Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Studies Commons^™

Who Tells Our Stories?: An Analysis Of Lgbtqia2s+ Community-Museum Collaboration In Northeastern Wisconsin, Frances Kerkhof

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Traditionally, histories of LGBTQIA2S+ individuals have been excluded from mainstream conversations and censored from public records. This exclusion was evident in how LGBTQIA2S+ history is retold in museum spaces. Over the past few decades, public institutions have shifted how LGBTQIA2S+ histories are communicated, with efforts to include more diverse histories and perspectives. During the summer of 2025, I conducted a museum ethnography of the Neville Public Museum’s Telling Our Stories: LGBTQ+ Voices of Northeastern Wisconsin to answer the research question: How does community engagement enhance the representation of the LGBTQIA2S+ community in a local museum in Northeastern Wisconsin? Through this …

Defying Impossibility: Critical Qualitative Reorientations To Black Lgbtqia+ Sense Of Belonging, Olivia H. Hunte

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Belonging is a human need central to survival and can be cultivated within all spheres of life. Social environments are vital for experiencing a sense of belonging. In some social environments, Black LGBTQIA+ people encounter greater impediments to their daily lives with consequences for survival, including threatening their belonging needs. Within the United States, systems of oppression create and inform conditions within social environments that can potentially thwart pathways to belonging for Black LGBTQIA+ people. Thus, fulfillment of belonging needs for Black LGBTQIA+ people is one of nuance, pain, resilience, hope, harm, trauma, resistance, and healing; scant research is available …

Better Serving Those Who Serve: Supporting Psychological Wellness Of Lgb Military Personnel In The Post “Don’T Ask Don’T Tell” Era, Anne Neuweiler

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Few studies have been able to explore lesbian, gay, and bisexual military personnel’s experiences in military mental healthcare settings. This study examined the experience of LGB servicemembers in military counseling environments, as well as how to support these servicemembers in military mental health and military communities. Six participants volunteered for the study and six semi-structured interviews were completed with LGB servicemembers who had contact with mental health. Three research questions guided the present study and a transcendental phenomenological frame was used to analyze the data and themes emerged. Research question one yielded three themes: 1) “I'm Definitely not Gay”: The …

A Phenomenological Study Of Caregivers For Sexual Minority Hospice Patients, Catherine H. Bianchi

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) individuals face disproportionate barriers in healthcare across the lifespan that persist and often intensify at the end of life. Despite hospice’s mission to provide comfort, dignity, and patient-centered support, it remains unclear whether these services equitably meet the needs of sexual minority patients. Seeking hospice care presents a unique conundrum for many LGB individuals: it necessitates inviting representatives of a historically exclusionary healthcare system into the privacy of their homes - spaces that often serve as sanctuaries of identity, safety, and autonomy. The already vulnerable experience of seeking care in one’s final days can be …

“My Body Was Never Mine”: An Arts-Based Phenomenological Analysis Of Queer And Trans Adolescent Involuntary Psychiatric Hospitalization Experiences, Megan Doyle

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Involuntary psychiatric hospitalization has life-saving and crisis-stabilizing intentions for queer and trans adolescents experiencing mental health crises; however, there are significant concerns about the adverse effects of this practice. This study employed two interwoven qualitative methods, interpretative phenomenological analysis and arts-based research, to gain a deeper understanding of queer and trans individuals’ adolescent experiences of involuntary psychiatric hospitalization. The theory of abolition was applied to examine the carcerality and identity-based oppression embedded within this procedure. Participant narratives and artwork revealed how involuntary psychiatric hospitalization is non-affirming for queer and trans young people in crisis, and the impacts of experiencing coercion, …

Survival Guide For Queer Families In Heteronormative Healthcare: Liberatory Consciousness And The Paradox Of Dependent Healthcare, A Critical Policy Discourse Analysis, Dwenna A. Holden

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In this study I explored and analyzed how the queer experiences of an anonymous higher education institution in the western United States’ self-identified queer faculty and staff intersected with the discursive framing of the college’s dependent healthcare structure and documents. Within a critical paradigm I designed research around a high-density theoretical approach to weaving various branches of queer theory together with critical theory around policy and law in relation to queer bodies and hostile heteronormative policy environments. I arrived at solutions based in complaint, survival, and transformation. I used critical policy discourse analyses to interrogate the college’s dependent healthcare documents …

