MPIPP Newsletter
Vol. 2, Issue 5

EDITOR'S NOTES: Welcome to this edition of MPIPP NEWS. We are continuing to improve MPIPP NEWS and I'd like to provide a quick update on these changes: CLICK AND GO — As regular readers will have noticed, we are now using a format where we introduce a topic and you can click for more information. What you may not know is that you can always find back issues of MPIPP NEWS on our website (www.mpipp.org) in chronological order. MPIPP PROFILE — One of the things we hear across Michigan is that people don't know each other. At MPIPP we know our volunteers are exceptional. With the last edition of MPIPP NEWS we started introducing MPIPP volunteers so we can all get to know each other a little more. SHARING SCIENCE — Starting with this edition of MPIPP NEWS, we will tend to focus on one LGBT research topic. The complete research references will be located in the last section of MPIPP NEWS. We will continue to provide other items of interest consistent with our mission. FORWARDING MPIPP NEWS? We encourage you to forward MPIPP NEWS to your friends and colleagues. If they are interested in receiving it directly, they can contact Sara Van Wormer (sara.mpipp@gmail.com) to be added to the email distribution list. Of course, we don't share our distribution list with anyone else. — Diana Popp, Editor

MPIPP has compiled data on the mental health effects of workplace discrimination on LGBT people that we would like to share.

EQUALITY IN THE WORKPLACE

The idea that all people should be hired and achieve advancement in the workplace based on their productivity and contribution is a core American value. The fair and equitable treatment of all employees is in the best interest of employees, employers, and communities.

In most recent psychological studies, lesbians and gay men report a higher level of perceived workplace discrimination than do their heterosexual counterparts due, in part, to the stigmatization of being in a sexual minority.

The effects of discrimination have been connected to increased levels of tension, depression, anxiety, anger, sadness, hostility, decreased self-esteem, elevated blood pressure, and other chronic health problems (Namaste, 1999).

Not surprisingly, five separate studies showed that discriminatory environments lead to poor health outcomes for lesbians and gay men (Meyer, Robinson, Sell, Sember, Silenzio, et al, 2000), (Keatley, 2003), (Mays, & Cochran, 2001), (Meyer 2001), (Rosario, Rotheram-Borus, & Reid, 1996). A transgender person in the workplace often faces added social stigma and safety concerns and experiences disproportionate levels of unemployment and poverty.

Workplace Sexual Identity Management

Dr. James Croteau, a professor at Western Michigan University, has conducted research on LGBT identity issues and management in the workplace. He has been published in an academic journal in the Handbook of Counseling and Psychotherapy with Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Clients — now in its second edition. Croteau, with fellow WMU professor Mary Z. Anderson and others, developed the Workplace Sexual Identity Management (WSIM) model.

The Workplace Sexual Identity Management (WSIM) model (Lidderdale, Croteau, Anderson, et al, 2007) is designed to explore the socio-cognitive components involved in managing sexual minority status in the workplace and highlights the role of cultural contexts, past learning experiences and self-efficacy. The model aims to demonstrate the complexity of sexual identity management in the workplace and inform career practice and further scholarship.

What MPIPP is doing to help

MPIPP is working to reduce the effects of discrimination on the mental health of LGBT people by providing educational presentations and information that is based on current psychological research.

Michigan does not offer statewide legal protection for the firing of LGBT employees based on their sexual orientation or gender expression.

Last year MPIPP provided an educational presentation on HB 4192 which would amend the Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act, affecting discrimination in the workplace and in housing. The text of the MPIPP presentation as well as related testimony presented by allies can be found on our website (www.mpipp.org) under "Presentations."

MPIPP is also developing a series of Fact Sheets that includes psychological research on the experiences of LGBT people, especially as they relate to current policy issues. Be sure to check our website in about two weeks for these informative documents.

In the meantime, if you would like more information or are aware of other research that should be included in this topic, please contact MPIPP's project coordinator, Sara Van Wormer at sara.mpipp@gmail.com.

