The most comprehensive resource to date on the methods of empowerment with lesbian and gay clients, this book explores the history and politics of gay identity and explains the basis and development of the empowerment approach in social work practice in the United States. After analyzing the different types of homophobia (individual, institutional, and internalized) and how these are manifested in real life situations, Tully addresses the special needs and issues particular to three age groups: gay and lesbian youth, adults, and older clients. The author offers practical applications for the social worker and client at the micro-, mezzo-, and macro-levels, from helping a teenage client to discover a personal sexual orientation (micro), to organizing a social event for lesbians and gays (mezzo), to building a community coalition (macro). Eye-opening case studies are provided for each age group and cover everything from defining problems, identifying the underlying issues causing them, understanding the role of homophobia, and the application of the empowerment perspective.

A call to involvement for gays and lesbians and their families emphasizes how every open gay or lesbian strikes a blow for social justice

This volume offers an invaluable resource for both social work educators and practitioners working with gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender (GLBT) clients and their families. It is the first such work to specifically address issues affecting bisexual and transgender people as well as the larger concerns of the GLBT community. Contributors present specific, practical suggestions for effective knowledge-based and skills-based practice with GLBT clients. Topics include heterosexism and homophobia, identity development, coming out, GLBT adolescents and older adults, health-care concerns, relationships and families, workplace issues, the history of the GLBT civil rights movement, sex reassignment, AIDS, and the role of spirituality in the lives of GLBT individuals. The contributors also consider intragroup issues of race, ethnicity, age, and socioeconomic status.

This unique edited collection addresses issues impacting the well-being of LGBTQ individuals with diverse identities to help students, practitioners, educators, and policymakers work with sensitivity and strength in the LGBTQ communities. Edited by three expert LGBTQ scholars, this engaging book offers a multiplicity of perspectives through the works of practitioners, students, and activists. By focusing on intersectionality and its application to social work practice, organizational change, and the pursuit of social justice, this text gives voice to previously silenced members of the LGBTQ community. The contributors of this important collection deepen insight into the diversity of identities within LGBTQ communities and provide many thoughtful recommendations to inform future social work pedagogy, agency policy, and forms of practice in diverse contexts and fields of service. This book is a valuable resource for students in Social Work, Community Medicine, Counselling Psychology, Nursing, Equity Studies, and Gender Studies, as well as anyone engaged in social service work.

Emphasizing an intersectional and transnational approach, this collection examines how social media and digital technologies have impacted the sphere of LGBTQ activism, advocacy, education, empowerment, identity, protest, and self-expression. This edited collection adopts a critical and cultural studies perspective to examine queer cyberculture and presence. Through the lens of representation and identity politics, it explores topics such as race, disability, and colonialism, alongside sexuality and gender. The collection examines how digital technologies have made queer cultural production more expansive and how such technological affordances and platforms have enabled queer cultural practices to be more transformational. Bringing together contributors and case studies from different countries, the contributions grapple with the tensions that arise when visibility, hiddenness, renditions of the self, and collective contractions of identity must be negotiated in a variety of global contexts and explores this influence on contemporary political identities. This book provides an essential introduction to LGBTQ digital cultures for students, researchers, and scholars of media, communication, and cultural studies. It will also be of interest to activists wanting to learn more about the transformative potential of digital media and technology in LGBTQ advocacy and empowerment around the globe.