Living and working with the LGBTQ+ community

According to the Hetrick-Martin Institute, LGBTQ+ youth who report family rejection are ‘8.4 times more likely to attempt suicide, 5.9 times more likely to have high levels of depression, 3.4 times more likely to use drugs, and 3.4 times more likely to engage in unprotected sexual intercourse’.

According to the Human Rights Campaign, “4 in 10 (42%) LGBT youth say the community in which they live is not accepting of LGBT people”.

These are sobering statistics, so we can all do our bit to support the LGBTQ+ community. Here are five top tips –

1. Do not confuse gender and sexuality. For example, if someone is transitioning from male to female, this does not make them gay. Being transgender is about the gender they identify with, and being gay is about who they are sexually attracted to (their sexuality). A transgender man transitioning to be a woman will not necessarily be attracted to men

2. If you are unsure, ask. We all have different perspectives, so a person-centred approach would be to start with the individual and the meaning they attach to terms such as LGBTQ+, trans, etc. If you are working with someone who identifies as transgender, you may stumble over whether to refer to them as ‘her’ or ‘him’. A common approach to this is to refer to them as ‘they’, and, the best approach is to ask them how they would like to be addressed

3. Know your local LGBTQ+ organizations. There are many decent, and local, LGBTQ+ organizations, but each one is not for everybody. I have known of LGBTQ+ walking groups, coffee meetings, an LGBTQ+ creative writing group, a Jewish LGBTQ+ group, a Christian group, and a Muslim LGBTQ+ group

4. Consider your conversations, documentation, policies and procedures. Whether you are having a conversation, writing an email, creating a document, a policy or procedure, are you assuming that a married couple consist of a man and a woman, and two parents of children are a man and a woman? Do you make assumptions about sport (football for men and ballet for women), colors (pink for girls, blue for boys), and even the family structure (a female as the caregiver and the male as employed). Do you have expectations about what a ‘man’ and a ‘woman’ should look and sound like? Maintain awareness for gender-normative and hetero-normative assumptions in our conversations, documents, policies and procedures

5. A cultural and historical perspective check – Understand where that LGBTQ+ person is coming from in terms of their culture. Are they surrounded by family members and/or friends who are homophobic or transphobic? Some cultures view the LGBTQ+ community as evil, or a sickness to be ‘cured’. It is a tough decision to make between your sexual or gender identity, and the family and friends you have always known. In addition, consider the history of that member of the LGBTQ+ community. Older members have grown up in a time when society was a great deal less accepting, and so they may have a different perspective of their gender or sexuality than someone who grew up more recently

Chris Warren-Dickins LPC is a Licensed Professional Counselor with a practice in downtown Ridgewood, NJ 07450. If you would like to read more about his LGBTQ+ therapy service, click here https://www.exploretransform.c...

If you would like to book a consultation, you can book online here https://square.site/appointments/book/9DTVNB35D9HWM/chris-warren-dickins-llb-ma-lpc-ridgewood-nj

Or you can call him on +1 (201) 779-6917