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MPIPP PROFILE: DR. JAMES CROTEAU

MPIPP volunteer Dr. James Croteau is a Professor in the Department of Counselor Education and Counseling Psychology at Western Michigan University.

Jim, along with colleague Dr. Mary Z. Anderson, has offered an early version of the KNOW US PROJECT to peer health educators at Western Michigan University. In addition, he has consulted with MPIPP on racial diversity as we seek to reach out to LGBT persons of color.

Jim holds a Ph.D. and an M.A. from Southern Illinois University (both in clinical psychology) and a B.A. in Psychology and Religious Studies from Loyola University at New Orleans. He is licensed in Michigan as both a psychologist and a counselor.

Over the past twenty-five years, Dr. Croteau's practice, scholarship and professional training specialities include lesbian, gay and bisexual issues and issues of race and racism in White Americans. Several lines of research have developed out of his professional work on LGB concerns.

Dr. Croteau co-edited and contributed to a special issue of the Journal of Vocational Behavior on LGB issues that helped establish LGB issues as an important emerging focus in the vocational area. Jim has authored or co-authored several pieces on LGB career counseling and has contributed both empirically and theoretically to the understanding of workplace sexual identity management. He has written widely on LGB professional issues and training in counseling psychology including co-authoring a major contribution to The Counseling Psychologist on training.

In 2008, Jim was lead author on the first chapter on LGBT issues in the Handbook of Counseling Psychology. He was lead editor and author of multiple chapters in the 2005 book entitled Deconstructing Heterosexism in the Counseling Professions: A Narrative Approach. The book employs the personal narratives of lesbian, bisexual, gay, and heterosexual counseling psychologists and counselor educators to deconstruct the heterosexist discourse in the counseling professions; envisions a discourse of sexual orientation equity; and makes practical suggestions for navigating sexual orientation in professional life.

In a recent analysis of productivity in lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender scholarship and research in Counseling Psychology (Smith, 2010), he was ranked as the most productive scholar on LGBT issues in Counseling Psychology based on his publication in national referred journals over the period of 1990-2008.

ON VOLUNTEERING WITH MPIPP . . .

"Public policy matters psychologically in people's lives — whether that be concrete, practical and psychological central issues like child custoday and insurance coverages but also in the messages that affirmative policy sends to everyone — essentially, for example, such messages help prevent LGBT kids from internalizing messages of inferiority and abnormality," Jim emphasizes. "So volunteer — this work matters."

THREE QUESTIONS . . .

What makes you happy?

"I have been re-defining what this means to me as I get older. Right now I am learning a lot from a Buddhist meditation tradition called Shambhala. Meditation is helping me 'not believe in' my own thoughts and scripts and ideas — both positive ones and old residues of self-hatred that came from the intensively homophobic time and place I grew up in. 'Seeing through' our ego-oriented thinking to the more 'connected' and compassionate parts of who we truly are has become really important to me in my own life journey."

What accomplishment(s) are you most proud of to date?

"My 25 years relationship with my partner Darryl."

"My developing relationship with my parents as they age and I become more of a care-taker. I am both proud and grateful to be part of my parents' end of life time here (mom now as my dad died last year)."

"When I received the APA's Committee on Lesbian and Gay Concerns (CLGC) lifetime achievement award. This reminded me that the professional work on LGBT issues that I have done might have accounted for a little less suffering in the world."

Who are your hero(s) and why?

"Paul Monette — his anger and clarity was so life-affirming for me. All the gay writers of the 1970's and '80's who literally saved my life at a time of such isolation and ignorance when I was an adolescent and young man."

"The early pioneers in LGBT psychology — that's part of why putting my name on that list of APA CGLC award winners was so unbelievable."

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Michigan State University GLBT Groups Announce Student Scholarships for 2010

The MSU GLBT Alumni Association, GLBT Faculty, Staff and Graduate Student Association and the LBGT Resource Center announce applications and giving opportunities for 2010 student scholarships. Three scholarship opportunities are available.