The Embodiment And Experiences Of Gender Euphoria Among Transgender And Nonbinary Communities: A Mixed Methods Inquiry, Brendon T. Holloway

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Gender euphoria is a critical aspect of embodiment for transgender and nonbinary (TNB) people that has long been overshadowed in academic research by deficit narratives and gender dysphoria. While gender dysphoria is the distress an individual may experience related to their gender, gender euphoria encapsulates the positive emotions a TNB person may experience because of positive gendered experiences. Despite community documentations of gender euphoria since the 1970s, academic research on gender euphoria has only recently begun to emerge. This three-paper dissertation advances this body of scholarship by exploring how gender euphoria is conceptualized, experienced, and embodied in TNB communities. Utilizing …

Sustaining Queerness: A Phenomenological Study Of Colorado Educators, Devani Lemmon

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to engage queer Colorado educators to explore how to sustain their identities as queer educators in a politically fractured state. By focusing on Colorado, I could assess the extent to which the legal protections afforded there adequately support educators in sustaining themselves. Additionally, the findings from Colorado had the potential to further illuminate factors influencing teacher sustainability and retention on a much larger scale. The questions for this research project were: 1) How are queer educators sustaining themselves and each other in an increasingly volatile political climate? 2) What, if any, factors impact queer …

Considerations For Interviewing And Intervening With Suicidal Gender Expansive Individuals, Abigail Herrold

Graduate School of Professional Psychology: Doctoral Papers and Masters Projects

It has been well documented that transgender individuals are at a higher risk for death by suicide compared to their cisgender peers. However, limited consideration has been given to studying suicidality in individuals who identify outside of the gender binary (non-binary, gender queer, gender fluid, etc.). Additionally, while there is considerable evidence for risk factors for suicide and protective factors against suicide, there is a lack of guidance on how to implement this information. The aim of this paper is to expand upon the literature of research that is inclusive of all gender identities and propose guidelines working with gender …

Just Say Gay: An Exploration Of Authenticity And Connection; Queer Identified Therapists’ Lived Experiences Of Identity-Based Self-Disclosure, Courtney Dunne

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The current sociopolitical climate in the United States continues to reinforce the complexities and nuances that mental health providers face when facilitating therapy. Over the past few years, anti-DEI legislation has aimed to control the narrative in educational and therapeutic settings regarding what therapists and educators are permitted to teach and share about themselves (Flannery, 2024). At the same time, anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric continues to dominate the media and further marginalizes individuals whom are in the queer community. In turn, LGBTQ+ individuals continue to face an increased risk for homelessness, substance use disorders, and suicide, which particularly has impacted LGBTQ+ youth …

Sources Of Sexual And Romantic Education: Associations With Sexual Minority Men’S Sexual Experiences And Romantic Relationship Quality, Charlie Huntington

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Individuals with sexual minority identities experience a variety of poorer mental and physical health outcomes, including those related to sexual and romantic quality, relative to heterosexual individuals (Beaulieu et al., 2017; CDC, 2021). These poorer romantic, sexual, and psychological outcomes may be attributable in part to lacking access to affirmative and relevant modeling of sexual minority experiences, such as through sex education (Gillespie et al., 2022; Keiser et al., 2019). This study aimed to understand how sexual minority men learn – in ways potentially both helpful and unhelpful – about romantic relationships and sexual activity, and how these experiences are …

Saint Brigit And Her Habits: Exploring Queerness In Early Medieval Ireland, Jacqueline K. Stephenson

Undergraduate Theses, Capstones, and Recitals

Saint Brigit's behavior and reception by society highlight an avenue by which women in the early medieval period could escape societal strictures, exercising agency over their bodies and their romantic choices, and carve out a distinct and unexpected place for themselves in a Christian patriarchal society. In Saint Brigit’s case, this is especially demonstrated by the breadth of her portrayed power as not just a nun but a saint, her extreme resistance to marriage, and her frequent comparisons to men. Indeed, her hagiography, written by Cogitosus in the seventh century, positioned her as one of the three principal and earliest …

