association (2014). You need to have scholarly support for any claim of fact or recommendation regarding treatment. Please respond to all 3 of my classmates with references separately. You need to have scholarly support for any claim of fact or recommendation like peer-reviewed, professional scholarly journals. I need this completed by 04/11/2020 at 7pm.
Expectation:
Responses to peers. Note that this is measured by both the quantity and quality of your posts. Does your post contribute to continuing the discussion? Are your ideas supported with citations from the learning resources and other scholarly sources? Note, that although it is often helpful and important to provide one or two sentence responses thanking somebody or supporting them or commiserating with them, those types of responses do not always further the discussion as much as they check in with the author. Such responses are appropriate and encouraged; however, they should be considered supplemental to more substantive responses, not sufficient by themselves.
Read a your colleagues’ postings. Respond to your colleagues’ postings.
Respond in one or more of the following ways:
· Ask a probing question.
· Share an insight gained from having read your colleague’s posting.
· Offer and support an opinion.
· Validate an idea with your own experience.
· Make a suggestion.
· Expand on your colleague’s posting.
1. Classmate (C. Pie)
Two issues that stand out to me regarding coming out are: bullying from family/friends and/or peers and lack of familial support in the process.
I am now going to take the time to share a story about an individual (adolescent/male/gay/uses male pronouns) that I met several years ago at the Magic City Acceptance Center in Birmingham, AL. The MCAC is a youth-focused program in Birmingham that services the LGBTQ+ community in the city. It offers after school tutoring resources, homeschool help to parents, and also support groups, weekly and monthly events for youth, and family counseling to the population. While MGAC upholds an open-door policy to anyone, it’s main focus is to abolish stigma and bullying that seems to follow the LGBTQ+ community. I had to engage in some research there early on in my coursework for Clinical Mental Health Counseling, and I got to know some of the staff and students who attended events there. One such evening, I heard this young man tell a recent story where he got into a physical fist-fight with another boy at school. This fight occurred after he mustered up the courage to come out to his parents and a few close friends. Apparently, word got out about him coming out. The reason the fight started was because the other boy called him derogatory names and began hitting him first. He decided to stick up for himself and hit back, and a school authority figure witnessed him hit this other boy. After he told his principal what happened, he implored the principal to deal seriously and diligently with the level of bullying at his school. However, the principal decided to pull out a Bible and “teach” this young man why homosexuality was a sin, and he should “change” his ways. In telling his story, he began to sob. Not only did he get hurt physically that day, but someone he should be able to trust as an authority, let him down, hurt him emotionally as well. While listening to his story, I cried as well. It is a story that has sat with me all these years to now. From the study Bullying of LGBT Youth and School Climate for LGBT Educators (Wright and Smith, 2013), it was concluded that there existed a stark contrast between non-LGBT and LGBT students’ concerns in the school environment. Most non-LGBT students suggested they were more concerned with exams, grades, class schedules whereas most LGBT students were concerned with bullying and the desire to be accepted.
A large reason why adolescents (at least) may be reluctant to come out to their families or friends is for fear of their physical safety. We are all in need of maintaining positive human connection and that connection is severed when bullying occurs. The actions of bullying let the victim know that there is no safe space for them to exist in. The bully exercises unnecessary power over the victim. Coming out can be beautiful to some, and terrifying to others. An article entitled Helping a Child to Come Out from The New York Times (Schwartz, 2012) revealed that suicide rates, and rates of abuse are generally higher within the LGBT community as a whole. In my opinion, sometimes knowing the dark statistics alone can deter someone from making a decision to be honest with others. This is why support for LGBT individuals is crucial! Murray, Pope, & Willis (2017) write the definition of an ally to the LGBT community is “… a counselor, client, or other individual who provides therapeutic, personal, or social support to individuals who self-identify as LGBTIQQ.” In this case, parents and close family members can be allies. However, sometimes the coming out is not well-received by family. Certain religions, social constructs, even family traditions can work against those who do come out. Sometimes this push back comes from a general sense of fear or ignorance on behalf of the family. A great resource is the Association for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Issues in Counseling (ACA, 2020) made public by the American Counseling Association. Visiting the website, individuals can find resources for therapists that are highly qualified to provide interventions as well as psychoeducation to promote familial support.
