“Coming Out” to Parents in a Christian Context: A Consensual Qualitative Analysis of LGB Student Experiences

Abstract

Disclosures of same-sex attraction are some of the most difficult experiences for lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) individuals. For LGB individuals of faith, disclosure to parents is often complicated by the intersection of religion/ spirituality and sexuality. This study presents a grounded theory about a particular subgroup to address gaps in the literature concerning how LGB students on Christian college campuses describe and experience their parental disclosures. Consensual qualitative research analysis (Hill, Knox, Thompson, Williams, & Hess, 2005;Hill, Thompson, & Williams, 1997) revealed themes related to predisclosure influencing factors, the disclosure event experience, and longer term impacts of the disclosure. Implications for parents, counselors, and college faculty/staff are provided.

Family and Systems Theory in Counselor Education: A PRISMA Systematic Review

“…Multicultural as a primary theme encompasses articles that recommend multicultural sensitivity and postural humility in the conceptualization and treatment of specific disorders within the identified client or family. Such cultural elements include nationality and race (Alvardo et al, 2014; Björn et al, 2013; Choi & Oh, 2021; Clark & Winterowd, 2012; Hooper, 2014; Leong & Tang, 2016; Mitchell & Shillingford, 2017; Mounts & Bradley, 2020; Nadal et al, 2012; Pejic et al, 2017; Ramirez & St. David, 2021; Rodríguez-González et al, 2019; Sauerheber et al, 2014; Shin & Kelly, 2013; Trahan & Lemberger, 2014; Wilson, 2014; Yavuz Güler, 2021), spirituality (Davis et al, 2011), gender (Bean et al, 2016; Didericksen et al, 2015; Englar-Carlson & Kiselica, 2013; Hermann et al, 2020; Patel, 2021; Sperandio et al, 2021), sexual identity (Goodrich et al, 2019; McCullough et al, 2017; Reed et al, 2020; Trahan & Goodrich, 2015), age (Bell, 2018; Branson et al, 2019; Parham & Clauss-Ehlers, 2016), socioeconomic status (Godwin et al, 2013; Mansfield et al, 2013; West-Olatunji et al, 2011), and social justice (Crethar & Winterowd, 2012). Including these elements in a theme labeled Multicultural aligns with Singh et al's (2020) work with the multicultural and social justice counseling competencies for counselor education and professional counseling practice.…”

“…LGBTQ+ Exploring gender and sexual identity outside of the confines of biological gender and cisgendered heterosexuality, articles detailing recommendations for working with LGBTQ + individuals and families were included in a secondary theme. Articles represented by this theme include recommendations for working with transgendered individuals (McCullough et al, 2017), people of faith who also identify as LGBTQ+ (Reed et al, 2020), and the experience of coming out or disclosure (Goodrich et al, 2019;Trahan & Goodrich, 2015).…”

Becoming an Intentional Church Community: Relationships, Security, and Discipleship in Sexual Identity and Faith Development

“…(For additional explanation about these different "lenses," see Yarhouse, 2015. ) Our team launched three national studies that resulted in numerous articles in peer-reviewed journals (e.g., Dean et al, 2011;Reed et al, 2020;Stratton et al, 2013;Yarhouse et al, 2017;Yarhouse et al, 2009) and one book (Yarhouse et al, 2018). The first study took place with the support of the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities (CCCU).…”