Gender Diversity In The Workplace: Pronouns, Gender-Stereotyped Job Listings, And Perceptions Of Hireability, Elise B. Charette, Sarah E. Nemanick, Paige C. Keim, Sarah M. Ledoux, Lindsay A. Goolsby, E. Paige Lloyd

DU Undergraduate Research Journal Archive

Past research has investigated the impact of gender and gender biases on hiring decisions for cisgender individuals. However, there is a lack of research on how perceptions of gender diverse individuals impact hiring decisions. The current work explores how a job applicant’s gender pronouns may impact the likelihood of the applicant getting hired. We also investigated whether this likelihood varied depending on the job description—specifically whether it included content related to gender stereotypes (e.g., “nurturing” versus “leadership capabilities” as a desired trait in job applicants). Ninety-six participants were randomly assigned to view an application package including she/her, he/him, or they/them …

Queer Interethnic Relationships: Couple-Level Minority Stress And Resilience For Intersectionally Marginalized Partners, Sree Sinha

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Interethnic relationships and same-sex relationships continue to increase in the U.S. While LGBQ and heterosexual people are equally likely to be in romantic relationships, LGBQ individuals are more likely than their straight peers to be in an interracial or interethnic romantic relationship. The present work aims to expand intersectional investigations regarding queer people of color (QPOC), including accounting for their individual as well as relational well-being, by use of the couple-level minority stress (CLMS) paradigm. CLMS theory speaks to the unique stressors experienced as a result of being in a relationship that is societally marginalized, impacting both dyadic and individual …

Liberation And Inclusion Through The Voices Of Trans Youth: A Phenomenological Approach, Klaudia Neufeld

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The primary aim of this phenomenological study is to elevate trans youth voice to understand the essence of their individual and shared lived experiences within school systems designed for them to be silenced, excluded, and erased. In alignment with Eve Tuck’s desire-based research, this study is designed to counter deficit narratives of trans youth. Participants include six racially and ethnically diverse trans youth, ages 13−17 in the U.S. state of Colorado. Analyses revealed four themes: a gender-identity transition journey; navigating geography; safety and the impact of school culture; creating belonging through a coalition of community and friendship; and youth lessons …

The Queer Ecology Of Clouds In Nineteenth-Century British Poetics, Lucien Darjeun Meadows

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Throughout the nineteenth century, British writers were interested in the emergent science of meteorology, and their lyrical writing (their “poetics”), from poetry to creative and scientific prose, often turns to clouds as both meteorological formations and as material metaphors for human-environment interactions. These writers frequently invoke clouds to disrupt or “queer” depictions of human-environment relationships built on human domination of environmental beings. Clouds, in poetic writing, help writers (and readers) instead experience subject-subject relationships of reciprocity—a collaborative, non-hierarchical way of existing with and learning from our ecological relatives.

Dwelling in the confluence of literary studies, queer studies, and ecology, The …

Queer Is Here, Hopefully To Stay: The Incorporation And Reception Of Lgbtq+ History At The History Colorado Center, Madeline Ohaus

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Historically, the documentation of LGBTQ+ histories, struggles, and accomplishments has been absent from museum collections and exhibitions. Scholars argue that given the authoritative nature of museums and their influence on the public, exclusions of LGBTQ+ history can mount to institutional erasure of queer identities. However, in the past decade, there has been an increase in attempts to document and curate exhibitions highlighting and encouraging the public to engage with LGBTQ+ history. While this history is imperative to preserve and display, it can be met with controversy, leading some LGBTQ+ history exhibitions to be relocated or even removed. During the summer …

Affirming Care: Lessons From Minority Stress Model To Bolster Mental Health Outcomes For Lgbtq+ Youth In Primary Care, Kyrie Lampert

Graduate School of Professional Psychology: Doctoral Papers and Masters Projects

Individuals in positions of power influence youth wellbeing, self-perception, and overall mental health. According to the minority stress model, individuals who hold marginalized identities, such as LGBTQ+ youth, face unique, chronic, and socially based additive stressors. Research shows that these additive stressors contribute to LGBTQ+ youth experiencing disproportionate rates of mental health concerns. Queer youth are more than four times as likely to attempt suicide than their non-queer identifying peers. Additive stressors that LGBTQ+ youth face include prejudiced events, stigma, decisions of concealment or disclosure, and internalized homophobia and transphobia. This paper will review and integrate research, utilizing the minority …

