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Shifting Sands or Solid Foundation? Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Identity Formation

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The Health of Sexual Minorities

Abstract

How do some individuals come to identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, and/or transgender? Is there a static, universal process of identity formation that crosses all lines of individual difference, such as sexual identities, sex/gender, class, race/ethnicity, and age? If so, can we describe that process in a series of linear stages or steps? Is identity based on a rock-solid foundation, stable and consistent over time? Or are there many identity formation processes that are specific to social and historical factors and/or individual differences, an ever-shifting landscape like a sand dune? The field of lesbian/gay/bisexual/transgender (LGBT) studies is characterized by competing paradigms expressed in various ways: nature versus nurture, biology versus environment, and essentialism versus social constructionism (Eliason, 1996b). Although subtly different, all three debates share common features. Nature, biology, and essentialistic paradigms propose that sexual and gender identities are “real,” based in biology or very early life experiences and fixed and stable throughout the life span. These paradigms allow for the development of linear stages of development, or “coming out,” models.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute for Health and Aging, University of California-San Francisco, San Francisco, California, USA

    Michele J. Eliason

  2. Department of Social Work, The University of Wisconsin Oshkosh, Oshkosh, Wisconsin, USA

    Robert Schope

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  1. Michele J. Eliason
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  2. Robert Schope
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Sociomedical Sciences, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, New York, NY, 10032, USA

    Ilan H. Meyer PhD  & Mary E. Northridge PhD, MPH  & 

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Eliason, M.J., Schope, R. (2007). Shifting Sands or Solid Foundation? Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Identity Formation. In: Meyer, I.H., Northridge, M.E. (eds) The Health of Sexual Minorities. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-31334-4_1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-31334-4_1

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