LESSON 13: LGBT PSYCHOLOGY

Lesson Objectives:
1. discuss LGBT history and relevant LGBT
2. explain the importance of these terms

DEFINITION OF TERMS:
 LGBT - Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual Transgender; an acronym used to refer different genders.
 Lesbian - women who are emotionally and sexually attracted to women
 Gay – men who are emotionally and sexually attracted to men
 Bisexual - man or woman who are emotionally and sexually attracted to men or women.
 Transgender - when your gender identity (how you feel) is different from your physical sex (male/female)

INTRODUCTION
Labels are so powerful it can be used to discriminate and oppress people. Like how the
German Nazi's used the word 'Aryan race' to mean superior and Jews' and 'homosexual' to
justify their mass murder of what they called as 'inferior' race.
However, labels can also empower people to claim their space in our society, especially
in the political sphere. Language can be used to avoid offense or disadvantage to certain
groups of people like using "persons with disabilities" instead of disabled. 'African American
instead of blacks', and 'LGBT' instead of 'homosexuals."

VIEWS ON LGBT IN HISTORY

Sexual and emotional attraction towards the same sex has been recorded throughout
history of mankind. In China 600 BCE, they used the terms 'pleasures of the bitten peach’ and
'brokeback'. In Japan, they have 'shudo' or 'nanshoku'. 'Kathaoey' is used in Thailand to refer
to lady boys. In the Philippines we have the 'babaylan' and the 'catalonan' who were mostly
women priests, but some are males who lived their lives as women.
Society's attitude towards homosexuality and other gender variants change through
history. In ancient Greek, all males are expected to take on a younger male lover in a practice
called pederasty. Some societies, like the indigenous Native Americans, accepted and
celebrated what they called two-spirited' person in a dance to the 'Berdache.'
However, later cultures see it as a "sin" following the Abrahamic Religion which branded
it as sodomy, a crime against nature. As these cultures colonized other countries, it enforced
its belief systems of viewing same sex attractions as a sin through violence such as killing
homosexuals through burning, stoning, or being fed to the dogs.
 Homosexuality was classified as an illness in the 19th century as a basis for them to
legally persecute homosexuals, imprison, and commit them to a mental institution. An
example of this percussion is that of Alan Turing, the father of modern computing, who was
prosecuted in 1952 for homosexual acts. He was sentenced with chemical castration
treatment, and he later died through cyanide poisoning.
As science advanced through years of extensive research, the APA removed
homosexuality as a psychiatric disorder or a sickness in 1973. This decision was after many
years of struggle from the gay and lesbian liberation movement. APA finally declared that
being attracted to people of the same sex is a natural variation of the human experience, and it
does not make anyone any less of a healthy and functioning human being. Now that society is
more accepting towards the LGBT, new terms and labels have been used to cater to everyone.

THE ABC'S OF THE LGBTQIA+

In an effort towards visibility and inclusion, a few letters were added to the LGBT. The
term "homosexual" sounded too clinical and it no longer adequately represents the diversity
within the LGBT community. These labels are changing, some you may be familiar with, but
others may be very new to you, so let us try to explain it as simple as we can.

 Lesbian - Women who are emotionally and sexually attracted to women.

