Nathalie Velasco (Counseling, School, and Educational Psychology)

This session has been withdrawn.

Of the many socially marginalized groups in our society, LGBTQ+ persons of color (LGBTQ+ POC) experiences of discrimination are magnified as a result of intersecting marginalized identities. LGBTQ+ individuals continuously and disproportionally face abuse, violence, harassment, and discrimination leading to greater psychological distress, poorer well-being and the highest rates of suicidal attempts among marginalized groups (Dickey & Budge, 2020; Woulfe & Goodman, 2019). Given the surge in social justice issues over the past years and that gender and sexual minorities of color remain significantly underrepresented in scholarly studies expanding on the mental health of marginalized groups, this study aims to add on to the literature by examining the daily experiences of violence faced by LGBTQ+ POC and identifying their coping mechanisms, individual and community characteristics of resiliency. The marginalized intersecting identities of LGBTQ+ POC play a key role in the greater violence and hate crimes committed against them (Nadal, Davidoff, Davis, & Wong, 2014). The limited existing research on this population focuses on the psychological outcomes stemming from social stigma and the systematic oppressive systems that reinforce a gender binary society, noting early experiences of discrimination and violence occurring in the family home as a consequence of gender non-conforming identity development and expression (Nadal et al., 2014; Koken, Bimbi, & Parsons, 2009). There are very few studies that have adopted a strengths-based approach in the expansion of knowledge on LGBTQ+ persons in general with existing research noting protective factor disparities favoring White samples when compared to counterparts of color among sexual minorities (Ghabrial & Andersen, 2020). By shifting the focus of research to individual, social, and community characteristics and protective factors demonstrated by this population, practitioners can work with LGBTQ+ POC from a strengths-based perspective rather than clinically emphasizing deficits, which will likely perpetuate oppression and lead to negative health and psychological outcomes. This study uses a qualitative research methods approach in the form of focus groups in order to gather detailed and first-person perspectives on the lived experiences of LGBTQ+ POC.

A total of eleven individuals completed participation in this study. This study is currently in the analysis phase with expected data results and implications to be obtained by the first week of March 2022.