Undergraduate and graduate students alike filled a room in the Discovery building Tuesday night for a lecture on creating LGBT-affirmative therapists.
Professor Patrick Grzanka, from the University of Tennessee Knoxville, came to the university to present his research on therapy and LGBT. He discussed the history of the LGBT community, their progression in society and their empowerment today.
Grzanka started with the history and trends of the LGBT community. He showed pictures and talked about the early harsh treatment of homosexuality.
One trend Grzanka mentions is the acceptance of race, gender, and sexually different words. Homosexuals, at first, was not accepted but was the only word used for the LGBT community.
Eventually, the LGBT community transitioned to LGB and unified as a unified sexual minority group. Now LGBT is the mainstream term, adding the T for transgender.
Grzanka also talked about the American fascination with sexual orientation being rooted in the body and finding the “gay gene” and being “born this way.” He also discussed the gap in research between white LGBTs and minority LGBTs.
Grzanka then highlighted how there was a shift in therapy. The approach changed from trying to fix homosexuals or other members of the LGBT community to empowering them.
Grzanka stated that his research focused on therapy sessions and what they did for LGBT individuals.
“How are they connecting sexual orientation to mental health issues?” Grzanka asked as he was watching the therapy session videos.
Grzanka determined that mental health issues are affected by sexual orientation but are not a determinate of sexual orientation.
His conclusion showed how therapists should and can connect LGBT issues to cultural dynamics. He then stated that sexuality and gender are only a part of one’s self, not all of one’s self.