Children and adolescents who are growing up gay, lesbian, bisexual, gender nonconforming, or gender discordant experience unique developmental challenges. They are at risk for certain mental health problems, many of which are significantly correlated with stigma and prejudice. Mental health professionals have an important role to play in fostering…

How do social services professionals identify and design supportive environments that promote the positive development of LGBT youth? Although there are extraordinary examples of individuals and programs that exist for the purpose of supporting LGBT youth and fostering their development, the work of documenting and empirically analyzing what works…

This autobiographical essay of a Chinese transgender who has grown up in a special social background involves the Chinese family, religion, and some social background to demonstrate the current situation of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender groups, especially the condition of female-to-male transgender.

This paper examines the way lesbian identities are silenced in schools particularly through anti-lesbian harassment. Based on research with 30 self-identified lesbian teachers working across high schools in New South Wales, Australia, the discussion illustrates how various responses to anti-lesbian harassment silence the recognition of such…

Jon Gilgoff is the Boys Services Manager of the Youth Justice Institute in Oakland, California, and a former Robert Bowne Foundation Fellow who researched Boyz 2 Men through his work with the Educational Alliance in New York City. Boyz 2 Men aimed to provide a positive alternative to drugs as a means of coping with the multiple challenges young…

Child welfare personnel repeatedly move a lesbian youth from one inappropriate placement to another, subjecting her to constant rejection and discrimination and depriving her of a permanent home or family; Detention facility staff place a gay youth in isolation "for his own protection," depriving him of education, recreation, companionship, or…