A Positive View for LGBTQ: Embracing Identity and Cultivating Well-Being

A Positive View of LGBTQ starts a new conversation about the strengths and benefits of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer (LGTBQ) identities. Positive LGBTQ identities are affirmed through inspiring firsthand accounts. Focusing on how LGTBQ-identified individuals can cultivate a sense of well-being and a personal identity that allows them to flourish in all areas of life, the authors explore a variety of themes. Through personal stories from people with a variety of backgrounds and gender and sexual identities, readers will learn more about expressing gender and sexuality; creating strong and intimate relationships; exploring unique perspectives on empathy, compassion, and social justice; belonging to communities and acting as role models and mentors; and, enjoying the benefits of living an authentic life. Providing exercises in each chapter, the book offers those who identify as LGBTQ and those who support and love them, as well as those seeking to better understand them, an opportunity to explore and appreciate these identities.

Ellen D.B. Riggle is a professor of gender and women's studies and political science at the University of Kentucky. She is co-founder of PrismResearch.org, a research group and website focused on issues impacting the well-being of LGBTQ individuals and same-sex couples. Her articles have appeared in leading professional journals and she is co-editor of Sexual Identity in the Workplace: Issues and Services and Gays and Lesbians in the Democratic Process: Public Policy, Political Representation and Public Opinion.

Sharon S. Rostosky is a Licensed Psychologist and a professor of counseling psychology at the University of Kentucky. She is co-founder of PrismResearch.org. She has published over 50 academic journal articles and book chapters, including many that focus on the well-being of LGBTQ individuals, same-sex couples, and their families. In 2010, she was the recipient of the Society of Counseling Psychology's Social Justice Award.