Autism and Gender and Sexuality Diversity

Sexuality- and gender-diverse (SGD) young people experience substantial health disparities relative to cisgender heterosexual peers. Little is known about SGD adolescents younger than 15 years. To describe SGD prevalence and associated factors in a population-representative cohort of younger adolescents in Australia. This prospective cohort study was part of the Future Proofing Study, with enrollment of year 8 students at 134 Australian secondary schools from 2019 to 2021 and annual follow-ups for 5 years. Data were analyzed from June 20, 2023, to June 6, 2024. Outcomes of interest were baseline self-reported gender and sexuality identities, individual characteristics, and mental health and disability diagnoses, as well as school characteristics. Among 6388 participants, median (IQR) age was 13.9 (13.6-15.8), with a range of 10.7 to 17.5 years. Most participants attended school in a major city (76.0%), were born in Australia (91.4%), and spoke English at home (93.7%). Approximately half (3122 participants; 48.9% [95% CI, 45.2%-59.0%]) identified as female or girls, and 46.5% (2973 participants; 95% CI, 39.8%-53.4%) identified as male or boys. The overall proportion of transgender identity was 3.3% (95% CI, 2.7%-3.9%), with 23 participants (0.4%) identifying as transgender boys, 10 participants (0.2%) identifying as transgender girls, 117 participants (1.8%) identifying as transgender nonbinary, and 59 participants (0.9%) identifying as another transgender identity. The overall proportion of sexuality diversity was 12.0% (95% CI, 10.4%-13.8%). The proportion of cisgender participants who were sexuality-diverse (13.0% [95% CI, 11.4%-14.8%] of girls and 4.7% [95% CI, 3.7%-5.9%] of boys) was lower than the proportion among gender-diverse participants, which ranged from 30.0% (95% CI, 9.3%-64.1%) of transgender girls to 91.5% (95% CI, 81.3%-96.4%) of those with another diverse gender identity. Gender diversity and sexuality diversity were strongly associated (odds ratio [OR], 66.24; 95% CI, 38.23-114.80), and both were negatively associated with age (gender diversity: OR per 1-year older, 0.61; 95% CI, 0.49-0.76; sexuality diversity: OR per 1-year older, 0.78; 95% CI, 0.65-0.93) and positively with mental health diagnosis (gender diversity: OR, 2.41; 95% CI, 1.79-3.24; sexuality diversity: OR, 2.50; 95% CI, 2.10-2.98), and disability diagnosis (gender diversity: OR, 2.39; 95% CI, 1.68-3.40; sexuality diversity: OR, 1.96; 95% CI, 1.64-2.36). While there were significant associations between individual and school characteristics and responses to gender and sexuality identity items, patterns of association differed, with no consistent association with economic disadvantage. This cohort study of young adolescents found higher rates of SGD than among samples of older adolescents. The significant associations with younger age, poorer mental health, and disability underscored the urgent need for inclusive programs to promote a safe and welcoming environment in schools, health care settings, and communities.

This article analyzes the perceptions of sexual affective diversity among teachers in Spanish high schools. Specifically, we address LGBTphobia, and teacher intervention and training through a survey study of 119 teachers. We administered a questionnaire to investigate these issues based on other studies. The data were analyzed on the basis of descriptive statistics. We attempted to answer three research questions: How do teachers analyze LGBTphobia in high schools? What is their experience and teaching intervention with regard to affective and sexual diversity? What perception exists in high schools about the need for training and education on affective and sexual diversity? The study concludes that high schools and their communities remain hostile places for LGBT students. Therefore, incorporating training into teaching practice and rethinking pedagogy from a queer perspective is fundamental to building an inclusive educational culture.

Acknowledgments 1. What Can be Done? Sexual Diversity and Labor Unions in Perspective Gerald Hunt 2. No Longer Outsiders: Labor's Response to Sexual Diversity in Canada Gerald Hunt 3. Fighting It Out in Canadian Courts Cynthia Petersen 4. A Short History of Gay and Lesbian Labor Activism in the United States Christian Arthur Bain 5. Lesbian and Gay Caucuses in the United States Labor Movement Miriam Frank 6. Domestic Partner Health Benefits: The Corporate Model vs. the Union Model Desma Holcomb 7. The Limits to Union: Labor, Gays and Lesbians, and Marriage in Hawaii Jonathan Goldberg-Hiller 8. Silence at Work: Trade Unions, Gender, and Sexual Diversity in the South Pacific Jacqueline Leckie 9. Sexual Identity and the Australian Labor Movement in Historical Perspective Shane Ostenfeld 10. At a Turning Point: Organized Labor, Sexual Diversity, and the New South Africa Mazibuko K. Jara, Naomi Webster, and Gerald Hunt 11. On the Fringes of the New Europe: Sexual Diversity Activism and the Labor Movement David Rayside 12. Labor Unions and Sexual Diversity in Germany Ron Holzhacker 13. British Trade Unions and Sexual Diversity: Survey Evidence Since the 1980s Phil Greasley 14. Moving Forward in UNISON: Lesbian and Gay Self-Organization in Action Fiona Colan 15. Laboring for Rights in Global Perspective Gerald Hunt About the Contributors

Sexual diversity, adolescent mental health, and adult cannabis use: Longitudinal associations through cannabis use motives.

