The Stigma and Discrimination Facing the LGBT Community

The stigma and discrimination the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) individuals often face on a daily basis or when carrying out their day-to-day activities can be a serious impediment to their well-being. Homosexuality was classified as a mental disorder by the American Psychiatric Association until 1973 (Finnerity, Kocet, Lutes, & Yates, 2017). Since the early 1960s, there has been an increase in gay rights movements. These movements have provided a significant impedance for greater acceptance of the LGBT community. However, some LGBT individuals often hide their identities to avoid criminalization, harassment, and alienation. According to Gates (Finnerity, Kocet, Lutes, & Yates, 2017), roughly 9 million Americans identify as LGBT. The study also revealed that 19 million Americans reported having engaged in same-sex sexual behaviour. More to this is that 25.6 million Americans admitted at least some same-sex attractions (Finnerity, Kocet, Lutes, & Yates, 2017). However, these figures do not accurately depict the true account of the LGBT community. This is because some LGBT individuals are still hiding their identities. LGBT individuals face a lot of mental health issues, including depression, anxiety, adjustment disorder, and relationship issues. When dealing with LGBT individuals, it is vital for health care professionals to take into account the psychological stressors that LGBT individuals face. Some of these stressors include coming out, macroaggression toward the LGBTQQI (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, questioning, and intersex) community, and prejudice (Finnerity, Kocet, Lutes, & Yates, 2017). This will help health care professional provide quality mental health care. Individuals often face challenges or fear to come out a lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender. Coming out is a process in which an individual reveals his or her gender or affectional orientation or identity to others. This process bears with it a significant amount of stress. The act also is found by others to be emotionally and psychologically liberating. Early scholar developed different models to understand illustrate sexual orientation. One such model is Cass’s model which was developed in 1979 (Finnerity, Kocet, Lutes, & Yates, 2017). The model is composed of six stages “(a) identity confusion, (b) identity comparison, (c) identity tolerance, (d) identity acceptance, (e) identity pride, and (f) identity synthesis” (Finnerity, Kocet, Lutes, & Yates, 2017). Another model is McCarn and Fassinger model which was developed in 1996. McCarn and Fassinger developed a lesbian identity development model. The models are composed of four stages which are "(a) awareness, (b) exploration, (c) deepening/commitment, and (d) internalization or synthesis (Finnerity, Kocet, Lutes, & Yates, 2017). Several other models have been developed which focus on different aspects of identity development. Individuals ought not to be forced to reveal their sexual orientation. This is because the process of coming out is associated with numerous risks and benefits. Some aspects of their families and other relationships may change. For this reason, once individuals internally accept or embrace their gender or affectional identity, they must have the emotional, spiritual, as well as psychological capacity to deal with the probable challenges that they may face or the reactions that they may receive once they disclose their identity to their family members and or to friends they trust (Finnerity, Kocet, Lutes, & Yates, 2017). LGBTQQI individual tends to struggle with mental issues such as anxiety, depression, and posttraumatic stress. These issues are as a result of societal, family, and cultural biases. Some of the issues which can lead mental illness in LGBTQQI individuals include stigma, harassment, and macroaggressions from families, societies, or communities which does not fully embrace the continuum of gender and sexuality (Finnerity, Kocet, Lutes, & Yates, 2017). Most members of the LGBTQQI community tends not to have close friends, families or people who share their minority status. In the long run, LGBTQQI individual who are stigmatized, harassed, and bullied may face greater mental health challenges due to insufficient coping strategies as well as due to lack of community support. For this reason, there is a need to counsel LGBTQQI individuals. Through counselling, cancellous can provide the support and care needed by the LGBTQQI community. More to this is that counselling can help buffer the challenges faced by the LGBTQQI community. Multicultural scholars and experts encourage counsellors and health care professionals to use a lens of intersectionality when working with LGBTQQI individuals. In relation to the perspective of intersectionality, an individual’s salient identity is composed of multiple perspectives and identities (Finnerity, Kocet, Lutes, & Yates, 2017). Therefore, counsellors ought to start seeing a person in the context of his or her sexual or gender orientation as it relates to the individual's religion, socioeconomic status, racial identity, cultural and spiritual traditions, disability and other cultural components (Finnerity, Kocet, Lutes, & Yates, 2017). Through this, counsellors would be able to help the LGBTQQI community create a more healthy and integrated approach to psychological functioning. Just like the way other people seek counselling services, LGBTQQI individuals can seek counselling services and equally benefit from such services. Clients can equally benefit from individual and group counselling, but this is contingent on the presenting issue. More to this is that LGBTQQI individuals seeking counselling services can benefit from both individual and group counselling services. Counsellors ought to be well trained and work in an affirming and competent manner. More to this, counsellors who are affirming of LGBTQQI individuals or clients ought to possess have a good understanding or vast knowledge of the LGBTQQI community (Finnerity, Kocet, Lutes, & Yates, 2017). They must also have knowledge of local, state, and natural resources as well as organizations that serve the LGBTQQI community. Advocacy is one of the most crucial skills required when serving LGBTQQI individuals. Professional counsellors are ethically obliged to provide treatments that support the dignity as well as the welfare of LGBTQQI individuals. They are also required to uphold the ACA code of ethics. Counsellors must work to educate their clients from the LGBTQQI community on self-advocacy strategies. To sum up, counsellors must use culturally affirmative ethical decision-making models when serving LGBTQQI individuals. 

References 

Finnerity, P., Kocet, M., Lutes, J., & Yates, C. (2017). Affirmative, strengths-based counselling with LGBTQI+ people. Alexandria, VA, USA: American Counselling Association.