Sexual Orientation

Morgana Bailey: The Danger of Hiding Who You Are

Ash Beckham: We're All Hiding Something. Let's Find the Courage to Open Up.

Tillett Wright: Fifty Shades of Gay

Joel Burns: A Message to Gay Teens "It Gets Better"

Exploration Questions

• How would you describe your identity in relation to your sexual orientation?
• In what contexts, if any, do you feel that your sexual orientation is a privileged identity?
• In what contexts, if any, do you experience oppression because of your sexual orientation & or relationship status?
• How does your sexual orientation & or relationship status interact with other identities that you hold, such as your ethnicity, race, gender, developmental life stage, and spirituality?
• What is your comfort level working with clients whose sexual orientations differ from your own?
• How comfortable are you talking about sexual orientation and its impact on identity with clients?
• In what situations might sexual orientation be salient in the counseling relationship?
• How might you bring up sexual orientation with your counseling clients?
• How important do you think it is for counselors to be aware of their own understandings and beliefs related to sexual orientation and identity?
• What activities might counselors engage in to become more aware of how their own cultural identities impact their world views, values, biases, beliefs, ways of working with clients, and ways of relating to clients?
• What were your reactions to the videos on this page?
• Were there some you were drawn to?
• Were there any that elicited strong reactions?
• How did the videos on this page demonstrate the relationship between sexual orientation & identity in relation to other cultural factors such as gender, developmental life-stage, family culture, spirituality, the culture of the United States, and other cultures?