Chi-Chun Lin
Couple and Family Therapy Doctoral Program California School of Professional Psychology Alliant International University, Sacramento
Societal openness to LGBT culture is defined as whether and to what extent a traditionally heterosexual society is accepting/inclusive enough to allow LGBT issues to rise to the forefront of social discourse. Gay identity is defined as the degree of acceptance one has regarding his self-identification and social-identification as a homosexual individual. The present research aimed to examine the correlations between societal openness to LGBT culture and gay identity in a quantitative research using a Chinese version of Mohr and Fassinger’s Lesbian and Gay Identity Scale (LGIS). The participants were 346 gay men from Taiwan and 253 gay men from Mainland China. Results show that 1) societal openness to LGBT culture is higher in Taiwan than in Mainland China; 2) societal openness to LGBT culture is positively correlated with to social-identification of gay identity. In terms of social policy and clinical practice, this study suggests that promoting equal marriage rights and LGBTinclusive sex education in addition to advocating LGBT-inclusivity is beneficial to gay identity.
Keywords: societal openness to LGBT culture, gay identity, gay men, cross-strait research, homosexuality, LGBT