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LGBTQ+ Librarianship in the 21st Century: Emerging

Directions of Advocacy and Community Engagement in


Diverse Information Environments
What is “LGBTQ+” Information? Interdisciplinary Connections
Bharat Mehra,
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CHAPTER 1
WHAT IS “LGBTQ+” INFORMATION?
INTERDISCIPLINARY CONNECTIONS
Bharat Mehra
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ABSTRACT
The chapter introduces the reader to select language of human sexuality and
the definitions and characteristics of some key terms related to lesbian, gay,
bisexual, transgender, and questioning/queer (LGBTQ+), identifies different
theoretical perspectives of human sexuality and sexual orientation, and dis-
cusses select LGBTQ+ theories and concepts in a historical context that library
and information science (LIS) professionals should consider while performing
their roles related to information creation–organization–management–dis-
semination–research processes. It helps better understand the scope of what is
LGBTQ+ information and traces its interdisciplinary connections to reflect on
its place within the LIS professions. The chapter discusses these implications
with the expectation of the LIS professional to take concrete actions in changing
the conditions that lack fairness, equality/equity, justice, and/or human rights
for LGBTQ+ people via the use of information. Important considerations in
this regard include the need for an integrative interdisciplinary LGBTQ+ infor-
mation model, growth of a diversified LGBTQ+ knowledge base and experi-
ences, holistic LGBTQ+ information representations, LGBTQ+ activism, and
participatory engagement and inclusion of LGBTQ+ users.
Keywords: Interdisciplinary connections; LGBTQ+; language of human
sexuality; theoretical perspectives; theories and concepts; implications for LIS

LGBTQ+ Librarianship in the 21st Century: Emerging Directions of Advocacy and


Community Engagement in Diverse Information Environments
Advances in Librarianship, Volume 45, 15–47
Copyright © 2019 by Emerald Publishing Limited
All rights of reproduction in any form reserved
ISSN: 0065-2830/doi:10.1108/S0065-283020190000045002
15
16 BHARAT MEHRA

What is straight? A line can be straight, or a street, but the human heart, oh, no, it’s curved like
a road through mountains. Tennessee Williams (1947, A Streetcar Named Desire)

There is much lack of clarity, ambiguities, misinformed perspectives, resistance


to accept authoritative information, and often resulting controversies surround-
ing our contemporary understanding of constructs, concepts, topics, and mean-
ings associated with the term “lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and questioning/
queer” (LGBTQ+) (Watson & Johnson, 2013). The LGBTQ+ subject itself has
been informed by knowledge that has emerged across several disciplinary bounda-
ries and intellectual traditions with various political, social, and cultural affiliations
from around the world (Bidell & Stepleman, 2017). No wonder that LGBTQ+
information has been misunderstood and misused sometimes to spread hate and
perpetuate violence and/or create laws of human rights denial, among other unfair/
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unjust agendas, against individual/groups/organizations that identify with markers


associated with the “LGBTQ+” (Mehra & Hernandez, 2016; Thoreson, 2018).
This has only worsened in today’s global cultural climate of misinformation
and fake news where rumors, gossip, and anything goes in the name of informa-
tion emerging even from the office of the President of the United States (Cooke,
2017; Mehra, forthcoming). In order to better serve their communities and resist
the spread of inaccurate, incomplete, and/or misguided LGBTQ+ information, it
becomes pertinent, thus, for the progressive librarian of the twenty-first century to
be better informed about the various streams of thought and meanings related to the
topic (Nectoux, 2011). This chapter provides a brief tracing of its interdisciplinary
connections that might help us better understand the scope of LGBTQ+ librarian-
ship to reflect on its place within the library and information science (LIS) profes-
sions (Kuecker, 2017). It is important to recognize these broader interdisciplinary
domains of thought and information that has shaped contemporary development
of terms and concepts related to the “LGBTQ+” and its varied definitions, con-
structs, and associated meanings emerging in theoretical discourse, popular culture,
and usage in all dimensions of everyday life (Graziano, 2018). This chapter intro-
duces the reader to select language of human sexuality and the definitions and char-
acteristics of some key terms, identifies different theoretical perspectives of human
sexuality and sexual orientation, and discusses select LGBTQ+ theories and con-
cepts related in a historical context that an LIS professional should consider.

THE LANGUAGE OF HUMAN SEXUALITY


The underlying concepts of sexuality and sexual orientation (referred to therein as
human sexuality/sexuality unless otherwise identified) are closely related to if a person
identifies as LGBTQ+ (Alexander, Meem, & Gibson, 2017). It is first essential for the
progressive LIS professional and student to know the basic definitions and meanings
of these terms and related others as well as some of their key characteristics in order
to develop a better understanding of the subject. It is important to not focus on only
Euro/Anglo-centric perspectives in this regard (Mehra, 2016). This basic knowledge
will help achieve a high standard of desired quality effectiveness in their LGBTQ+
information work performance in information creation-organization-management-
dissemination-research in the library and beyond (Cornog & Perper, 1996). The
What is “LGBTQ+” Information? 17

chapter builds on the definitions and characteristics of key terms and identifies the
various theoretical perspectives of human sexuality and sexual orientation to pro-
vide the LIS professional with accurate information on these topics to deliver to their
patrons, develop balanced points of views while addressing critical arguments, and
promote collections that contain authoritative and current information.
Human sexuality captures the myriad ways of how people experience the erotic
urge and express themselves as sexual beings. The Merriam-Webster Dictionary
(2019) defines the common use of the noun “sexuality” in terms of (paraphrased
and expanded):

• (Biological) The quality or state of being sexual.


• (Behavioral) Sexual activity, expression of sexual interest or receptivity, sexual
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desires, habits, nature, instinct, or feelings; representation of one or more of


these.
• (Medical) The condition of having sex.
• (Socio-Cultural/Related): Person’s sexual identity in relation to the gender to
which s/he is typically attracted; sexual orientation.

