Wonder Why We Are So Upset? Prejudice & Social stress!

[bluedawg12]

Because it's normal to feel this way. Looks like there have been some studies on this and it's pretty common reaction.

“Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom: and with all thy getting get understanding...”

GLBT Brothers and Sisters -

Just listening to Barack Obama now on TV , “America place where all things are possible... the road will be long, the climb will be steep” ...but maybe not for me, not for others like me in the GLBT community, maybe we feel like outsiders.

I wonder if it has occurred to anyone in the straight world who criticize our reaction that the Democratic party was our “safe space,” and for many of us that perception has been shaken.

Well, there has been some research on this that’s very interesting.

I am not asking for straight empathy nor sympathy, maybe just some understanding and some understanding for us about how natural our feelings are at this time.

It’s the week-end, Saturday night - have some fun, relax Sunday. Take care of yourselves. In five years today won’t matter, besides, history is progressive and on our side.

Peace -

bd12

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Am J Community Psychol. 2003 Jun;31(3-4):313-28.
Stressor and resilience factors for lesbians, gay men, and bisexuals confronting antigay politics. Russell GM, Richards JA.

Institute for Gay and Lesbian Strategic Studies, Amherst, Massachusetts 01004-2603,
When lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) people encounter antigay campaigns and elections, they face explicit and implicit homophobic attacks. In order to understand the points of stress and the bases for resilience in the face of these attacks, we developed a 130-item quantitative survey on the basis of results of an earlier qualitative study. Three hundred, sixteen Colorado LGB people endorsed items representing sources of stress and sources of resilience associated with the campaign for and passage of an antigay referendum. Factor analyses of the results suggested 5 sources of stressors and 5 sources of resilience for LGB persons and their communities.

These types of messages undermine the basic value and humanity of LGB people.

It is reasonable to expect that exposure to such materials and to discussions about LGB rights can constitute a stressor for at least some LGB people, even when specific election outcomes favor LGB rights.

When election outcomes do not support equal rights for LGB people, an additional set of stressors may come into play.

An antigay electoral decision suggests to LGB people that they are not full members of the community; it may increase legal concerns in matters of employment and housing; it raises concerns that antigay votes will unleash broader forms of harassment and violence (Booth, 1992; Spring, 1992; Stepanek, 1992).

In addition, some LGB people, especially those who tend to deny the pervasiveness of homonegativity, may find their denial compromised (Russell, 2000).


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J Homosex. 2007;53(4):173-99.
The relation of social support, connectedness, and collective self-esteem to the psychological well-being of lesbian, gay, and bisexual youth.Detrie PM, Lease SH.
Rhodes College, Memphis, TN

The present study extended the research on the mental health of lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) youth by testing the relationship of social support, social connectedness, and collective self-esteem to psychological well-being in a sample of 218 LGB youth. Perceived social support significantly predicted psychological well-being subscales; social connectedness and collective self-esteem contributed significantly to the psychological well-being of the LGB participants when controlling for perceived social support.

......

Psychol Bull. 2003 Sep;129(5):674-97.
Prejudice, social stress, and mental health in lesbian, gay, and bisexual populations: conceptual issues and research evidence.Meyer IH.
Department of Sociomedical Sciences, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University

In this article the author reviews research evidence on the prevalence of mental disorders in lesbians, gay men, and bisexuals (LGBs) and shows, using meta-analyses, that LGBs have a higher prevalence of mental disorders than heterosexuals.

The author offers a conceptual framework for understanding this excess in prevalence of disorder in terms of minority stress--explaining that stigma, prejudice, and discrimination create a hostile and stressful social environment that causes mental health problems.

The model describes stress processes, including the experience of prejudice events, expectations of rejection, hiding and concealing, internalized homophobia, and ameliorative coping processes. This conceptual framework is the basis for the review of research evidence, suggestions for future research directions, and exploration of public policy implications.
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[GreenPartyVoter]

1. I have no doubt that gays will one day finally have equal rights, but I do worry

about how long it will take. :(

[bluedawg12]

2. Yeah, and I worry about it's impact on us

it turns out that prejudice is bad for the soul. *sigh* Who knew? :sarcasm:


But, this is why there was such an out pouring of grief and anger.

[GreenPartyVoter]

3. Yeah. :^( It's not enough to think that _someday_ all things will be equal when you

know they should be right now.

[bluedawg12]

4. It's not just the wait - it is also reliving

the hate campaigns and slurs that precede these types of political rw actions.

We get to relive all of the hate crap on TV each and every time. They bring out the old slurs and hate speech and the world just nods and says, "Interesting points of view, gee, I wonder."

[GreenPartyVoter]

5. Oh yes, I can only imagine. :^( It's scary to think that we're slowly

becoming a progressive society, but when the veneer is stripped away it's actually really ugly under there.

[LeftCoast]

6. Very interesting

Thanks for posting this.

:kick:

[bluedawg12]

7. LeftCoast - your welcome. I realized that soft bigotry

is in the long run as damaging to a group as a punch or club.

There is a great thread about hard bigotry already over on GD, this is more along the lines of why we all feel so lousy about this last trick of taking away rights and couching it in homophobic rhetoric through out the entire g*ddammed State of Calif.

[bluedawg12]

8. Kicking to go in tandem with 94114_San_Francisco piece

because this is important and because we are in this together and many of us still feel an attempt was made to rob us of our humanity.