“We Are Doing The Absolute Most That We Can, And No One Is Listening”: Barriers And Facilitators To Health Literacy Within Transgender And Nonbinary Communities, C. Riley Hostetter, Jarrod Call, Donald R. Gerke, Brendon T. Holloway, N. Eugene Walls, Jennifer C. Greenfield

Graduate School of Social Work: Faculty Scholarship

Transgender and nonbinary (TNB) individuals face disparities in nearly every aspect of health. One factor associated with poor health outcomes in other marginalized populations is health literacy, yet no identified studies examine health literacy in TNB samples. Moreover, most health literacy frameworks focus primarily on the capacities of individual patients to understand and use healthcare information, with little attention given to provider literacy and environmental factors. In partnership with a statewide LGBTQ advocacy organization, we recruited 46 transgender and nonbinary individuals to participate in seven focus groups conducted in urban, suburban, and rural locations throughout Colorado. TNB participants consistently engaged …

Identity And Resistance: Queer Puerto Rican Subjects, Pentecostalism, And The Shadow Of U.S. Imperialism, Jared Vázquez

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

James K.A. Smith argues that the first principle of Pentecostalism is that the same Holy Spirit described in the New Testament is !actively, dynamically, and miraculously present both in the ecclesial community and in creation” today. This ontological experience of the Holy Spirit transforms Pentecostalism into a hermeneutic thorough which Pentecostals interpret their social world. In his attempt to articulate a Pentecostal epistemology Smith leaves implied what this project seeks to make explicit: the emergence of subjectivity is mediated through the experiences of the body and is therefore affective and phenomenological in nature. I argue that pentecostal spiritual practices are …

Exploring The Relational Impact Of Breast Cancer On Younger Women Partnered With Women, Kaitlin V. Ross

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Approximately 268,600 new cases of breast cancer in women are diagnosed each year in the United States. Due to improvements in cancer detection and treatment, survivorship is higher than in the past. More than ten percent of new diagnoses are in women 45 years or younger. There are approximately one million sexual minority individuals living with cancer in the US, yet this population is understudied in cancer care. For sexual minority women with breast cancer, sociocultural factors such as lack of affirmative care influences their disease experience. Further, sexual minority women and women partnered with women may be subject to …

Trans And Genderqueer Military Service Member-Veterans: An Acculturation Phenomenology Of Civilian Reintegration, Joseph A. Galluzzo

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

As United States military policy continues to evolve and affirm the accession and retention of trans and genderqueer (TGQ) service members, more TGQ people will join and ultimately separate from military service. Reintegration is a term that represents the experience of beginning to separate from the military and transitioning into civilian life, and those who encounter it are referred to as military service member-veterans (MSMVs). Though empirical knowledge of reintegration for MSMVs overall continues to improve, cultural relevance has only recently been considered, and no research has investigated the reintegration experiences of TGQ MSMVs specifically. The primary purpose of this …

Developing, Refining, And Testing The Intersectional Model Of Service Use: A Transgender And Nonbinary-Specific Model Of Healthcare Access, Jarrod Call

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Transgender and nonbinary (TNB) people are more likely to experience negative health outcomes than cisgender (i.e., not TNB) people, but less likely to access healthcare services due to the systemic forces of transphobia and cisgenderism. Despite this, there are few theoretical models of healthcare access specifically designed for TNB people. This three-paper dissertation addresses this gap by developing, refining, and testing the Intersectional Model of Service Use (IMSU), a population-specific framework for researching TNB healthcare access. Manuscript one describes how the initial IMSU was developed from an integrative review of currently available TNB healthcare access literature. This initial IMSU was …

Spiritual Care Of Gay Men In Committed Relationships: An Evidenced-Based Intercultural Approach, Marc J. Coulter