Such definitions identify significant elements/characteristics of human sexual-


ity that include: (1) the biological roots of sexuality as part of human nature and
(2) the relation of sexuality to identity and gender that are both understood to
be socially constructed. This seemingly conflicting information regarding human
sexuality has resulted in the nature-versus-nurture debate that has been a “waste
of time” fueled by the popular press for many years (Smiley, 2016). Some char-
acteristics that embody a person are believed to be inborn in humans; yet, the
possibilities are there in the physical and social environment in which people are
embedded in to modify them (Csongradi, n.d.). Human sexuality is a result of
such genetically driven impulses and socially constructed mental processes. There
is a mutually influential relationship between the two where, on the one hand,
sexual instinct shapes the development of personal identity and social initiatives,
on the other hand, the individual’s encompassing social, cultural, educational,
and environmental traits modulate the sexual impulse (Crain, 1980). Sigmund
Freud (1856–1939) represented the nature argument while John Locke (1632–
1704) presented the opposing position in his theory of the mind (“tabula rasa”)
that propounded that all knowledge came from experience or perception. The
nature-versus-nurture debate has unintentionally served as a distracting strategy
(and is problematic) for the unaware library patron because: (1) it focuses on the
causes of the sexuality of an LGBTQ+ person in terms of mere theories and their
limited language descriptions that cannot be completely verified (hence, they are
theories as compared to the reality of experience), instead of people accepting the
individual as a human being for who s/he is, irrespective of the cause of their sexu-
ality and (2) such theories may never represent the entirety of human diversity and
uniqueness and human experience and existence since the degree of explanation
of the cause of individual sexuality will vary from person-to-person. Moreover,
these theories are not mutually exclusive and scholars believe human existence is
shaped by its biological origins and nurtured by socially constructed experiences
and both vary from person-to-person. As Boccadoro and Carulli (2008) state:
18 BHARAT MEHRA

Human sexuality is not simply imposed by instinct or stereotypical conducts, as it happens in


animals, but it is influenced both by superior mental activity and by social, cultural, educational
and normative characteristics of those places where the subjects grow up and their personal-
ity develops. Consequently, the analysis of sexual sphere must be based on the convergence of
several lines of development such as affectivity, emotions and relations.

Sexual orientation is a more tangible construct usually classified according to the


sex and/or gender of the people who are found emotionally, romantically, and/or sex-
ually attractive. The Merriam-Webster Dictionary (2019) defines (paraphrased and
expanded) the noun “sexual orientation” as:

• (Broad) A person’s sexual identity or self-identification as heterosexual,


homosexual, pansexual, etc.
• (Medical) The inclination (or the process) of orientation with respect to
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achieve sexual goal, potential mate, partner etc.


• (Expanded) A person’s sexual identity in relation to the gender whom s/he is
usually attracted to.

The American Psychological Association (2000) also provides a broader


understanding of sexual orientation referring also to a person’s sense of “per-
sonal and social identity based on those attractions, behaviors expressing them,
and membership in a community of others who share them” (p. 260). Identity
is referenced in both the aforementioned definitions, as “sexual identity” in the
former source and “personal and social identity” in the latter source. The impor-
tance of identity is noted as a result of the inclusion of “sexual identity” in the
Merriam-Webster Dictionary’s definition of sexuality as well (see above). Laura
Reiter (1989) defines a homosexual as an
adult whose fantasies, attachments and longings are predominantly for persons of the same
gender, who may or may not express those longings in overt behavior, and whose orientation
may or may not be accompanied by a homosexual identity. (p. 140)

According to the author, the definition of this third interrelated term “sexual
identity” represents how a person thinks of their self in who they are romanti-
cally or sexually attracted to. This is not always identical to sexual orientation
as “identity changes; orientation endures” even though owing to the complexi-
ties and diversities in the human experience, especially for minority sexualities,
scholars recognize these prescribed dictums to be highly controversial (Cass,
1984; Coleman, 1988; Richardson, 1984; Troiden, 1988). Unfortunately, also, the
nature of human experience and attraction is narrowly represented in these terms
that have the word “sex” integral to generate meanings that invariably end up
dwelling on only the physical aspects (Youdell, 2005).

THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVES OF HUMAN SEXUALITY


There are various aspects of sexuality and as many perspectives and theoretical
descriptions, the following are a few noteworthy for the LIS professional to keep
in mind.
What is “LGBTQ+” Information? 19

The biological perspective: The nature of sexuality in the genetic predispo-


sition of human beings provides authoritative sanction owing to its biological
roots (Gazzaniga, 1992). This has shaped the notion, for example, that hormo-
nal changes in the development of the fetus during pregnancy may be the sole
influencer on human sexuality toward heterosexuality or homosexuality or any
other forms (Mulder et al., 2002). The limitation of this perspective is that it
compartmentalizes sexuality into select categories and does not account for the
development of sexuality as a process or its progression in a continuum (Weber,
2012). Nor does it account for socio-cultural influences on self-awareness identity
formation, or human behavior that are often intimately tied to human sexuality
(Rathus, Nevid, & Fichner-Rathus, 2007). The criticism of at least the partial
genetic roots of sexuality derives from the limited evolutionary notion that the
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sole purpose of human biology is procreation, and, if homosexual men are less
likely to procreate, their genes will not be passed on to their offspring, and the
“gay gene” determining their homosexual identity will eventually die out (Hu
et al., 1995; Wilson & Rahman, 2008).
The physiological perspective: Closely connected to the biological understand-
ing, the physiological perspective focuses on the formation and functioning of the
human body and mind and its urges and impulses as a physical entity (Bolin &
Whelehan, 2009). Connected to the physiological is also the evolutionary per-
spective that includes human growth and development in its basic reproductive
mechanism, the nature of erotic drive, including sexual intercourse and sexual
contact in all its forms, and sexual consciousness and communication (Buss,
2016; Ryabko & Reznikova, 2015). This point of view also recognizes that the
human physical attraction and the body’s stimulation can be understood as physi-
ological process(es) in terms of heat, energy, electrical impulses, chemical reac-
tions, as well as organic and neurological responses and hormonal issues (Ross &
Rapp, 1981). It explains sexuality in males and females as unique individuals who
need the various degrees of visual and/or emotional stimulation and more, to
generate these physically oriented processes to play themselves out (King, 2011).
Understanding of trans physiologies is only recently getting greater attention
than in the past (Bevan, 2016).
The psychological perspective: Extending to new levels Sigmund Freud’s basic
premise of the inherent bisexual nature of all human beings and his broad redefin-
ing of sexuality to include any form of pleasure emerging from the human body
(and mind) (1994), the psychological perspective recognizes that the human drive,
attractions, and interactions between people are shaped by a desire to fulfill a myr-
iad of human needs that include the physical, mental/intellectual, emotional, social,
spiritual, and others (Dess, Marecek, & Bell, 2018). These needs are fulfilled at vari-
ous levels and in various degrees from different (or same) individuals, irrespective
of the sex/gender of the individuals through who they are getting met (Coon &
Mitterer, 2007). It is then based on each person’s particular experienced social real-
ity in different environment(s) throughout their life that the person consciously
or unconsciously allows to dictate (i.e., “condition”) how and where they become
aware of, and desire, seek, and find fulfillment to these varied needs in different oth-
ers (or in the same individual) (Kelly, 2010). Expressing this idea, traditional eastern
20 BHARAT MEHRA

