This session provides a psychology perspective: biology+psychology+social (bio/psycho/social) to contemporary LGBTQIA+ issues, including gender identity, terminology (including how to avoid unintended microaggressions), societal expectations, and stigma leading to suicidal ideation. The following topics are included in this presentation:
- Gender from a social perspective (masculinity v femininity) (Helgeson, 2020),
- Suicide risk and protective factors among +LGBTQIA communities (https://www.thetrevorproject.org/),
- Suicide prevention from a research perspective (intersectionality) (Helgeson, 2020),
- Human biology from 3-weeks en utero (in uterus) – through adolescence, including hormones, ambiguous genitalia, sexual transitioning, and Intersex (Kalat, 2023), and
- Resources on how to be a good ally and how to create an LGBTQ-welcoming office space for clients or patients https://www.hrc.org/.
By the end of this session, participants should have a basic comprehension of the five layers of biological sex (DNA, chromosomes, hormones, internal genitalia, and external genitalia) and what common human sex variations exist (hint: there are more than two) (Kalat, 2023).
Participants will also learn that gender is not something an individual wakes up and one day decides to change; as early as toddlerhood, individuals know their gender https://isna.org/. Finally, participants will gain a deeper comprehension, appreciation, and humility for the complexities of each subgroup underneath the LGBTQIA+ umbrella. Mental Health resources (suicide prevention, book recommendations, websites, state and federal laws, and clinic posters) will be provided.