Heterosexuals don’t realize that it is common for them to assume someone is straight, unless proven otherwise.ģ) Assumption of universal LGBTQ experience: As a young adult, when someone asked me “if I had a girlfriend” or “a wife or kids”, they were essentially telling me that they expected me to be heterosexual. As a child, my family forced me to play sports, yet sighed when I played with Barbie. I know that I’ve been told that I shouldn’t be so flamboyant or that I should act “more masculine”. These kinds of microaggressions take place when an LGBTQ person is assumed to be heterosexual, or when they are encouraged to act in gender-conforming ways. Maybe this is why 9 out of 10 LGBTQ high school students report experiencing harassment at school and why 2/3 of them say they feel unsafe (Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network, 2010).Ģ) Endorsement of heteronormative culture and behaviors: In hip hop, it is common for rappers to unapologetically use the word “faggot”, which then gives permission for kids to use the term unapologetically in everyday life. For me, it is anytime someone says “That’s so gay” and “No homo” in my presence for my transgender friends, it could be anytime someone says “tranny”, “she-male”, or other derogatory terms. These types of microaggressions occur when someone uses disparaging heterosexist or transphobic language towards, or about, LGBTQ persons. For the past several years, my research team and I interviewed all kinds of LGBTQ people and they all reported that microaggressions are very common in their lives.ġ) Use of heterosexist or transphobic terminology: Melissa Corpus, and we theorized the various types of microaggressions that affect LGBTQ people (see Nadal et al., 2010). I collaborated with two fellow psychologist colleagues, Dr. One of the reasons why it was important for me to study microaggressions against lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and questioning (LGBTQ) people was because I knew that this type of discrimination existed and because I hypothesized that they had a significant impact on the lives of LGBTQ people, particularly on their mental health and identity development. Some microaggressions are unconscious (i.e., the perpetrator doesn’t even know they did something) while some microaggressions may be unintentional (i.e., the perpetrator may be aware of their actions, but may not realize the negative impact they may have on people). Microaggressions are the everyday encounters of subtle discrimination that people of various marginalized groups experience throughout their lives (Sue et al., 2007). In retrospect, I had a very difficult time accepting my gay identity, because of the microaggressions that I experienced throughout my life.
So I just remained in the closet a few more years until I couldn’t take it any more. While many loved ones later told me that they suspected that I was gay, no one gave me any reason to believe that they were gay-friendly. Some of my friends and family members still made occasional homophobic jokes in front of me. While I was no longer harassed about my closeted sexual orientation, I didn’t have any friends that were openly gay and most of my friends didn’t have any either. I didn’t tell anyone about the bullying (not my parents, teachers, or anyone) because admitting that I was being teased for being gay would mean that I was admitting to being gay. I learned to walk by without showing any reaction I could not let them know that it bothered me, or else I would be proving to them that I was indeed gay. When I walked by them in the halls, they called me a “faggot” or screamed my name in a flamboyant tone. When I was a teenager, there were a few boys at my high school who ridiculed me, almost everyday. My parents and other adults in my life would tell me things like “Boys don’t cry” or “Be a man!” which essentially was their way of telling me that being emotional was forbidden or a sign of weakness. I would usually laugh along, hoping with all my might that they didn’t know my secret.
When I was a little kid, I used to hear my brothers, cousins, and friends say things like “That’s so gay!” on a pretty regular basis. Nadal, PhD ( Associate Professor of Psychology, John JayĬollege of Criminal Justice – City University of New York)