mythologies emerging from China, Japan, and India, as well those in the Greco-
Roman tradition and from the tribal aboriginal cultures are replete of gods and
goddesses, symbols, concepts, myths, and images that reflect this “bisexual” nature
of human beings (Gregg, 2017; Rodriguez, Lytle, & Vaughan, 2013). According
to the psychological perspective, sexuality is an integration of the various human
needs at different degrees and physical awareness and attraction are connected to
other aspects of the human experience. In the psychological perspective, the goal
is to provide a holistic understanding of a human being where sexuality is seen to
encompass thoughts (cognition), emotions (feelings and affective), actions (physi-
cal), and more (Lehmiller, 2017). The psychological (thoughts and feelings) and
physical (behavior) makeup of the individual are intimately connected in shaping
attractions and interactions between people that may or may not get translated into
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sexual behavior and, yet, are part of the human nature and sexuality.
The child development and identity formation perspective: As a subset of the
psychological perspective, the focus here is on the processes associated with sex-
ual identity formation from birth to child development stages of puberty and
adolescence to adulthood (Cook & Cook, 2008). Even though the genetic code
provides a blueprint mapping human nature, the role of the human condition
and the human experience cannot be understated (Decker, 2010). They play a
mutual role as sexual identity emerges during the life course journey (Kimmel &
Plante, 2004). Personal experimentation in early life may help establish pref-
erences (Harwood, Miller, & Vasta, 2008). It is debatable if the role of family
structure, relationship with the father and mother, relationship between parents,
liberal versus conservative upbringing, etc., influence sexual identity and behavior
though these are determinants in individual child development, personal iden-
tity formation, and learning of social interactions with others (Jones, Duffey, &
Haberstroh, 2016). The Kinsey Reports (1948 and 1953) introduced the Kinsey
Scale a seven-point system identifying sexual orientation as a continuum that is
most commonly cited to support claims of 10% for homosexuality in the general
population even though findings were not meant to be considered absolute.
The sociological perspective: Human sexuality is part and parcel of the social
experience of a person (Rahman & Jackson, 2010). There are explicit and implicit
rules, norms, and values of thoughts, feelings, and behavior a person learns
throughout their lifetime as they become “informed” who they are (Seidman,
2003). Conscious awareness and expression of sexuality might also be influenced
by the social dimensions of experience as an individual is “conditioned” based on
their past experience (Beard et al., 2015). Sociologist Paula Rodriguez Rust (2000)
calls for a more multidimensional characterization of sexual orientation:

Most alternative models of sexuality … define sexual orientation in terms of dichotomous bio-
logical sex or gender …. Most theorists would not eliminate the reference to sex or gender, but
instead advocate incorporating more complex nonbinary concepts of sex or gender, more com-
plex relationships between sex, gender, and sexuality, and/or additional nongendered dimen-
sions into models of sexuality.

The anthropological perspective: The anthropological perspective is connected


to the sociological perspective and examines the study of human kind and human
What is “LGBTQ+” Information? 21

societies (past and present) in terms of the cultural, political, religious, legal, social,
economic, and other aspects related to sexuality (Frayser, 1985). One controver-
sial example of this viewpoint applied to understanding of LGBTQ+ sexuality
in the twenty-first century is Charles Darwin’s (1859) kin selection evolutionary
model recorded in his seminal work The Origin of Species that explained the
behavior of sterile social honeybees who existed to insure the reproductive suc-
cess of their relatives (Block & Adriaens, 2004). LGBTQ+ people’s existence is
explained in terms of kin selection (Bobrow & Bailey, 2001) based on the assump-
tion that even if they may not procreate, their sexual identity (and the existence of
the “gay gene”) supports the survival of their relatives (e.g., siblings and parents)
and their relatives’ offspring (e.g., nieces and nephews), thereby, leading to the
propagation of their genes (VanderLaan, Forrester, Petterson, & Vasey, 2012).
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As an anthropological note regarding the contemporary context, recent media