Despite efforts to address all forms of diversity among learners and promote inclusion in education, and much research done on inclusive education in Namibia, there remains a scarcity of empirical evidence of the inclusion of gender and sexual diversity in Namibian education. This study employed a Social Identity Perspective within a qualitative approach to explore the inclusion of gender and sexual diversity in the Namibian education context. Four education officers were selected through population sampling, and one hundred eighty-two teachers were purposively selected. The thematic analysis of data revealed minimal inclusion of gender and sexual diversity at the national and school levels. The Life Skills curriculum contains gender and sexual diversity content, and Life Skills teachers receive training on the subject content. However, the training program lacks content on gender and sexual diversity. Teachers do not teach sexuality, specifically sexual orientation content in Life Skills lessons, and heteronormative is the default norm. This study recommends including measures and guidelines on handling gender and sexual diversity in national educational frameworks. Further, there should be gender and sexual diversity content in the teacher training programs and school rules. The MoEAC should monitor Life Skills subject teaching.

Students who identify as LGBTQ continue to report feelings of being unsafe at school because of their sexual orientation, gender identity, and gender expression. Access to a gender and sexual diversity (GSD)‐inclusive curriculum and supportive teachers may positively improve the school climate for LGBTQ students, but these supports are often not included in STEM classrooms. One response is to ensure that STEM teachers are prepared to integrate GSD‐inclusive STEM teaching into their classrooms. This review systematically analyzed the literature on supporting and affirming GSD in K‐12 and higher education STEM education contexts. The 81 selected studies were qualitatively analyzed using inductive thematic analysis and epistemic network analysis, and the findings showed that GSD‐inclusive STEM education literature coheres around six highly related constructs: Heteronormativity, Social Justice, Epistemic Knowledge of Science and Inquiry, Identity, Embodiment, and GSD language. Identifying these constructs, and the connections among them, led to the generation of an operational framework of GSD‐inclusive STEM teaching that can inform and guide STEM teacher education programs and STEM teacher professional development to develop STEM educators' equity literacy around GSD to foster bias‐free, equitable, inclusive STEM classrooms.

Attitudes toward gender and sexual diversity can range from acceptance to rejection, influenced by various social, psychological, and cultural factors. In Latin America, instruments tailored to measure these attitudes within specific cultural contexts are limited. This study aimed to develop and validate a culturally relevant scale to assess attitudes toward gender and sexual diversity in Ecuador. The research was conducted in two studies. In Study 1, an exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was performed on data collected from 225 psychology students to identify the scale's structure. In Study 2, a confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was conducted with 362 students to confirm the factor structure and assess the scale's validity. The final scale comprised 18 items across three factors: social coexistence, moral and pathological views, and stereotypes. The scale demonstrated sound psychometric properties, with acceptable internal consistency (Cronbach's α = 0.74-0.77). Factor loadings ranged from 0.56 to 0.87, confirming the robustness of the scale. Three distinct factors were identified, providing a comprehensive measure of attitudes toward gender and sexual diversity in social, psychological, and behavioral contexts. This scale represents a valuable tool for assessing attitudes toward gender and sexual diversity in Latin American populations. Future research should test its applicability across broader populations and in different Latin American countries to further validate its use and generalizability.

Este artigo propõe um diálogo entre o currículo e a formação docente no que diz respeito à diversidade sexual e de gênero. Para tanto, parte-se de uma revisão bibliográfica integrativa da literatura disponível e aponta-se, a partir dela, alguns caminhos já percorridos historicamente, bem como algumas possibilidades para a construção de uma educação mais inclusiva, respeitosa e diversa. Por conseguinte, conclui-se que a diversidade sexual pode ser considerada um dos sustentáculos para uma educação acolhedora.

