Understanding the Well-Being of LGBTQI+ Populations Community and Civic Engagement

Course overview

This course is based upon material published by the National Academies Press and is available as an open-access article. Sexual and gender diverse (SGD) populations are composed of multiple communities and groups of people with intersecting identities, experiences, and oppressions. The cultural and social contexts that define these groups ultimately shape possibilities for civic and political engagement what we call sociopolitical involvement of SGD people Communities are composed of and influenced by a variety of actors: the social-ecological context explains the individual, interpersonal, community, and societal factors that affect and shape the conditions in which those actors exist. Beginning more than a half-century ago, SGD community organizations emerged and began to provide spaces for people not only to name and recognize their identities but also to establish venues and strategies for collective action toward visibility and, ultimately, social recognition and legal rights. These spaces, whether physical, virtual, or institutional, have been instrumental in providing the resources and the physical ability to convene for SGD communities. This course considers what community is while examining the ways that SGD communities claim, integrate, and negotiate spaces. It also includes a discussion of the effects that community and mobilization have on the lives and histories of SGD populations and explores how space is used as a tool for community building and mobilization. This course on community and civic engagement among LGBTQI+ people is designed for social workers, professional counselors, psychologists, nurses, and substance abuse counselors, who do clinical work. This course is appropriate for beginning, intermediate and advanced level practitioners who wish to develop or increase their knowledge of LGBTQI+ wellbeing. It may also be useful for licensed clinicians who require clinical continuing education courses for license renewal. Authors: National Academies of Sciences Learning Objectives: This course will provide the practitioner with detailed information regarding LGBTQI+ wellbeing vis-a-vis community and civic engagement. Specifically, a professional will: Describe the nature of sexual and gender diverse communities Recognize the importance of space to SGD communities Summarize how the sociopolitical engagement of SGD populations provides a means of understanding patterns of resilience among historically stigmatized populations Citation: National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine 2020. Understanding the Well-Being of LGBTQI+ Populations. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. https://doi.org/10.17226/25877.