attention has been given to debates and viewpoints of religious and political lead-
ers surrounding LGBTQ+ sexuality (Marin, 2016). Also, new anthropological
constructs and theories will emerge to describe, analyze, and explain the human
experience with emerging new social practices, the emergence of laws in support
of LGBTQ+ adoption, gay marriage becoming more pervasive, the surrogate
birth and artificial insemination practices getting more widespread in society, etc.
(Moore & Stambolis-Ruhstorfer, 2013).
The socio-cultural perspective: The sociocultural perspective can be considered
a subset of the anthropological perspective or a separate category to expound
the nature of human sexuality in terms of non-western modes of analysis and
other aspects of discourse (Shoveller, Johnson, Langille, & Mitchell, 2004).
LGBTQ+ identities and nomenclature to categorize sexualities have emerged in
the Western World in response to a particular sociocultural and linguistic expe-
rience as embedded in a specific historical and temporal framework (Mehra &
Hernandez, 2016). These might not be applicable or represent the nature and
behavior expression of sexuality in Asia, Africa, Middle East, and other parts of
the world (Massad, 2002). For example, in the South Asian context, physical and
emotional intimacy between individuals of the same sex might be more prevalent
free as the human experience is without the categorization of western names,
linguistic markers, and identity labels associated with non-hetero sexualities. For
example, the term “MSM” stands for “men who have sex with men” (Dandona et
al., 2005) and has been used in the context of low-and-middle income countries
(Baral, Sifakis, Cleghorn, & Beyrer, 2007) where homosexuality is hidden owing
to cultural taboos, lack of legal protection, and same-sex behavior may be more
common than previously documented even though identity terms (e.g., gay, les-
bian, etc.) are not adopted in self-identification terms and vocabularies (Verma &
Collumbien, 2004). Additionally, non-heterosexual individuals in these cultures
are sometimes labeled as “sexual minorities” to address these unrepresented
groups owing to the complex cultural murkiness and differences in perceptions
regarding sexuality, identity, behavior, and terminology associated with them
(Khan, 2001; Mehra & Hernandez, 2017). “Pinkwashing” is a term recently used
often in relation to the Israeli government’s efforts to strategically employ the
LGBTQ+ rights discourse for humanitarian purposes, but, in effect, obfuscates
22 BHARAT MEHRA

regularly practiced policies and actions of human rights denial toward Palestine
(Ghosh, 2018). Though, this variation of the sociocultural perspective helps to
understand the global differences in the representation of sexuality and sexual
orientation (Buffington, Luibheid, & Guy, 2014). It is also insightful in the con-
text of understanding the varied experiences and realities for diverse demographi-
cally demarcated categories of people that include the individuals belonging to
the LGBTQ+, in addition to their intersections with those who belong to minor-
ity categories based on race/ethnicity, age, income, education, mental and physi-
cal abilities, etc. (Balsam, Molina, Beadnell, Simoni, & Walters, 2011).
The philosophical/religious perspective: The philosophical perspective of sexu-
ality includes a discussion of the topic in relation to the moral, ethical, theo-
logical, spiritual, or religious dimensions of the human experience (Kelly, 2013
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on Foucault’s History of Sexuality Volume 1). Media attention has been given
to these discussions that vary from region to region and/or religion to religion
intersections (e.g., Kugle, 2003; Miller, 2017). The informed information profes-
sional should be aware and familiar with the varied philosophical positions of
religious denominations and at different levels of intersection depending upon
what environment they are working in based on what might be the demographic
characteristics of the communities they serve (Petro, 2016). For example, in the
broad region termed as the “South” in the United States, a common discussion
in LGBTQ+ communities is surrounding the “sexuality versus spirituality” dis-
course since their growing up experiences might have been greatly influenced by
the conservative Christian interpretations (e.g., Baptist) of religion (Johnson,
2011). There is still much cultural variations in attitudes, philosophies, and behav-
iors within the “South’s” geographical region to region as well (Creech, 2011).
Even recently in 2017, the religious leaders of the Southern Baptist Convention,
representing the largest Protestant denomination of a 15 million strong congrega-
tion, decried LGBTQ+ people as “inconsistent with God’s holy purposes in crea-
tion and redemption” (Human Rights Campaign, 2018a). This might not be so
for different denominational faiths of Christianity or other religions even in the
same region (Shore-Goss, Bohache, Cheng, & West, 2013). For example, in spite
of contentious histories on the topic, contemporary Quakers or the Unitarian
Universalists are believed to have embraced a more accepting and supportive
approach toward an understanding of sexuality (Doan & Kamphausen, 2013;
Morriss, Agate, Bassham, & Svoboda, 1999).
The humanistic perspective: The humanistic perspective (with roots in psychol-
ogy), with its core respect for all human beings, recognizes the individual limita-
tions of the above-identified perspectives (and others) taken separately since they
all provide an incomplete view regarding the notion of sexuality in the context
of the entirety of human experience (Human Rights Campaign, 2018b). Recent
discussions to “resist the ‘humanist enticements’ associated with sexuality” have
emerged from post-structuralism in “showing how the social produces culturally
specific sexual knowledgeabilities” and anti-humanist moves “to overturn anthro-
pocentric privileging of the human body and subject as the locus of sexuality”
(Fox & Alldred, 2013, p. 769). Limitations of typologies and formulations repre-
sented in the study of sexuality, sexual orientation, and gender, which spotlight
What is “LGBTQ+” Information? 23

the hegemonic dimension of physicality and the physical act beyond any other in
human interactions, are also discussed (Frenk & McCormack, 2016). A humanis-
tic perspective regards the complete person beyond just the sexual experiences in
what attracts and helps nurture connections in people to each other (Diamond,
2005). The humanistic perspective calls for a holistic view of human beings and
inclusivity. It draws intersections in the various perspectives to represent an inter-
twining understanding of sexuality with other experiences in particular contexts
that recognize us as human beings who are attracted to each in many ways for a
myriad of reasons (Laff, 2001).
Gender and sexuality: An outline of perspectives related to sexuality is incom-
plete without a note on the relationship between the concepts of gender/gender
identity and sexuality/sexual orientation (see Chapter 2 for select glossary of
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LGBTQ+ terms). Terms and meanings associated with the two concepts have
been conflated in the public imagination especially in the context of LGBTQ+
people (Manalansan, 2006). Gender in terms of characteristics, behaviors, man-
nerisms, and representations of masculinity, femininity, etc., is socially con-
structed (Hall & Bucholtz, 2012). Scholars now believe socially experienced
realities do have some influence on the formation of human sexuality and sexual
orientation though the ambiguity of their influence as reflected in the past nature-
versus-nurture debates in popular culture might have played a role in the unin-
formed library patron assuming that they are both exactly the same (Herek, 1986).
Gender identity allows for more generous modes of expressions as a broader
entity while sexual identity is more specific based on who an individual is sexually
attracted to (or has sex with) (Diamond & Savin-Williams, 2003). Sexuality is also
broader than sexual orientation and sexual identity in that it is based on who an
individual might be attracted to (as compared to sexually attracted to) (Weeks,
2002). Obviously, there are overlaps in the meanings between these concepts and
varied interpretations. The inclusion of the word “sex” in sexuality and related
terms has also led to a limited understanding of human attractions pigeon-holed
in its focus only on the physical dimensions of the human experience (Nardi &
Schneider, 1998).
The emerging LIS perspective: The LIS perspective considers it of utmost
importance for the librarian and information professional to recognize that sex-
uality and sexual orientation should not be used to discriminate in the provi-
sion of information services, resources, programs, collections, materials, events,
spaces, and conducting other information-related work (Mehra & Tidwell, 2014).
LGBTQ+ patrons deserve respect and accurate, authoritative, and updated infor-
mation delivered in a friendly and non-judgmental manner just like everyone else
(Mehra & Braquet, 2011). Inclusiveness pervades all the six Articles of the Library
Bill of Rights that was initially adopted on June 19, 1939, and amended several
times since by the American Library Association Council. Libraries are identified
as forums for information and ideas and have stringent and unequivocal obliga-
tion to resist efforts that systematically exclude materials dealing with any subject
matter, provide information presenting all points of view, challenge censorship,
and cooperate with partners concerned with resisting abridgement of free expres-
sion. This includes LGBTQ+ subjects and needs of the LGBTQ+ patrons since
24 BHARAT MEHRA

