Love, Marriage, and Baby Carriage Among Sexual Minorities- and Bias: Discussion of the 54th Nebraska Symposium on Motivation

Abstract

One of the benefits of being the discussant is that it allows me to be somewhat unconstrained and freewheeling in commenting on the other chapters. I have fully taken advantage of this benefit, and my comments are personal, empirical, professional, and political. After describing how I came to be interested in LGB issues, I go on to discuss the heterogeneity of those individuals who are included in the 'LGB' label, and the complications that sometimes exist in defining who is gay. These labels, although more sociopolitically than scientifically rooted, nonetheless are associated with discrimination and bias--in society at large and within psychology as well. I also comment on some of the issues associated with same-sex unions and parenting, the change in attitudes toward sexual minorities, and the importance of closing the gap between the LGB and mainstream psychological literature. Let me start with the personal. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)