Previous studies have demonstrated that people with Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) are more likely to report a sexually diverse orientation (e.g gay, lesbian) than people with other or no psychiatric condition(s). Past literature has attempted to link the BPD symptoms of impulsivity (causing an increase in varied sexual behaviour) and identity disturbance (causing changes in sexual identity) to this overrepresentation. This however can be stigmatising and possibly suggest sexual diversity orientation as a pathology. To address this, the current study aimed to explore this overrepresentation in a more sensitive manner, and examine whether sexually diverse and non-sexually diverse people with BPD differ significantly in demographics, overall BPD symptomatology, identity disturbance, and impulsivity. An online survey was completed by 162 participants (152 cisgender female, 5 cisgender male, and 5 non-binary/third gender; mean age 33.01 years [SD = 9.44]); who self-reported receiving a diagnosis of BPD. Survey data included questions concerning demographics, respondents’ mental health (such as diagnoses, treatment status) and aspects of their sexuality (identity, attraction, relationship history), in addition to the measurement of BPD symptomatology (MSI-BPD), identity disturbance (SCIM), and impulsivity (UPPS-P). Survey data analysis suggested that sexually diverse individuals with BPD were younger than their non-sexually diverse (heterosexual) peers and were more likely to have changed their self-labelled sexual identity during the previous year. There were no significant differences in other demographic factors, BPD symptomatology, identity disturbance or impulsivity. The study clearly highlighted the challenges of using a single criterion to define sexual diversity, as the groups differed markedly according to whether classification was based on current and past relationship history, sexual attraction, or self-labelled sexual identity. The findings also suggest that BPD symptoms of identity disturbance and impulsivity may not explain the overrepresentation of sexual diversity in people diagnosed with BPD, and that further investigation is warranted.

La diversidad sexo-genérica: Un punto de vista evolutivo

"En este artículo se reflexiona sobre el rol que tienen actualmente las cuestiones vinculadas al género en los procesos de confrontación generacional entre los adolescentes y sus adultos referentes en el marco de la construcción de sus identidades, así como también se aborda la politización de la sexualidad con un enfoque de derechos humanos, a partir de la militancia activa de los estudiantes dentro de sus propias escuelas en el nivel de enseñanza media. Para cumplir con el objetivo, se presenta una breve historización del sistema educativo formal en Uruguay, se ahonda en las características de la educación sexual en nuestro país y se retoman conceptualizaciones teóricas sobre la adolescencia en tanto etapa del ciclo de vida. El marco teórico empleado para la elaboración de este escrito es predominantemente multidisciplinario, destacándose la articulación entre autores y autoras del campo de las ciencias de la educación, de las ciencias sociales y de las ciencias de la salud. Asimismo, mencionar que la idea de este trabajo surge con base en: a) la experiencia clínica con población adolescente; b) investigaciones sociales coordinadas en el ámbito educativo sobre género, sexualidad y diversidad sexual en la ciudad de Montevideo; y c) actividades de extensión sobre distintos temas que integran la agenda de género, ejecutadas en instituciones educativas de Enseñanza Media en la ciudad antes mencionada, con población adolescente y docente."

In this chapter, the author recounts the story of his strongly Catholic Chicago childhood and of his complex journey from a pious, seminary-aspiring altar boy to an adult “agnostatheist.” Both his identities as a gay man, husband, and father and his perduring, deeply harbored responses to his familial Catholicism and the Catholic Church play central roles. While harshly denouncing the harms inflicted by the church through its treatment of sexuality and sexual diversity, the author also speaks about the ache of loss that he feels not only at his mother’s death but also at his inability to feel wanted or welcomed in the faith community of his childhood and family.

This article reflects on the role that gender issues currently have in the processes of generational confrontation between adolescents and their adult referents in the framework of the construction of their identities, as well as the politicization of sexuality with a human rights approach based on the active militancy of the students within their own schools at the level of Secondary Education. To this aim, the paper presents a brief historical presentation of the formal education system in Uruguay, explores the characteristics of sex education in our country and theoretical conceptualizations about adolescence are approachedas a stage in the life cycle. The theoretical framework adopted for this paper is predominantly multidisciplinary, highlighting the articulation between authors in the field of education sciences, social sciences and health sciences. The idea of?? this work arose from: a. clinical experience with adolescent population; b. social research coordinated in the field of education on gender, sexuality and sexual diversity in the city of Montevideo; c. outreach activities on the different topics that make up the gender agenda, conducted in secondary education institutions in Montevideo with teenagers and teachers.

The main purpose of this article is to analyse how healthcare providers in Portugal perceive asexuality. To do so, the author makes use of qualitative data from both the CILIA LGBTQI+ Lives project and The Asexual Revolution doctoral research on asexuality in Portugal, namely, a focus group conducted with healthcare providers, drawing from their assessment of interview excerpts with people identifying as asexual. The data were explored according to thematic analysis and revealed three major tendencies: (1) old tropes at the doctor’s office; (2) narratives of willingness to learn about the subject; and (3) constructive and encouraging views of asexuality. From this analysis, valuable lessons can be drawn concerning the respect for gender and sexual diversity. The author argues that both formal and informal learning play an important role in building cultural competence among healthcare providers. This could be achieved both by introducing sexual and gender diversity in curricula in HE and through media exposure on these subjects. Overall, it will lead to building knowledge and empathy about marginalised groups, and will help fight inequalities of LGBTQI+ people in healthcare. As such, LGTBQI+ activism that puts the topics of asexuality and LGBTQI+ in the media agenda, is a powerful strategy. Hence, because healthcare providers show willingness to learn, the media becomes a source for learning about asexual and LGTBQI+ experiences, which they can incorporate in their medical practice.

Improving Research Methodology in Adolescent Sexual Health Research