they are part of the diverse communities that libraries serve. The LIS perspec-
tive also recognizes that LGBTQ+ people have been marginalized owing to their
sexuality, sexual orientation, and/or gender identities. It includes the mutually
informing of library science and information science traditions toward drawing
theory–practice intersections that further an active role of the LIS professional in
LGBTQ+ advocacy. The goal is to develop inclusivity and an equitable, fair, and
just representation of the LGBTQ+ in various information-related work at the
local, regional, national, and international levels (Mehra, Haley, & Lane, 2015).
(More aspects related to the LIS perspective is at the end of the chapter.)

RELATED THEORIES AND CONCEPTS


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This section identifies select theories and concepts related to sexuality and same-
sex orientation in order to get better informed about the “LGBTQ+.” Fig. 1
visualizes the “two-way” relationships to represent the influences of these related
theories and constructs informing our understanding of LGBTQ+ sexualities
and sexual orientations (in plural) while themselves getting impacted by the
knowledge related to the LGBTQ+.

The “Otherness” of Difference


Philosopher Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770–1831) was among the first to
introduce the idea that the concept of the Self emerges as a result of the existence
of the Other and both are key constituents in the process of self-consciousness. In
Being and Nothingness (1993), Jean-Paul Sartre (1905–1980) presents these dia-
lectics as a non-threatening feeling or phenomena, while French Psychoanalyst
Jacques Lacan (1906–1995) identifies the “other” in terms of radical dimensions
of the differences between the two. In Ethics and Infinity (1985), Lithuanian-
French Philosopher Emmanuel Lévinas (1906–1995) described the “Other” as
superior to the self in terms of a spiritual transcendence, godly heteronomy, and
the scriptural and traditional God.
According to Edward W. Said (1978),
to build a conceptual framework around a notion of us-versus-them is in effect to pretend
that the principal consideration is epistemological and natural – our civilization is known and
accepted, theirs is different and strange – whereas in fact the framework separating us from
them is belligerent, constructed, and situational. (p. xviii)

This notion of “otherness,” is, thus, understood in terms of a “socially constructed”


reality that examines the development of meanings of the world in terms of a jointly
enacted process that is not separate within the individual, but is coordinated in rela-
tion with other human beings, and is formed through the essential system of language.
Ian Hacking (2000) notes in The Social Construction of What? that the concept of
what is socially constructed is about beliefs about the world and the worldly experi-
ence in it, instead of tangible material things and facts.
The imperialist use of “otherness” to create and maintain imbalanced power
dynamics and unequal economic, cultural, and territorial relationships between
What is “LGBTQ+” Information? 25
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Fig. 1.  Related Theories and Constructs Informing an Understanding of


LGBTQ+ Sexualities and Sexual Orientations.

nation-states became tools to sanction the domination of individuals or groups on


the margins (or periphery) to facilitate their subordination (Johnston, Gregory, &
Pratt, 2000). The exploitation of the “others” was justified by the imperialist rul-
ers as the “White Man’s Burden” (poem first published by English poet Rudyard
Kipling in 1899) to civilize, educate, or convert “primitive” cultures in Asia, Africa,
and the Americas via highlighting their perceived moral, intellectual, and cultural
weaknesses (Martin-Jones & Jones, 2001). Critics of the “othering” concept in the
imperialist agenda of empire-building recognize that it is a representation of ethno-
centricity based on an egoistic viewpoint of the centralized cultural “self” and its
self-indulging ideology and narcissistic cultural systems that minimize the “other”
that do not belong and, hence, are considered of less or no value at all. This is in
direct conflict in a global context and global community highlighted in Immanuel
Wallerstein’s (2004) world systems theory that decodes the insecurity of imperialist
nations that saw the competition of the material values or goods (and the cultural
26 BHARAT MEHRA

values) of the “other” to be a threat to their own existence. The concept of “orien-
talism” is a recently problematized and politicized construct that reflects these in its
fetishization of the non-European world within three actions of homogenization,
feminization, and/or essentialization (Lockman, 2009; Macfie, 2001). Just as soci-
ety has “othered” LGBTQ+ people around the world (Rothmann & Simmonds,
2015), white/Anglo-American LGBTQ+ communities have “othered” people of
color and/or non-western experiences/in their midst along some of these lines of
prejudices (Jones, 2016; Maxwell, 2016; Munoz, 2013).