References/Websites:
American, A. C. (2020). Association for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Issues in Counseling. Retrieved April 9, 2020, from https://algbtic.org/
The Magic City Acceptance Center:
Magic City Acceptance Center. (2020). Retrieved April 9, 2020, from http://www.magiccityacceptancecenter.org/
Murray, C. E., Pope, A. L., & Willis, B. T. (2017). Sexuality counseling: theory, research, and practice. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE.
Schwartz, J. (2012, October 5). Helping a Child to Come Out. Retrieved April 9, 2020, from https://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/07/fashion/helping-a-gay-child-to-come-out.html
Wright, Tiffany E. and Smith, Nancy (2013). Bullying of LGBT Youth and School Climate for LGBT Educators. GEMS (Gender, Education, Music, and Society) Vol. 6, Num. 1, September 2013.
2. Classmate (E. Mash)
LGBTIQ Challenges
Individuals within the LGBTIQ face many challenges when coming out in their sexual orientation to others. One challenge may be in telling their family members about their sexual orientation. Jhang (2018) stated that despite recent legal progress and a more tolerant society, coming out—that is, the process of revealing one’s sexual orientation—as lesbian, gay, or bisexual (LGB) to family remains difficult. Though there have been movements towards LGBTIQ rights, it is often still difficult for some families to accept another family member’s sexual orientation. This may be due to fear or a lack of understanding of other sexual orientations besides heterosexuality. Another challenge that an individual may have while disclosing their sexual orientation is in the workplace. Lim, Jones, and Paguirigan (2019) wrote that diversity and inclusion in the workplace continue to permeate American discourse. An individual may see less opportunities presented to them after coming out, as well are more judgement from coworkers. This could have adverse effects on the individuals career, their self-esteem, and intrapersonal relationships inside the workplace.
Resource and Services
A resource that I found that serves the LGBTIQ community is: https://www.glbthotline.org/. This site is call the LGBT National Help center and according to the website (2020) serves the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and questioning community by providing free and confidential peer-support and local resources. This site has many services for individuals within this community such as online chatrooms for youth that are peer supportive, a resource-near-me finder, and numbers for the national, youth, and senior LGBT hotline. I think that this is a wonderful resources for LGBTIQ individuals since it has options for all types of people, and there is no limit. I think the specificity of the hotlines are also an advantage. For example, If a senior was struggling with challenges related to their sexual orientation, they may find comfort in knowing that there was a hotline made specifically for them. Lastly, I also think that it is significant that this site is able to connect you to resources in your local community. This can prove to be very helpful since it can connect them to mental health providers or support groups.
References
Jhang, J. (2018). Scaffolding in family relationships: A grounded theory of coming out to
family. Family Relations, 67(1), 161–175. https://doi-
org.ezp.waldenulibrary.org/10.1111/fare.12302
LGBT National Help Center. (2019). LGBT national help center. Retrieved from
https://www.glbthotline.org/
Lim, F., Jones PA., Paguirigan, M. (2019). A guide to fostering an LGBTQ-inclusive workplace.
Nursing Management, 50, 46-53. https://doi.org/10.1097/01.NUMA.0000558484.92567.db
3. Classmate (L. Gre)
Challenges
There are a number of challenges LGBTIQ clients may face as they come out in their sexual orientation to others. Coming out is when a member of the LGBTIQ community has made the decision to express their sexual orientation to someone which can include family, friends, etc (Murray, Pope & Willis, 2017). One challenge that a client may face is making the decision to come out too early. Coming out too early can create great distress for a client and may negatively impact significant…
