This paper addresses how to teach tolerance of homosexual persons in a manner that is not threatening to those with religious scruples about homosexuals. It contains an example of a presentation for college students that is designed to teach them to respect their peers and future coworkers regardless of their sexual orientation. The presentation…

While it has been asserted that rape has increased in frequency over the past generation, part of this increase may be due to a greater willingness to report rape to the authorities. A study was conducted to examine the frequency of rape and to describe the characteristics of rape victims. A random questionnaire survey of 4,340 adults in five…

Managing a marginal identity different from the dominant culture is a difficult process. For a woman who is a lesbian and also Jewish, this means feeling marginal in each of the communities she considers to be her primary support systems. Within the Jewish community, lesbianism is not acceptable, and within the lesbian community, there is often…

Homosexual cognitive victimization is a term which emphasizes social evaluation of sexual behaviors judged in terms of sexual preference. Individual differences in cognitive victimization of homosexuals were examined in two studies. In the first study, undergraduate students (N=78) completed Likert-type rating scales measuring homosexual cognitive…

Rotter's Internal-External Locus of Control Scale has been the focus of much research since its introduction in 1966. To further that research, the relationships among locus of control, level of religious belief, attitudes toward women, attitudes toward feminism, attitudes toward homosexuality, gender, and traditional versus nontraditional…

A study of gay men and their experiences of "coming out" to their parents found that both the mother's and father's reported level of education and religious orthodoxy significantly predicted the relationship change between the mother or the father and the self-disclosing son. This study sought to broaden the available database by sampling both…

Initial efforts to study the prevalence of homophobia targeted specific groups such as college students, health care workers, social workers, and others. Some of the specific correlates of homophobia, including gender, previous contact with gay people, the quality of that contact, religious affiliation, and the degree of religious practice are…

A case study was conducted at a small Catholic college attempting to change the cultural environment for people who identify themselves as different from the white, Catholic, middle class, heterosexual norm represented on the campus. Thirty members of the college faculty, students, and administration and staff were selected through stratified…

This paper presents a psychology professor's account of his experiences teaching a course on Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome/Human Immunodeficiency Virus (AIDS/HIV) to college students. The first section discusses how to introduce and market the course on campus, and anticipate students' and colleagues' questions about one's motivations for…

North Americans' fear and preoccupation with safety and security as a result of the September 11 attacks is similar to that felt by gays and lesbians in daily life. Queer persons are not part of the Christian family, according to Jerry Falwell and other rightist Christian fundamentalists, including those involved in transformative ministry and…