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Sexual minorities have historically been targets of homophobia, heterosexism, discrimination, and persecution particularly within traditional, conservative religious organizations. As a result, many people who identify as male and gay reject traditional forms of religion and seek alternative spiritual beliefs and practices affirming their sexual orientation, often self-identifying as “spiritual but not religious” (SBNR). Some white, gay male couples in committed relationships also reject traditional views of sexual fidelity and negotiate open, consensual, non-monogamous sexual relationships with their primary partner. Gay couples seeking behavioral health assistance to navigate relational difficulties may encounter clinicians who fail to acknowledge the harmful influence of …

Examining Experience, Role, And Lgbtq Identity In Department Chairs, Ashton B. Clouse

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

LGBTQ rights have progressed tremendously in recent times, not long ago LGBTQ individuals could be arrested simply for being themselves. Though many rights have been won, the fight for equity continues. This is especially true in the field of education, many think of higher education as a pathway to equity, but in reality it can serve to solidify societal inequities. Campus climate studies of LGBTQ faculty members in higher education show that climate is most impactful at the departmental level (Nichols & Scott, 2005), others highlight the importance of department chairs in fostering climate within their departments (Bystydzienski et al., …

Serving With Pride: Military Experience And The Formation Of The Queer Female Identity In Mid-Century America, Kathlene Ward, Elizabeth Escobedo, Susan Schulten

DU Undergraduate Research Journal Archive

At the inception of World War II, the United States military adapted to include women within its ranks with the creation of the Women’s Army Corps. Likewise, psychology’s implementation into military procedures legitimized systematic exclusion and removal of queer persons seeking military involvement. Such factors resulted in a particularly unique environment for queer servicewomen. The birth of the Cold War brought about a new wave of heterosexual expectations that forced queer individuals in the U.S. military even further into the closet. This project seeks to uncover how gender and sexuality expectations placed upon queer women serving in the World War …

Movement And Countermovement Dynamics Between The Religious Right And Lgb Community Arising From Colorado’S Amendment 2, Lauren L. Yehle, Joshua C. Wilson, Nancy D. Wadsworth, Susan Schulten

DU Undergraduate Research Journal Archive

This sample of the case study of Equality Colorado will demonstrate how counter movements and litigation may limit and change how an organization surrounding a social movement acts. Colorado for Family Values helped pass Colorado’s Amendment 2 in 1992, which limited any present and future anti-discrimination legislation that would protect sexuality as a class. This ballot initiative passed by 53% of Colorado voters, and other states like Idaho and Oregon attempted to replicate this type of initiative. Amendment 2 challenged the LGB community and compelled the movement to collectively respond to the religious right with coalitions, pooled resources, and litigation. …

Everything With A Smile: Loxie Dowdy, Alexandra Graham

DU Undergraduate Research Journal Archive

This biography details the life of Vietnam Veteran Loxie Dowdy and her partner Lucille Laugesen.

Social Work, Social Justice, And The Causes To Which We Are Called: Attitudes, Ally Behavior, And Activism, Brittanie Atteberry Ash

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

As a profession, social work has codified within its ethical guidance and educational policies a commitment to social justice. While social justice is enumerated in several guiding documents, social work continues to lack consensus on both the meaning and merit of social justice (Abramovitz, 1993; Funge, 2011; Hong & Hodge, 2009; Specht & Courtney, 1995; Van Soest & Garcia, 2003). Due to the lack of agreement within the profession about the centrality and meaning of social justice, many educational practices, attitudes, and actions of those working within the profession may not align with socially just ideals that are codified in …

A Black Feminist Quare Interrogation Of Stud Misogyny In Black Queer Web Series, Taisha Mcmickens

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this Black feminist-quare study is to analyze the relationship between misogyny and queer masculinity performed by “studs” in Black queer web series located on YouTube.com: Women of Atlanta TV, New York Girls TV, Choiices The Series, and The Best Friend. Studs are masculine-identified Black lesbians. Stud misogyny is tethered to histories of the patriarchal gaze on Black women’s bodies. This gaze exposes stud and femme queers to layers of violence challenging us to rethink masculinities outside of the colonial imagination. I employ a Black Feminist Quare theoretical framework to attend to stud’s embodied experiences, challenge …