Sexual Orientation and Professional Ethics

Conducting culturally competent intake interviews with LGBTQ youth.

“…Sexual orientation can be viewed as having three components: behavior (the actual sexual experiences a person engages in), attraction (a person’s physical or romantic attraction to particular genders across the spectrum), and identity (people’s understanding of their sexuality and the labels they affiliate with). These three components may or may not be congruent with one another and can fluctuate over time (Purcell et al, 2003). For instance, an adolescent who identifies as a straight man (identity) may be primarily attracted to individuals who identify as women (attraction), but may have experimented sexually with people across the gender spectrum (behavior).…”

“…Gender is likewise a multifaceted construct. It may refer to a person’s gender identity—their internal sense of being a man, a woman, both or neither—or their gender role, which describes how a person’s behavior, appearance, and personality conforms to cultural definitions of masculinity and femininity (Purcell et al, 2003). Individuals may identify as transgender, sometimes referred to simply as trans, if their gender identity differs from their physical sex assigned at birth (previously referred to as biological sex).…”

“…The process of becoming aware of and reducing the negative impact of one’s attitudes and biases is continuous. This process can be facilitated by reading LGBTQ affirmative literature, seeking direct experience with LGBTQ individuals, consuming gay- and trans-affirmative media, and critically examining personal belief systems (Binder et al, 2009; Purcell et al, 2003). It may be helpful for clinicians to understand the origins of their negative beliefs and question the validity of their assumptions related to LGBTQ individuals.…”

“…Self-monitoring is a continuous process, as socially acceptable terminology evolves over time. For example, “homosexual” and “transsexual” have fallen out of favor because they are associated with negative stereotypes and pathology (Purcell et al, 2003; National Center for Transgender Equality, 2017). Similarly, recent authors (e.g., Katz-Wise et al, 2017) have attempted to reduce emphasis on binary ways of viewing gender and sexuality by discussing attraction in terms of same-gender attraction and other -gender attraction (as opposed to opposite-gender attraction).…”

“…Although developing an LGBTQ-affirmative stance is a prerequisite to effective work with LGBTQ clients, it “is not a substitute for a thorough evaluation of the client and [their] presenting problems” (Purcell, Swann, & Herbert, 2003, p. 325). Collection of information on issues specifically relevant to LGBTQ clients (reviewed above) must also be explicitly integrated in the into the intake interviews of LGBTQ youth.…”