The “Othering” of Human Sexuality


The work of Michel Foucault, the Frankfurt School, and other postmodernists
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is relevant to an understanding of the “otherness” process of difference imposed


on people of same-sex orientations and their cultural marginalization and social
stigma (Weeks, 2005). This “otherness” is intimately tied to the relationship
between power and knowledge, and how they have been manipulated as a cultural
form of social domination to achieve a particular political point of view of devel-
oping a hegemony of conservative religious viewpoints, heterosexism, and patri-
archal norms, among other agendas (Blasius, 1998; Dibyendu, 2013). Foucault’s
(1976) “repressive hypothesis” in the Histoire de la sexualité: la volonté de savoir
(The History of Sexuality: The Will to Knowledge) dissected power discourses sur-
rounding the “otherness” of sexuality in his historical exploration challenging the
hypothesis that during the 17th through the mid-20th sexuality was suppressed,
indicating that, in fact, it was during these times there was a greater scientific
scrutiny of sexuality, classification of the different types of sexuality, and encour-
agement for people to confess their sexual feelings and actions, all in the desire to
learn the “truth” about sex.
Historically, LGBTQ+ people have internalized negative connotations (e.g.,
homophobia) as a result of being “othered” in different societies and cultures
(Kirsch, 2006). This process of “otherness” is related to “being marginalized,”
similar to (note: not the same as) other communities of difference (e.g., racial,
ethnic, religious, or geographically defined category of minorities) who con-
sciously or unconsciously are affected by the hegemonic, dominant, and impos-
ing socialized cultural environment that views them of lesser value as a result of
not being a part of the majority (Subhrajit, 2004). In recent years, the LGBTQ+
community has appropriated their “otherness” as a symbol of empowerment in
the embracing of their “queer” identities that ironically self-consciously histori-
cize the repressive character of social discourses surrounding sexuality (Blasius,
2001; Garber, 1995), yet, at the same time, has become a mark of ownership for
the various advocate groups of their “otherness” of difference (and the history of
abuse, ridicule, discrimination, and violence projected against them as a result)
(Mehra & Braquet, 2006). The widespread enactment and attendance of gay
pride parades/events around the world symbolizes an “othering” (or “queering”)
of the urban (and rural) spatial and temporal fabric for the LGBTQ+ community
to represent their dignity and express their visibility in newly acknowledged safe
spaces (Lundberg, 2007).
What is “LGBTQ+” Information? 27

Postmodernists such as Alison Mountz (2009) embrace “otherness” and bring-


ing “outsiders” into the core in the postmodern city that “is a geographical cel-
ebration of difference that moves sites once conceived of as ‘marginal’ to the
centre of discussion and analysis.” In contrast, postcolonial scholars, such as
Ania Loomba (2015) and others, provide a different viewpoint for understand-
ing “otherness” in their radical, context-driven critiques of liberation (instead of
conciliatory) and raise questions of domination and resistance owing to
contemporary material conditions characterized by the global movements of capital, people
and ideas that no longer follow the one-way colonial path from center to periphery, but involve
more complicated flows and networks of power. (Rizvi, Lingard, & Lavia, 2006, p. 254)
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The Gender Construct


Much has been written about gender construction of attributes affecting and
discerning between femininity and masculinity, including biological sex, sex-
based cultural and social arrangements (such as gender roles), and gender identi-
ties (Wiesner-Hanks, 2011). The following are select salient notes related to the
“LGBTQ+.” In her treatise The Second Sex (1949), Simone de Beauvoir (1908–
1986) provides a thorough analysis of women’s oppression in a male-dominated
society providing sex-gender systems studies, a significant perspective of the
woman as the “other” in relation to man. Michael Warner (1990) argues that:
the modern system of sex and gender would not be possible without a disposition to interpret
the difference between genders as the difference between self and Other ... having a sexual
object of the opposite gender is taken to be the normal and paradigmatic form of an interest in
the Other or, more generally, others.

According to him, traditional views in Freudian and Lacanian psychoanalysis


are heterosexist in characterizing as “regressive” or “arrested” attractions to peo-
ple of the same gender as one’s self owing to their perceived failure to distinguish
the self from the other, identification, and desire (Warner, 1999).
The biased notion of heteronormativity defined in terms of the conviction that
the essence of human beings can be reduced into discrete and opposite genders
(male and female) with innate life roles (Harris & White, 2018) is the source of
this narrow vision in traditional schools of psychoanalytical discourse to under-
stand the “other” from a sexuality lens. According to heteronormativity, a het-
erosexual world is believed to be the center and norm of human experience and
Warner (1991) recognizes the displacing of this narcissistic projection on queer-
ness. Alison Mountz (2009) pinpoints how anything different from the perceived
heteronormative is considered the “other” when she writes:
Women who love women, or men who love men, for example were (and are still in particular
times and places) deemed “deviant” because of their attraction to persons of the same sex.

According to Barbara Gittings (1998), who became the coordinator of the


first LGBT professional organization called the “Task Force on Gay Liberation”
in 1971 at the American Library Association, only in 1972 did the Library
of Congress agree to reclassify books on the gay liberation movement into a
28 BHARAT MEHRA

newly created category, HQ 76.5 (“Homosexuality, Lesbianism–Gay Liberation


Movement, Homophile Movement”) prior to which they were classified under
HQ 71–471 (“Abnormal Sexual Relations, Including Sexual Crimes”) (Baim,
2015). Thanks to the pioneering work of Betty Berzon (2002), the first psy-
chotherapist in the United States to come out as gay to the public, and others,
in 1973 the American Psychiatric Association declassified homosexuality as a
mental illness.
As an interdisciplinary field of work devoted to gender identity and gen-
dered representation, gender studies includes women’s studies (concerning
women, feminism, gender, and politics), trans studies, men’s studies, and
LGBTQ studies (Saraswati & Shaw, 2017). Historically, gender and sexuality
have been studied together across varied fields including literature, language,
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geography, history, political science, sociology, anthropology, cinema, media


