Latina/o Americans and Sexual Orientation

Within psychology and other social science disciplines, scholars have increasingly recognized the ways dimensions of identity—such as race, ethnicity, and sexual orientation—shape the experiences, behavior, and well-being of diverse groups. Although this scholarship has undeniably enhanced the understanding of groups such as people of color and lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) people, it is common for research to focus on one dimension of identity in isolation. Thus, research is less likely to focus on populations with multiple minority identities, such as LGB people of color. [Page 1029]Indeed, a recent review of psychological scholarship produced between 1998 and 2007 found that only 4% of sexual orientation–focused articles and 1% of race/ethnicity–focused articles dealt specifically or substantially with LGB people of color.

Such findings suggest that increased attention ...