The Health and Well-Being of Latinx Sexual and Gender Minorities in the USA: A Call to Action

Challenges to Identity Integration Indirectly Link Experiences of Heterosexist and Racist Discrimination to Lower Waking Salivary Cortisol in Sexually Diverse Latinx Emerging Adults

“…Sexually diverse Latinx emerging adults are tasked with consolidating a clear sense of self that integrates their multiple intersecting social group memberships (Espín, 1993;Morales, 1989) during an important development period of both opportunity and vulnerability (Arnett, 2007;Morgan, 2013). Yet, sexually diverse Latinx people experience considerable amounts of discrimination based on their marginalized social group memberships (Rhodes et al, 2020) that negatively impacts their healthy neurobiological and psychosocial adjustment (Parra and Hastings, 2018). The complex associations between systems and processes of oppression and aspects of sexuality (attraction, behavior, and identity) and ethnicity/race (language, culture, and identity) are not sufficiently well understood to help explain health and psychosocial disparities in sexually diverse people of color.…”

“…We sought to bridge these gaps through the application of an intersectional lens (Crenshaw, 1989) to models of minority stress (e.g., Meyer, 2003;Myers, 2009) and allostatic load (McEwen and Stellar, 1993) to further understand the lived experiences of sexually diverse Latinx people during emerging adulthood, which is a developmental period associated with sexual and ethnic/racial identity exploration, formation, and consolidation processes implicated with people's ability to healthfully adjust (Arnett, 2004). Experiences of heterosexist and racist discrimination in sexually diverse Latinx people during emerging adulthood are associated with a host of social inequalities and inequities that perpetuate health disparities (Rhodes et al, 2020). Moreover, heterosexist and racist social contexts can challenge sexually diverse Latinx emerging adults from integrating their multiple marginalized social group identities, and these challenges are associated with psychological distress and depressive symptoms (Morales, 1989;Espín, 1993;Santos and VanDaalen, 2016;Shramko et al, 2018).…”

“…Sexually diverse Latinx people experience heterosexist discrimination based on their sexual orientation within Latinx communities (Espín, 1993;Díaz et al, 2001Díaz et al, , 2006Ryan et al, 2009) and racist discrimination based on their ethnicity/race within majority-White sexually diverse communities (Morales, 1989;Balsam et al, 2011). Sexually diverse Latinx emerging adults who face discrimination based on their marginalized sexual and ethnic/racial identities report feeling less supported by others, have lower self-esteem, have more depression and anxiety symptoms, and are at elevated risk for suicide (see Rhodes et al, 2020 for full review). The intersectionality framework provides a comprehensive lens by which to examine the lived experiences of multiply marginalized people (Crenshaw, 1989).…”

“…Sexually diverse (i.e., people who self-identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, pansexual, or queer) Latinx people experience heterosexist and racist discrimination which negatively impacts their wellbeing (Rhodes et al, 2020). Social environments that are not accepting or embracing of sexual and ethnic/racial diversity are pervasive stressors which may compromise multiply marginalized people's ability to physiologically and psychosocially adjust healthfully (Parra and Hastings, 2018).…”

Using community‐based participatory research to address STI/HIV disparities and social determinants of health among young GBMSM and transgender women of colour in North Carolina, USA

“…Centers for Disease Control & Prevention, 2019b). STI/HIV disparities are particularly pronounced among GBMSM and transgender women of colour (Rhodes, Mann-Jackson, Alonzo, Bell, et al, 2020). If current rates persist, one in two African American/Black and one in four Latinx GBMSM may be diagnosed with HIV during his lifetime (Hess et al, 2016).…”