studies, human development, law, and medicine that sometimes analyze gen-
der from different vantage points (Ehrlich, Meyerhoff, & Holmes, 2017).
For example, broadly, in anthropology, sociology and psychology, gendered
practice is often studied while in cultural studies gender representations are
more often analyzed (Broch-Due, Bleie, & Rudie, 1993). In politics, gender
is deconstructed as a foundational discourse that political actors employ in
order to position themselves on a variety of issues (Scott, 1999). Among oth-
ers, the work of Julia Kristeva (2018) who articulated the feminist theory of
psycholanalysis (e.g., the “semiotic” and “abjection”) and Bracha Ettinger
(2006) (e.g., the feminine–prematernal–maternal matrixial Eros of bor-
derlinking and compassion, “matrixial trans-subjectivity,” and the “primal
mother-phantasies”) have been very influential scholars in gender studies.
As a discipline, gender studies incorporate methods and approaches from a
range of disciplines (Braithwaite & Orr, 2016). Sam Killermann’s (2017) three
sub-categories of gender – gender identity, gender expression, and biological sex –
represent different social, biological, and cultural constructions and recognize
their nature as fluid entities whose meanings are able to fluctuate depending on
the various constraints surrounding them. Intersections of race, ethnicity, loca-
tion, class, nationality, and disability with gender and sexuality become impor-
tant toward a holistic understanding of human nature, experience, and behavior
(Segal & Martinez, 2006).

Feminism and Women’s Studies


In Politics of Reality: Essays in Feminist Theory, Marilyn Frye (1983) provides
a critique of the various principles of overlap between a male-supremacist soci-
ety and culture and the male gay rights cultural movement in the West. These
shared values of male chauvinism are publically attributed in their hostile mani-
festations toward women and to women-loving that lesbians/bisexual women are
committed to and include (Frye, 1996): presumption of male citizenship; wor-
ship of the penis; male homoeroticism, or man-loving; contempt for women, or
woman-hating; compulsory male heterosexuality; and the presumption of gen-
eral phallic access. Frye (1990) and others further identify shared commonalities
What is “LGBTQ+” Information? 29

experienced by feminists, lesbians, and gay men (with significant differences) in


their resistance to the dominant paradigm that is publicly intolerant of devia-
tions from what might be called “missionary sexuality,” that is, sexuality organ-
ized around male-dominant, female-subordinate genital intercourse; subject to
derision and ostracism, abuse and terror, in both cases for reasons emerging
from social and political structures of sex and gender; perpetuation of images in
popular culture of the lesbian and the gay man as people who do not fit the pat-
terns of gender imposed on the sexes (e.g., the butch lesbian and the effeminate
gay man); common political fight against laws that deny them civil liberties and
equal rights and their common fight against hate groups (e.g., Moral Majority
or the Ku Klux Klan); mutual respect of the other where gay men are perceived
by many women to be less sexist than straight men (presumably because gay
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men are not interested in women sexually) while the feminist commitment to
individual sexual self-determination includes, for most feminists, a commitment
to gay rights.
Radical feminism challenges existing social norms and social institutions
and seeks a radical restructuring of society in which patriarchy is abolished all-
together and male supremacy is completely eliminated in all social and economic
contexts, rather than through only a limited political process (Daly, 2016; Echols,
1986; Thompson, 2001). It includes challenging traditional gender roles, opposing
the sexual objectification of women, and raising public awareness about violence
and abuse of women (Chambers, 2005). Transnational feminism that emerged
in the 1970s is a contemporary feminist paradigm that examines the intersec-
tions between gender, race, sexuality, nationhood, and economic exploitation in
a global context (Ferree & Tripp, 2006). It critiques the social, political, and eco-
nomic conditions comprising imperialism; their connections to colonialism and
nationalism; and, the role of gender, state, race, class, and sexuality in the organi-
zation of resistance to hegemonies in the making and unmaking of nation and
nation-state (Campt & Thomas, 2008). Transnational feminist Chandra Talpade
Mohanty (2003) illustrates the concept by stating:
In this perspective, concrete struggles for survival rather than putatively common oppression
or shared identity is seen as the more reliable basis for solidarity, and “coalition” rather than
“unity” is the preferred political goal. (p. 117)

Approaches and understanding of transnational feminism have now been


applied to study of other minorities as well including the LGBTQ+ community
(Binnie & Klesse, 2012).
Transnational feminism resonated with the gay liberation prior to the 1970s
(Grewal & Kaplan, 2001). Later, it was replaced by a more mainstream and
narrower gay rights movement that identified itself in a more rigid and focused
manner and did not see itself strongly allied with other movements of libera-
tion that were working for essential social change (Armstrong, 2002). Further,
the gay rights activists lost the realization that homosexuality like heterosexual-
ity was socially constructed, that homosexual oppression and the oppression
of women were both as a result of the imposition of sex/gender roles and sex-
ism, and there was an urgent need for gay men to fight sexism alongside women
30 BHARAT MEHRA

(Bernstein, 2002). John D’Emilio (1992), in the foreword to the reissue of Out
of the Closets, writes:
[A]s the 1970s wore on, the gay and lesbian movement began to travel along many different
paths. One of these might be labeled a gay rights movement. Composed mostly of white, middle-
class, gay men, though with some lesbians and people of color as well, this reform-orientated
politics focused on gay issues only and largely abandoned the broad analysis of oppression that
animated gay liberation. These activists, many of whom were quite militant in the tactics they
espoused, sought entry into the system on terms of equality. (p. xxv)

