Cass's Homosexual Identity Formation Model (1979) is one of the most well-known and well-referenced models of identity development for gay males and lesbians. This article provides a review of Cass's six steps of the model, as well as research support for and critiques of the model. As the model was developed more than 30 years ago, the…

While recent research examines homophobia among social work majors, there is limited research devoted to social work students enrolled in a historically Black college and university (HBCU). Social workers are not immune to possessing homophobic attitudes; therefore, diversity training is important. This research explored whether there were any…

Many teachers are interested in having a more inclusive multicultural education that includes lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) themes and gay-themed children's literature; unfortunately, research has found that many teachers do not implement gay themes in their multicultural education curriculum because of fear of criticism from…

The topic of bisexuality and discussion of bisexual individuals is sorely lacking from discussions about human sexuality. This lesson plan brings visibility to the invisible. Helping educators and students become more aware of bisexuality can help them become more savvy about working with diverse issues around sexuality, especially as they relate…

Although multicultural education scholars and the National Association for Multicultural Education (NAME) have encouraged the implementation of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender themes in the classroom (NAME, 2005), many classroom educators look the other way because of fear, retaliation, or personal discomfort. The following article will…

To help students critique sex/gender norms, sexuality educators should address men's anal pleasure. Men's anal receptivity blurs accepted binaries like male/female, masculine/feminine, and straight/queer. By suppressing men's receptivity, the taboo against men's anal pleasure helps legitimize hegemonic sex/gender beliefs--and the sexism,…

Recent societal trends indicate more tolerance for homosexuality, but prejudice remains on college campuses. Speaker panels are commonly used in classrooms as a way to educate students about sexual diversity and decrease negative attitudes toward sexual diversity. The advent of computer-delivered instruction presents a unique opportunity to…

One method frequently employed as an intervention to reduce anti-gay bias is a lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) speaker panel. These speakers share brief biographical sketches about their coming out experiences and then answer questions. A pretest/posttest control group design examined the impact of LGB speaker panels on university students'…

The issues of faith and religion are frequently avoided by instructors in training institutes for fear of inciting divisive conversations in the context of the classroom. Within secular training institutes, however, there is a growing momentum to incorporate an understanding of the spiritual aspects of individuals, families, and communities into…

In order for adolescents to undergo a healthy maturation into adulthood, they must be given common opportunities to reinvent themselves and to progress along stages of psychosocial development. Due to heterosexual conditioning and a lack of awareness of the need for social connectivity that may lead to intimacy, gay and lesbian adolescents lapse…

To gain an understanding of how abstinence-only-until-marriage school-based sexuality education has been exclusionary, it is important to explore how heteronormativity has been endorsed, played out, and reproduced ever since school-based sexuality education has been offered in the United States. Such an exploration reveals glaring evidence that…

Trans-inclusive sexuality education can be complex, confusing, and outright intimidating for even the most seasoned sexuality educator to teach. Historically, standalone "Trans 101" sessions have successfully raised awareness about the highly marginalized transgender community. However, their potential success has been limited by being taught in…

This article reviews the literature on the roles that schools, peers, and parents play in young people's sexuality education. We argue that the sexuality education children receive is far from just the facts; rather, it is an education in the maintenance of inequality. Sexuality education, as it is currently conceived, includes implicit and…

The gains in knowledge and changes of attitudes of students in undergraduate sexuality courses in two different academic disciplines were compared to those of their peers without college sexuality education in a variety of other psychology courses. All students had similar scores on tests of sexual anatomy, behavior, and health at the start of the…

Advances in HIV/AIDS treatment have dramatically changed the nature of HIV/AIDS education and prevention, creating new opportunities and challenges. This activity is designed to help participants reflect on the impact that HIV treatment can have on a person's life. It also enables trainers to engage participants in a dialogue about the impact of…