The Pride scholarship was founded in 2000 by Michigan State University alumnus Bill Beachler and Michigan State University's Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual Transgender Faculty Staff and Graduate Student Association. Preference for this scholarship is given to incoming, first-year students who have demonstrated academic achievement and contributions to LBGT Communities. The recipient of the Pride scholarship will receive an award of between $4,500 to $5,000.

The Stephen P. Pougnet and Christopher J. Green scholarship is awarded to a currently enrolled full-time student of junior or senior standing. Preference for the scholarship is given to students enrolled in The Eli Broad College of Business. Candidates must demonstrate academic excellence and involvement with or contributions to LBGT communities. The recipient of the Pougnet and Green scholarship will receive an award of between $2,000 and $5,000.

The LBGT Students of Color scholarship is awarded to a full-time MSU undergraduate student who is active in addressing issues for students of color who are lesbian, bisexual, gay and/or transgender. Its purpose is to recognize individuals who help to end the stigma that racism and homophobia leave in all communities. The recipient of the LBGT Students of Color scholarship will receive an award of between $300 and $1,000.

Students can find additional information and application materials at http://lbgtrc.msu.edu/scholarships.htm. The deadline to apply for all three scholarships is Friday, April 2, 2010. Please encourage any qualified students to apply.

If you have questions about the scholarships, please contact Michigan State's LBGT Resource Center by e-mail at lbgtrc@msu.edu or by phone at (517) 353-9520.

To make a contribution to one of the scholarship programs, contact Jennifer Bertram, Associate Vice President for University Development, (517) 432-7330, bertram9@msu.edu.

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RESEARCH REFERENCES IN MPIPP NEWS DATED 2/26/2010

American Psychological Association, Report of the Task Force on Gender Identity and Gender Variance, August, 2008.

Badgett, L., Lau, H., Sears, B. & Ho, D. Bias in the Workplace: Consistent Evidence of Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Discrimination, June, 2007.

Dean, L., Meyer, I., Robinson, K., Sell, R., Sember, R., Silenzio, V., et al. (2000). Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender health: Findings and concerns. Journal of the Gay and Lesbian Medical Association, 4(3), 101-151.

Krieger, N., & Sidney, S. (1997). Prevalence and health implication of anti-gay discrimination: A study of Black and White women and men in the CARDIA cohort. International Journal of Health Services, 27,157-176.

Keatley, J. (2003). Drug use, HIV risk, and social stigma among male-to-female transgenders of color. Proceedings from the NIDA-sponsored Satellite Sessions in Association with the XIV International AIDS Conference, Barcelona, Spain, July 2002 (pp. 173-175). Bethesda, MD: National Institute on Drug Abuse.

Lidderdale, M. A., Croteau, J. M., Anderson, M. Z., Tovar-Murray, D., & Davis, J. M. (2007). Building LGB vocational psychology: A theoretical model of workplace sexual identity management. In K.J. Bieschke, R.M. Perez, & K.A. DeBord, K.A. (Eds.). transgender clients (2nd ed.) (pp. 245-270). Washington, D.C.: American Psychological Association.

Mays, V. M., & Cochran, S. D. (2001). Mental health correlates of perceived discrimination among lesbian, gay, and bisexual adults in the United States. American Journal of Public Health, 91, 1869-1876.

Meyer, I. H. (2001). Why lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender public health? American Journal of Public Health, 91, 856-859.

Rawles, P. Discrimination More Than a Legal Concern. The Fire Chief http://firechief.com/management/firefighting_discrimination_legal_concern/, October 1, 2003.

Rosario, M., Rotheram-Borus, M. J., & Reid, H. (1996). Gay-related stress and its correlates among gay and bisexual male adolescents of predominantly Black and Hispanic background. Journal of Community Psychology, 24, 136-159.

Smith, N. G. (2010). Productivity in lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender scholarship in counseling psychology: Institutional and individual ratings for 1990 through 2008. The Counseling Psychologist, 38, 50-68.