 Gay - men who are emotionally and sexually attracted to men.
 Bisexual - man or woman who are emotionally and sexually attracted to men or women.
 Transgender - when your gender identity (how you feel) is different from your physical
sex (male/female).
 Queer-used by people who celebrate all gender identities, can also mean someone who
do not want to be restricted as Lesbian, Gay, or Bi.
 Intersex-people who were born with sex genitals or chromosome patterns that do not fit
the typical male or female body.
 Asexual/ally- Asexual are people who do not feel sexual attraction to anyone; but it
does not mean that they do not engage in romantic or sexual relationships. Allies are
straight/heterosexual people who are fighting for LGBT rights.
 Plus + -plus sign refers to all sexualities that do not fit in the LGBTQI
 Androgynous—people whose gender expression (their physical appearance) may or may
not be distinctly male or female.
 Gender - your internal sense of being masculine or feminine or neither.
 Gender identity - how you feel, man, women, or neither.
 Gender expression - how you express your sense of being male or female or neither,
maybe through hairstyle, clothes, etc.
 Sexual orientation - your emotional and sexual attraction to a person.
 Sex assigned at birth - your given sex when were born based on your sex organ.
 Cisgender - when your gender identity matches with the sex you are assigned at birth.
 Non-binary—people who do not feel like a boy or a girl; they may feel like they are both
or neither, so sometimes they use the pronouns they, them, and theirs.
UNDERSTANDING TRANSGENDERISM
Society attaches a lot of meanings to our biological sex or physical sex. Parents
unknowingly set up a gender-based pattern of raising their children upon knowing the
biological sex of their babies. Pink for girls and blue for boys is a reflection of our
heteronormative culture wherein we expect females to be feminine and males to be
masculine.
This limited view on sexuality makes it harder for those who do not fit in the box of
masculinity and femininity, like the lesbians, gays, and bisexuals. However, it makes it so
much more difficult for the transgender people, those who feel like they were born in the
wrong body or given the wrong biological sex.
Who is a transgender?
The APA defines transgender as "an umbrella term for persons whose gender identity,
gender expression, or behavior does not conform to that typically associated with the sex to
which they were assigned at birth."
This means that a transgender person does not feel comfortable in their biological sex
like a person who is born male but feels like a female, and a person who is born female may
feel like he is male. This "feeling” or gender identity is not something that changes through
time, but is a feeling that they have since childhood. This creates a problem for
heteronormative society wherein everyone is expected and forced to fit in the boxes of
male masculinity and female femininity.
However, history tells us that in different cultures across the world and in different
times in our history, there are people who lived their life expressing a gender that is
different from their biological sex. This gender nonconformity or gender crossing were
celebrated by the Native Americans through the "berdache" or the two-spirited people. We
also have our own “babaylan" or "catalonan", precolonial priests who are mostly females
but some are males who lived their lives as female priests.
 The word transgender is also used as an umbrella term, this means that there are many
identities under this term. Transsexuals, for example, is often used in the medical field to
refer to people whose gender identity is different from their biological sex and they may
want to change their body, so it resembles how they feel about their gender identity. A
biologically male person may feel like she is a woman since she was just a child and in
adulthood, she may choose to have a "hormonal replacement therapy or sex reassignment
surgery”. Medical advancements have helped transgender people live a full life; however, it
can be a long, difficult, and expensive process.

Other sexualities under the transgender umbrella term includes:

 FTM -- female to male, a person whose biological sex is female and has transitioned
to living his life as a male;
 MTF - male to female, a person whose biological sex is male and has transitioned to
living her life as a female;
 Crossdressing - some people want to dress as the opposite gender from time to time,
however, unlike the transsexual, they are comfortable identifying with their
biologital sex;
 Drag kings and queens - these are people who dress as the opposite gender for
entertainment which they do out of passion or for work; and
 Gender queer - these are people who feel like their gender does not fit the gender
binary view that is limited to the male or female category because they feel that
these are too restrictive.

THE TRANSITIONING PROCESS

When a person realizes that he or she may be a transgender, a psychologist can guide
the person through the transition especially when a person wants to go through permanent
changes like sex reassignment surgery. In some countries, transitioning is covered by their
medical insurance, and they get support from their employers and families which is very
crucial during transitioning because it takes years to fully transition.
There are transgender people who cannot have or do not want to have hormonal
replacement therapy or sex reassignment surgery because of personal, economic, or
cultural reasons and that is okay. Transitioning to another gender is a very challenging
process for many transgender people because of the social stigma, discrimination, medical
cost, accessibility of medical treatment and support, oppressive laws in each country, and
the threat of violence from prejudiced people.
 Some countries allow for transgender people to change their legal gender from male to
female or female to male. This recognition is a product of decades of collective effort of the
transgender community and the LGBTQ+ community. However, Philippines still lack the
laws and the medical capacity to support transgender people in living their full potential.
The proper use of pronouns, he or she, should be observed when talking to a
transgender person to show respect as a decent human being. Often, when a person is
clearly presenting herself as a female by the way they dress and carry themselves, it is safe
to assume that they want to use “she" and "her". The same goes for the transgender men
who is clearly presenting himself as a man, you may use "him" or "her". However, it is
always a good practice to ask them for their preferred pronoun instead of assuming but do
so in a polite way.

SUMMARY
Labels are important especially in the acceptance and promotion of human rights. The
evolution of the terms used to describe people who are emotionally and sexually attracted
the same sex have evolved through time. From homosexuality, to gay, and to LGBTQIA+, Iet
us remember that we are all humans, born free and equal.