Julie L. Anderson: Julie L. Anderson is a graduate student in the counseling psychology doctoral program at the University of Southern California. Her specialty is gender studies, with an emphasis on changing attitudes toward gays, lesbians, and women in America. She is currently the Associate Development Director at G.L.A.A.D. (Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation) and worked for 6 years at the Los Angeles Gay & Lesbian Center in program management and development.
Counseling Gay Men and Lesbians is a comprehensive guide to be used by therapists and counselors of all sexual orientations. Unlike many books devoted to counseling gay men and lesbians that focus on coming out issues, Dworkin and Gutierrez chose to deal with many unique topics that are consistently overlooked in volumes of this kind. For instance, it is rare to find complete chapters dedicated to biases toward gay men and lesbians in the interpretation of psychological testing, or about how the sexual orientation of the client, therapist, and their supervisor intersect to create unique dynamics affecting the counseling process. The 22 contributors share their expertise in counseling gay men and lesbians in areas like career, age-related issues, parenting, racism, domestic violence, chemical dependency, bisexuality, loss and grief, activism, sexual abuse, anti-gay violence, ethical considerations, psychological testing, coming out, and supervision. Each chapter incorporates case studies, theory, clinical strategies, and references giving the reader guidelines for gay- and lesbian-affirmative counseling. Although the topics covered in Counseling Gay Men and Lesbians are diverse, the reader needs to be cognizant that except where noted, the clients discussed are White and able-bodied. With this caveat in mind, Counseling Gay Men and Lesbians is a recommended reference guide for every therapist and counselor who will surely deal with some or most of the issues presented in the volume. Counseling Gay Men and Lesbians is divided into five sections. Section I deals with developmental issues through the lifespan of gay male and lesbian lives; Section II focusses on marriage and family counseling; Section III looks at diverse populations; Section IV speaks to incidents of violence; and Section V presents counseling techniques used to deal with chemical dependency, loss, coming out, and bias in psychological testing.
One of the main criticisms of Counseling Gay Men and Lesbians, is how it inconsistently deals with gender. The chapters that took a holistic approach in dealing with gender—Bias in Interpretation of Psychological Tests; Cultural Considerations in Counseling Asian-American Lesbians and Gay Men; Counseling Latino Gays and Latina Lesbians; Gay, Lesbian, and African American: Managing the Integration of Identities; Same-Sex Domestic Violence; Career Counseling for the Gay and Lesbian Community; Psychotherapy With Gay and Lesbian Adolescents; Challenges Facing Gay and Lesbian Families; and Counseling Chemically Dependent Lesbians and Gay Men—better illustrated the similar and different issues affecting gay men and lesbians in a consistent format. Single gender chapters such as Midlife and Older Lesbians and Older Gay Men are disjointed and the authors' differing styles make it hard for the reader to create a framework for dealing with the similar and differing issues affecting older gay men and lesbians. In addition, the two chapters, Lesbian Couples and The Male Couple could easily have been merged into one. The chapter could have included information about the differences in gay male and lesbian relationships due to how men and women are socialized (women to be caretaking and relationship oriented and men to be independent, sexual, and competitive) in American culture. Yet, the unifying themes of how heterosexism and internalized homophobia affect gay male and lesbian relationships could have been used to tie the chapter together. Another gender-related issue in Counseling Gay Men and Lesbians is illustrated in the chapter entitled Helping Someone to Die. Although the survivors are both men and women, the dying people are AIDS-affected and primarily gay male. This chapter should be expanded to include breast and cervical cancer that affects lesbians at a disproportionate rate compared with heterosexual women.
Although most of the 22 chapters in Counseling Gay Men and Lesbians are worthy of special mention, there are four that deserve further review. Asian American Lesbians and Gay Men by Chan and Counseling Latino Gays and Latina Lesbians by Morales are excellent examples of how to integrate case presentations, theory, and clinical strategies to present a framework in dealing with specific populations. In Asian American Lesbians and Gay Men, Chan notes, “Henry sought me out as a therapist who is both Asian American and openly gay because he wanted someone who understood and had perhaps experienced similar cultural conflicts” (p. 118). This illustrates how important it is for the client to be comfortable with their counselor and how the race and gender of the counselor should be discussed with the client at the beginning of therapy so an appropriate referral can be made if that is what would benefit the client most. Chan went a step further by integrating empirical evidence to support the idea that Asian American lesbians and gay men report feeling marginalized and invisible in both the gay/lesbian and Asian community. For example, out of 35 Asian American lesbians and gay men, 77% reported that they felt it was harder to come out to other Asian Americans because of the high likelihood of being rejected and stigmatized. Interpretation of Psychological Tests by Pope should be included in all psychological testing textbooks. The chapter deals with biases and the misuse of information gleaned from the following psychological tests: Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI), California Psychological Inventory (CPI), Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI), and the Edwards Personal Preference Schedule (EPPS). For example, although research suggests that Scale 5 (Mf—Masculinity-Femininity) does not consistently and effectively differentiate between gay/lesbian and heterosexual people, it is still being used to do so. This information has been used to discriminate against those men and women whose Scale 5 score indicate that they are not stereotypically masculine or feminine, respectively (e.g., admittance into certain clinical and counseling psychology programs).
Empowering the Counseling Professional by House and Holloway addresses the very important issue of supervision when either the client and/or therapist are gay or lesbian. Again, this chapter should be included in all textbooks dealing with supervision. It is so important because all counseling trainees are required to be supervised. A homophobic and heterosexist trainee working with a gay or lesbian client can cause harm to the client in the absence of proper supervision. Supervisors need to challenge those trainees who assume that their clients are heterosexual (e.g., asking a male client if he has a girlfriend). In addition, supervisors must become aware of their trainees' attitudes about gay men and lesbians and work to transform negative attitudes. If this is not possible, the trainee should be advised to refer gay and lesbian clients to gay-affirmative counselors. This chapter is so important because supervisors train future generations of counselors and therapists. Gay/lesbian-affirmative supervisors can attempt to teach gay/lesbian-affirmative counseling to their trainees.
The final eight pages of Counseling Gay Men and Lesbians are devoted to Professional Associations and Resources for Lesbians, Gays, and Bisexuals. Dworkin and Gutierrez understand the importance of including resource information which can prove to be invaluable to clients who are isolated and want to connect with the gay and lesbian community. Unfortunately, this guide is incomplete and poorly organized. Instead of alphabetizing organizations' names, this section would be more useful if it was organized by geographic location. Each geographic location would then be broken down by topic (e.g., religious organizations) and then organizations would be alphabetized by name. Further, some very important international and national organizations like Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG), the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD), and the ONE Institute International Gay & Lesbian Archives are amongst the most glaring omissions in the existing guide. In addition, the absence of local gay and lesbian community service centers is problematic since many mental health clients could benefit from the myriad programs these social service centers offer.
Counseling Gay Men and Lesbians: Journey to the End of the Rainbow keeps its promise. It is concerned with the right of the gay and lesbian client population to receive appropriate, gay/lesbian-affirmative counseling. Counseling Gay Men and Lesbians doesn't stop with gay/lesbian-affirmative counseling. It asks counselors and therapists to be activists. Every time a counselor or therapist affirms a gay relationship, he or she is helping clients in many areas of the country break sodomy laws. This action is a form of civil disobedience. Counseling Gay Men and Lesbians suggests that the role of therapists and counselors extends beyond the counseling session with the client. Mental health professionals are called upon to initiate and advance legislation and public policy that furthers the civil rights of their gay, lesbian, and bisexual clients.
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