Promoting the Health of Gender and Sexual Minorities _ ____________________________________________
the ways that LGBTQIA youth move from a private, at times unknown, same-sex sexuality to a public, integrated sexuality. Development has been generally perceived as linear and uni- versal among individuals who share some real or hypothesized commonalities. Bisexuality has been seldom addressed in the models [41]. CASS MODEL Cass was the first to articulate a model of LGBTQ identity [48]. Believing that individuals have an active role in the acquisition of a LGBTQ identity, Cass suggested that individuals pass through six non-age-specific stages [48]: • Identity confusion: The individual is conscious of being different. • Identity comparison: The individual believes that he or she may be LGBTQ but attempts to act heterosexual. • Identity tolerance: The individual realizes that he or she is LGBTQ. • Identity acceptance: The individual begins to explore the GSM community. • Identity pride: The individual becomes active in the GSM community. • Identity synthesis: The individual fully accepts himself or herself and other LGBTQ individuals. Cass believed that individuals could be in more than one stage at a time and that they could return to a stage already passed through without it being considered regression. TROIDEN MODEL In 1989, Troiden posited four age-specific stages in the LGBTQ identity process, which contrasted with Cass’s non-age-specific stages [49]. Troiden’s four stages are: sensitization, identity confusion, identity assumption, and commitment. The sensitization stage, which begins before puberty, finds the individual experiencing LGBTQ feelings without understand- ing the implications for self-identity. The identity confusion stage, which occurs during adolescence, is when the individual realizes that he or she may be LGBTQ. During the identity assumption stage, the individual comes out as a GSM per- son, usually first to the LGBTQ community and later to the heterosexual community. During the commitment stage, the individual lives as a GSM individual. OTHER MODELS Other models have been developed, as well. For example, it has been suggested that the Kübler-Ross theory of grieving might serve as a sexual identity model [50; 51]. While the stages of grieving (i.e., denial, anger, etc.) are not clearly demarcated, the Kübler-Ross model has been helpful to understanding what an individual experiences during the coming-out process. The model has also been useful to understanding the responses of family members to self-disclosure by a LGBTQIA individual [41].
Regardless of the model considered, many LGBTQIA youth become aware that they are experiencing sexual thoughts and feelings different from those of their peers at a time when they are trying to master the developmental tasks of adolescence, including achievement of identity, self-esteem, and social skills [52]. While gay adolescents must go through the same devel- opmental tasks as heterosexual adolescents, GSM youth have additional identity development factors to incorporate into their self-concept [53]. For example, they are forced to learn to manage a stigmatized identity often without active support and modeling from their parents and family [54]. Thus, a GSM youth is trying to manage at least two tasks simultaneously: human maturation and establishment of self-identity as a sexual minority youth. A GSM youth from a racial minority is working concurrently on a third task related to developing personal identity, that of incorporating a racial identity into the personal identity. Little research has examined the influence that ethnicity has on sexual identity development. Because the social category of ethnicity includes a complex interaction of factors, such as culture, religion, family, country of origin, and social experi- ence, researchers have found it difficult to identify which of these factors is responsible for the observed differences being studied. In an effort to begin to identify general ethnic group differences and to create a foundation for research of the fac- tors that influence ethnic and sexual minority development, some researchers have begun exploring the aspects of sexual identity development among male youths. They have found that Latino youth may report the earliest awareness of same sex attractions because of the role that masculinity plays in their culture. For these youth, as well as for African American and Asian American youths, the process of developing one’s sexual identity cannot be well understood through the application of the traditional models discussed earlier. This is because these models suggest a uniform timing and sequencing of “coming out” events that has not been demonstrated in these minority youth populations [55; 56]. Table 1 and Table 2 present select summary statements from the research related to ethnic sexual minority male youths [55]. These summary statements do not capture human differences or explain the development of or role of cultural norms that should be kept in mind while considering ethnic sexual identity development. Using data from the first national probability sample of Black, White, and Latinx sexual minority people in the United States, researchers examined whether and how sexual identity develop- ment timing and pacing differs across demographic subgroups [57]. The sample included 1,491 participants 18 to 60 years of age from three distinct birth cohorts. The sexual identity development milestones measured included first same-sex attraction, first self-realization of a sexual minority identity, first same-sex sexual behavior, first disclosure to a straight friend, and first disclosure to a family member. Participants from more recent cohorts reported earlier and accelerated pacing of milestones relative to those from older cohorts. Subgroups
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