Religious Attitudes, Homophobia, and Professional Counseling

Title
Religious Attitudes, Homophobia, and Professional Counseling
Publication Date
2010
Author(s)
Bowers, Randolph
Minichiello, Victor
Plummer, David
Type of document
Journal Article
Language
en
Entity Type
Publication
Publisher
Routledge
Place of publication
United States of America
DOI
10.1080/15538605.2010.481961
UNE publication id
une:6465
Abstract
During an Australian qualitative and empirical study looking at lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender client's experiences of counseling, and counselor's experiences of working with minority clients, a large body of unsolicited data emerged related to experiences of religious-based homophobia. Analysis of the data suggests that a lifelong process of posttraumatic recovery for many lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people follows prior experiences of religious-based homophobia. This paper discusses the sociological debate related to how counselors find themselves at the crossroad between a healthy lifestyle model of homosexuality based in well established contemporary professional ethics versus long standing religious-based attitudes and constraints toward homosexuality. This intersection of conflicting beliefs generates a controversial social and political environment in which counselors must make a basic decision to either support minority clients according to ethical guidelines or to side with socially conservative constructs that, rightly or wrongly, rely largely on Western religious traditions.
Link
Citation
Journal of LGBT Issues in Counseling, 4(2), p. 70-91
ISSN
1553-8338
1553-8605
Start page
70
End page
91

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