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Sexual Orientation Paper

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I. What is Sexual Orientation?
Sexual orientation is defined by how one identifies oneself, in terms of gender and attraction. This can be broken down into three categories; heterosexual, homosexual, and bi-sexual. For the purpose of this paper, I have focused on the gay and lesbian community and how they have been discriminated for decades. I will also take a look at some common stereotypes and myths that have impacted this group and what actions they, and others, have taken to deal with such discrimination. I believe it is important to note that a lot of this research was gathered quite some time ago, even though the articles were published within the last ten years. The research shows that although there is still a significant amount of …show more content…
Current Demographics
For many years being gay or lesbian was thought to be a choice. People struggled with internal battles of keeping their sexual orientation to themselves, as they feared they would lose their job, families, or friends. There is currently a large population of gay and lesbian people in the United States. Information from the Census Bureau taken in September 2011 shows there were 131,729 same-sex married couple households and 514,735 same-sex unmarried partner households in the United States. Although the population is large, in the U.S. only about 50% of the states have laws that specifically protect LGBT individuals against discrimination, especially regarding employment (Nadler, 2014).
This population has been targeted by many forms of discrimination. Much of this discrimination can be considered aversive racism, where it isn’t always obvious. This is something that is said to be justifiable (Nadler, 2014). Research shows that people of the LGBT community have a higher likelihood of being homeless, trouble obtaining jobs, and a higher risk for mental illness (Gamarel, 2012).

III. …show more content…
One myth comes about in an article written by Jenkins (2010), which indicated male homosexuality was believed to be caused by maternal stress in the womb and lack of testosterone in the womb.

(Already paraphrased) There have been identified issues with clinicians whose religious beliefs do not coincide with the LGBT community (Hospital, M. 2008). It creates an ethical issue about whether they can give the best possible treatment to people in that community.

-There are multiple stereotypes that the gay and lesbian community face. Some common stereotypes are that gay men are effeminate, promiscuous, and melodramatic (Brown 2009). There has not been as much research done on the stereotypes of lesbian women, however there is a perception that they are "butch", aggressive and independent. Those are examples of negative stereotypes, however there are positive stereotypes which aren't necessarily perceived as inappropriate, even though they may alter a person’s judgements.

V. Social Location
As has been discussed earlier in this paper, the LGBT community has been oppressed for many decades. The level of oppression varies by region of the country. There is still a lot of homophobia in this world and it is prevalent in the southern part of the United

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