Gay and Lesbian Issues | Self Help Article
The Kinsey Report
Alfred Kinsey shocked the nation with his assertion in The Kinsey Report (1948) that ten per cent of the male population of the United States was homosexual. There is continuing debate over the exactness of that estimate, but since that time millions of gay men and women have begun to live their lives with an openness unimaginable at any previous time in the history of this country.
Important Events in the Lives of Gay Americans
The 1969 riot outside the Stonewall Inn in the Village in New York City is often seen as the pivotal event in the collective ?coming out? of gay Americans. The AIDS epidemic which has killed hundreds of thousands has profoundly affected a generation of American families.
The Process of Coming Out
Even in the new century, coming out is no simple matter. There are few social supports in our culture to help the gay or lesbian young person define an identity. Religious and political ideologies often portray the homosexual man or woman as sick or sinful or woefully mistaken; intimate same-sex partnerships still do not have the protection of law that heterosexual unions have.
Self Help Resources for LGBT Community
The books and DVDs in the section on Gay and Lesbian Issues address the complex issues around defining an identity as a gay man or woman; dealing with the process of coming out and claiming a new identity; and the effects on families ? parents, siblings, spouses, children ? of this new identity. Medical and health concerns are also addressed in many of the volumes.
