Chapter 5 Sexual orientation as a social problem

Question 1

Sexual orientation

Answer 1

Sexual orientation is defined as the classification of individuals according to their preference for emotional-sexual relationships.
1. Homosexuality refers to emotional and sexual attractions with persons of the same sex.

2. Heterosexuality refers to emotional and sexual attractions with persons of the opposite sex.
3. Bisexuality refers to emotional and sexual attractions with persons of either sex.
4. Transgendered refers to individuals whose gender identity is different from the one assigned to them at birth.

Question 2

LGBTQ

Answer 2

often refers to lesbians, gays, bisexuals, and transgendered individuals as a group

Question 3

Gay Rights

Answer 3

Gay rights have progressed in the U.S. and globally.

1. South Africa became the first country, in 1996, to ban discrimination based on sexual orientation.
2. In 2000, Vermont became the first state to recognize same-sex civil unions.
3. ## In 2004, Massachusetts became the first state to legalize same-sex marriage.E. Homosexuals continue to face prejudice and discrimination in the U.S. and globally.
4. Homosexuality is punishable by incarceration up to 14 years in Uganda and lawmakers recently considered instituting the death penalty for some homosexual acts.

Question 4

Biological, psychological and sociological perspectives on sexual orientation

Answer 4

A. Biological perspectives have focused on genetic links.
B. Recent psychological perspectives have focused on homosexual identities.
C. Sociological perspectives examine the social and structural factors that affect sexual orientation.

Question 5

Functionalist theory

Answer 5

Functionalists identify how society upholds heterosexuality and a marital union between a man and a woman as ideal normative behavior to which our legal, political, and social structures work in harmony to support these ideals

Question 6

Conflict and Feminist perspective

Answer 6

Conflict and Feminist theorists point out that heterosexism, the assumption that heterosexuality is the norm, encouraging discrimination in favor of heterosexuals and against homosexuals, leads to heterosexual privilege, the set of privileges or advantages granted to someone because of their heterosexuality.

a) . Federal legislation such as the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), abstinence only sex education, and healthy marriage promotion and fatherhood programs deny LGBT persons of their rights and needs.
b) . U.S. Census definitions of families privilege marital unions over domestic partnerships.
c) . LGBTQ+ families are stereotyped to not be in need of any economic, social, or health- related services because they are assumed to be childless, have fewer family responsibilities, and thus higher overall incomes than heterosexual households.
d) . Radical feminists reject marriage outright on the bases of marriage as an oppressive institution while liberal reform feminists support the choice to marry on the understanding that men and women (or same-sex couples) can conduct their marriages in nontraditional ways.

Question 7

Interactionist Perspective

Answer 7

Interactionists examine how sexual orientation is constructed within a social context and Katz 2003, argues that acknowledging heterosexuality as a social invention which is time bound and culturally specific – challenges the power of the heterosexual ideal.

Question 8

Sexual orientation and inequality

Answer 8

A. U.S. legislation on homosexuality.
1. Sodomy laws, overturned in 2003, were more vigorously applied against same-sex partners.

2. In 2009, the U.S. Congress passed legislation to grant gay individuals protection under hate crime laws: President Obama signed the legislation into law.

B. The rights and recognition of same sex couples.

1. All but nine U.S. states have bans on same-sex marriages which deny gay couples numerous legal protections.
2. In 2006, the Federal Pension Protection Act became law extending financial protections to same-sex couples and Americans who leave their retirement savings to non-spouse beneficiaries.
3. Though the mayor of San Francisco allowed gay couple to marry in early 2004, the California Supreme Court later that year declared the licenses invalid.

C. Employment.

1. Though sexual orientation is not a federally protected category, it has been found that homosexuals that reveal their sexual orientation risk loss of income and lower chances of promotion.
2. More than 88 percent of all Fortune 500 companies, 21 states, the District of
   Columbia, and several hundred U.S. cities and counties provide protections against public and private workplace discrimination because of one’s sexual orientation.

Question 9

Responding to sexual orientation inequalities

Answer 9

A. Family legislation.

1. In 2004, Massachusetts became the first state to allow same-sex marriage.
2. Since Massachusetts, Connecticut, Iowa, New Hampshire, Vermont, and the District of Columbia have all have legalized same-sex marriage.
3. In California, a contentious battle continues over the state of same-sex marriage.
4. Denmark, in 1989, was the first European country to recognize same-sex unions.
5. Civil unions or gay marriage partnerships are legal in Belgium (2002), France (2000), Germany (2001), Netherlands (2001), Spain and Canada (2005), and South Africa (2006).
6. Florida is the only state that explicitly forbids adoption by unmarried gay, lesbian, or bisexual individuals.
   a) . Research shows that there is no significant difference between children of homosexual and heterosexual parents in measures of social and psychological adjustment, such as self-esteem, anxiety, and depression.

B. Military service.

1. In 1993, President Clinton signed the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, Don’t Pursue, Don’t Harass” (DADT) policy which has led to over 13,000 service members being discharged from the military through 2006.
2. In 2007, retired army general and former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff John Shaliskashvili declarded his support for the repeal of the DADT policy.
3. President Obama pledged in his campaign to end DADT.