This paper addresses the need for gay and lesbian relationship research and theory and some of the directions such research and theory might take. It suggests academic research into gay and lesbian relationships is needed because these relationships are a fact of modern life and are different from heterosexual relationships, and because such…

A questionnaire was sent to gay and lesbian youth support groups around the country asking what it felt like to be gay and lesbian in high school, and how young people thought teachers and counselors could make their classrooms more comfortable for gay and lesbian students. The 44 responses came from young people who had attended public or…

This paper describes how an ethnographer proceeded in a study of group identify, voice, and participation in the greater culture of gay and bisexual college men at a large research university. The researcher, himself a heterosexual man, conceptualized the investigation as a crossing of cultural borders. The investigator initially attended several…

Multicultural studies often emphasize the need to diversify school curricula. There is a need for more varied representations of cultures in English teaching because the representations which teachers present heavily influence students' access to literacy. Many proponents of mainstreaming cultural diversity use liberal theories about cultural…

There has been considerable variation in reports of how much people know about Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS). This study explored empathy towards persons with AIDS. The first part of the study involved pretesting subjects on two scales. Data were collected from 125 male and 125 female college students. A factor analysis revealed there…

News reports regarding the relationship between Massachusetts Congressman Barney Frank and a male prostitute reflect a growing willingness to hold public officials responsible for private acts. The incident triggered a classic example of apologia--a speech of self-defense. As critics have long suggested, the intangible nature of the…

Prior research on observer perceptions of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) patients has concluded that there is a strong tendency to assume that homosexuals are patients of AIDS while heterosexuals are patients of anything but AIDS. This study sought to determine if there was a greater tendency to diagnose AIDS among female homosexuals…

The struggle for a positive self-image in the gay community has been keynoted by confrontations between gays and the censuring public, and by their own introspection. Since the risks demanded by self disclosure are greater for gays than for heterosexuals, a nonsupportive environment may force a strategy of nondisclosure on gays. This often…

Noting current estimates that between 4 and 14 million children have lesbian or gay parents and recent research suggesting that most college students are homophobic, this study examined college students' homophobia and attitudes toward adoption. Participating in the study were 96 heterosexual undergraduate education majors at a state college who…

In the area of male sex roles, the mystery novel is far ahead of society in general and thus presents the academic with a wealth of new male role models that demand inclusion in the postmodern canon. For a class at Jacksonville University ("Contemporary Detective Fiction") the classical male detective of "The Big Sleep" or…

A respected and effective college writing instructor (who happens to be gay but does not find it necessary or desirable to announce his sexual orientation) considers himself respectful of all people and even tolerant of those wish to express views the instructor personally finds reprehensible. This has allowed students to open up to the…

Fantasy Theme Analysis was used to examine the rhetorical clash of incongruent world views during the 1978 controversy over a gay rights ordinance in St. Paul, Minnesota. Fantasy Theme Analysis considers the individual and collective dramatizations of a group's goals, scope, and activities--the group's conceptualized reality, or fantasy theme--in…

Survey information shows that sexual abuse of children is widespread, being reported by 19% of the females and 9% of the males in the sample. Most sexual victimization took place within the child's family, not with strangers, as "child molesters" have traditionally been stereotyped. While the problem cuts across social and economic lines, it seems…

In this study of homosexuality the following variables were tested: (1) acceptance of others, (2) faith in others, and (3) levels of masculinity and femininity (M-F). The subjects were 11th and 12th graders enrolled in a suburban high school (n=68). Three standardized measurement instruments, each designed to measure one of the above-mentioned…

With increasing frequency, questions concerning the legality of discharging homosexual teachers have arisen. A review of court cases from different jurisdictions provides some guidelines, such as the fact that mere pronouncement by a teacher that he or she is a homosexual is not in and of itself sufficient grounds for discharging a teacher.…