Library Resources: Cultural Awareness

The American LGBTQ Rights Movement: An Introduction is a chronological survey of the LGBTQ fight for equal rights from the turn of the 20th century to the early 21st century. Illustrated with historical photographs, the book beautifully reveals the heroic people and key events that shaped the American LGBTQ rights movement. The book includes personal narratives to capture the lived experience from each era, as well as details of essential organizations, texts, and court cases that defined LGBTQ activism and advocacy.

Why LGBTQ+ people must resist the seduction of dignity In 2015, when the Supreme Court declared that gay and lesbian couples were entitled to the "equal dignity" of marriage recognition, the concept of dignity became a cornerstone for gay rights victories. In Disrupting Dignity, Stephen M. Engel and Timothy S. Lyle explore the darker side of dignity, tracing its invocation across public health politics, popular culture, and law from the early years of the HIV/AIDS crisis to our current moment. With a compassionate eye, Engel and Lyle detail how politicians, policymakers, media leaders, and even some within LGBTQ+ communities have used the concept of dignity to shame and disempower members of those communities. They convincingly show how dignity--and the subsequent chase to be defined by its terms--became a tool of the state and the marketplace thereby limiting its more radical potential. Ultimately, Engel and Lyle challenge our understanding of dignity as an unquestioned good. They expose the constraining work it accomplishes and the exclusionary ideas about respectability that it promotes. To restore a lost past and point to a more inclusive future, they assert the worthiness of queer lives beyond dignity's limits.

LGBTQ Mental Health: International Perspectives and Experiences expands our understanding of mental health by considering the unique challenges faced by LGBTQ communities in the Majority World. Increased globalization and migration has highlighted the need for mental health clinicians to better understand these communities' experiences and needs. This book provides an overview of LGBTQ mental health in non-Western countries or regions that have heretofore received little attention in the psychology literature. Chapters focus on the cultural, social, legal, political, and psychological experiences of various LGBTQ subpopulations in Peru, Colombia, Ecuador, Jamaica, Russia, Mongolia, India, Malaysia, Thailand, and sub-Saharan Africa. Contributors summarize existing research on mental health outcomes for LGBTQ individuals in these countries or regions; offer key insights that challenge culturally-specific conceptions of normative, LGBTQ mental health and behavior; and offer recommendations for further research and mental health practice with these populations.

The Pocket Guide to LGBTQ Mental Health is a down-to-earth, informative, and affirming manual for mental health clinicians working with patients of diverse gender and sexual identities. In recent years, people have begun to grapple with these issues in a healthier, more public way, and mental health practitioners must be prepared to meet their patients with the knowledge, understanding, and grasp of the context in which patients live their lives. The editors have brought their specialized knowledge to the project and, along with contributors who are experts in the field of LGBTQ mental health, have created a book of uncommon empathy. The volume's structure is simple, consistent, and effective, with 10 chapters covering lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, questioning, intersex, asexual, pansexual, and allied individuals. Some chapters overlap because some people identify with more than one of these identities. The writers have drawn on both the scientific literature and their own clinical experience to create a volume that is informative, practical, and easy to read. The book possesses an abundance of useful features: * All diagnostic and treatment discussions are based on the latest information found in DSM-5.* Each chapter includes straightforward, real-world, and evidence-based answers to "Questions Well-Meaning People Ask"--essentially, "What would patients, their friends, their parents, their physicians like to know about being X, Y, or Z?"* A special section in each chapter addresses themes that may emerge during therapy, preparing the clinician to identify and respond sensitively and knowledgeably to issues that may become salient as counseling progresses.* Each chapter concludes with "Five Take-Home Points," a handy summary of the most important information, allowing the reader to identify essential material and consolidate learning.* An extensive collection of resources is included, helping the reader to locate more information on reliable websites and from other authoritative sources. Written in a conversational style that will appeal to patients and families, as well as clinicians, the Pocket Guide to LGBTQ Mental Health explores the psychological and cultural context for each gender or sexual identity in a comprehensive, realistic, and affirming way.