Religion, Spirituality, and Nonheterosexual-Identified Minority Women

Review of Lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans & queer psychology: An introduction.

“…Surely not all of these were published after LGBTQ Psychology was in press? Work that is truly intersectional (e.g., Acosta, 2008;Anzaldua & Keating, 2002;Brooks, Bowleg & Quina, 2009;Greene, 1997;Greene & Croom, 2000;Loue, 2009;Parks, Hughes, & Matthews, 2004) is never mentioned, other than one box outlining the work of Beverly . I find this disappointing in general, but particularly because the authors explicitly claim to have an intersectional perspective.…”

Shame and Psychosocial Development in Religiously Affiliated Sexual Minority Women

“…Shame has been linked to certain constructs unique to sexual minority populations such as heterosexism (Herek, 2004), internalized homophobia (Brown & Trevethen, 2010; Chow & Cheng, 2010), sexual stigma (Cohen & Savin-Williams, 1996; Herek, Gillis, & Cogan, 2009), sexual minority stress (Meyer, 2003), and the sexual minority identity developmental process (Greene & Britton, 2012; Wells, 1999). It has also been noted that due to the moral pressures of many conservative religious communities and promotion of idealized ways of living, religious sexual minorities may experience heightened levels of shame, guilt, internalized homophobia, and mental health difficulties in general (Helm, Berecz, & Nelson, 2001; Loue, 2009; Sherry, Adelman, Whilde, & Quick, 2010). Some sexual minorities who continue to engage with conservative faith communities may face an explicit condemnation of homosexuality or homosexual behavior (Subhi & Geelan, 2012) which often leads to guilt, shame, depression, and self-hatred, and can create a conflict between an individual’s religious and sexual identities (Lalich & McLaren, 2010; Levy, 2012; Super & Jacobson, 2011).…”