D’Emilio (1992), however, draws parallels with radical feminists in his cri-
tique of the gay liberationists who were “moralistic and condescending” and in
the radicalism of their agenda that constructed “prescriptive sexual politics” in
their attacks on “roles, anonymous sex, objectification, and bar culture,” similar
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to accusations in the so-called feminist sexuality debates of the 1980s (p. xxvii)
where the radical feminist criticism of pornography and prostitutions was also
attacked for being right wing and moralistic (Vance, 1984).
Women’s studies recognize the intersections between gender, race, sexuality,
class, and nation in the creation of social inequalities and in identity formation
that is seen as a complex social process and phenomena (Jerkins, 2018). Scholars
in women’s studies draw ideally on a feminist pedagogy among a diverse set of
methodologies including standpoint theory, intersectionality, multiculturalism,
transnational feminism, auto-ethnography, reading practices associated with crit-
ical theory, post-structuralism, and queer theory, among others (Bowles & Klein,
1983; Smith, 2013). Identifying with the practical dimensions of feminist theory,
though gender and women are at the heart of feminist pedagogical practices while
promoting the importance of social change, women’s studies also affiliates itself
with other forms of critical pedagogy including those focused on race and eth-
nicity, sexual orientation, class, postcolonialism, and globalization (Chavez &
Griffin, 2012). In its objective to understand and analyze gender inequality, the
feminist theory provides a theoretical and philosophical base and examines wom-
en’s social roles, experience, interests, and feminist politics in a variety of fields,
such as anthropology, sociology, communication, psychoanalysis, economics, lit-
erature, education, and philosophy (Grant, 1993). Themes of challenged analysis
are applied toward discrimination, sexual objectification, oppression, patriarchy,
stereotyping, and others (hooks, 2000). As a form of critical pedagogy, feminist
pedagogy aims “to help students develop consciousness of freedom, recognize
authoritarian tendencies, and connect knowledge to power and the ability to take
constructive action” (Giroux, 2010, para. 1).

Critical Theory
Drawing on the critical methods of Karl Marx and Sigmund Freud, in the 1930s
Germany, the Frankfurt School coined the term critical theory in sociology and
political philosophy to provide a reflective assessment and critique of society and
culture by applying knowledge from various disciplinary domains (Felluga, 2015).
Max Horkheimer (1895–1973) described a theory as critical insofar as it seeks “to
liberate human beings from the circumstances that enslave them” (1982, p. 244).
What is “LGBTQ+” Information? 31

According to Raymond Geuss (1981), the critical theory asserts that ideology
is the principal obstacle to human liberation. Five significant Frankfurt School
theoreticians included: Herbert Marcuse, Theodor Adorno, Max Horkheimer,
Walter Benjamin, and Erich Fromm (Jay, 1996). Modern critical theorists
include György Lukács and Antonio Gramsci, as well as the second-generation
Frankfurt School scholars, notably Jürgen Habermas who took the critical theory
from its roots in German idealism and introduced elements of American pragma-
tism where concern for social “base and superstructure,” including the forces and
relations of production, employer–employee work conditions, division of labor,
property relations, cultural institutions, political power structures, roles and ritu-
als, and the nature of state control have become the cornerstones of contempo-
rary critical theory (Outhwaite, 1988).
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The critical theory promotes progressive actions for change that question
traditional understandings and scrutinize existing values, practices, ideological
frameworks, and processes to promote a progressive society (Froomkin, 2003;
Habermas, 1993; Kellner, 1989). This includes points of view of the under-repre-
sented in order to “do justice to a diversity of socially defined perspectives while
providing a grounding for the evaluation of controversial problems” (Endres,
1996, p. 24; Mehra & Bishop, 2007). The development of modern thinking toward
sexuality and sexual orientation, LGBTQ+ advocacy and human rights discourse
focusing on gay rights, and other progressive development in contemporary soci-
ety is a result of practical applications of critical theory in today’s world.

Queer Theory and Modern LGBTQ+ Studies


Been in circulation for over the past few decades, often these days the word “queer”
is used to include gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and questioning individuals,
among others who identify outside the fixed binary biological sex realms (Callis,
2014). Not with controversy, some scholars recently consider it as one of the most
inclusive to represent sexual minorities since it covers all individuals who do not
identify with, or are not recognized as part of a heterosexual majority (Oswin,
2008). Following the work of Michel Foucault (Gordon, 1988), contemporary
scholars began use of the abusive word “queer” by advocate groups as a mark
of ownership, empowerment, and appropriation that ironically self-consciously
historicizes and marks the repressive character of social discourses surrounding
sexuality (Blasius, 2001; Garber, 1995). Quotation marks (“”) are sometimes used
with the word “queer” to recognize the history of abuse, ridicule, discrimination,
and violence projected against “queer” people and the need to reexamine the past
and to turn the situation around in forcing the development of a more accepting
cultural environment (Mehra & Braquet, 2006).
Emerging from the fields of queer studies and women’s studies in the early
1990s, the term “queer theory” was coined by Italian feminist and film theorist
Teresa de Lauretis (1991). Considered a field of post-structuralist critical the-
ory, it includes both the queer reading of texts and the theorization of “queer-
ness” (Sullivan, 2003). It is heavily influenced by the work of Lauren Berlant,
Leo Bersani, Judith Butler, Lee Edelman, Jack Halberstam, David Halperin, José
32 BHARAT MEHRA

Esteban Muñoz, and, Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick, among others (Pullen, Harding, &
Phillips, 2017). Queer theory extends feminist challenges to the notion that fixed
gender is part of the fundamental self and lesbian/gay studies that provided scru-
tiny of the social construction of sexual activities and sexual identities as part
of the human experience (Nagoshi, Nagoshi, & Brzuzy, 2013). The queer theory
keeps its focus on any form of sexual (and human) activity or sexual (and human)
identity irrespective of whether they fall under the so-called socially constructed
normative and deviant categories while going beyond gay/lesbian studies that ini-
tially were concerned with narrow inquiries of natural and/or unnatural homo-
sexual behaviors (Ruti, 2017). The term “homosexual” has now become defunct
and outdated owing to its dehumanizing and clinical connotations (Peters, 2014).
The fluidity of sex, sexuality, gender, identity, and desire is central to the queer
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theory and its focus on ambiguities is based on deflating notions of stable and
correlated sexes, sexualities, and genders that has emerged specifically from les-
bian and gay assessment of the post-structuralist perspective of identity develop-
ment as an assemblage of multiple and unstable positions (Savin-Williams, 2017).
The queer theory, thus, places contemporary discourses surrounding the
“queer” in a historical and cultural context and recognizes the pros and cons
of using contemporary terminologies and descriptions associated with the
“LGBTQ+” since it will constantly keep growing as new understandings and
knowledge emerges. For example, new constructs have recently led to a crea-
tion of LGBT Studies and Transgender Studies (among others) to represent the
emerging valued areas of related knowledge domains in many institutions of
higher learning in the United States (Lovaas, Elia, & Yep, 2006; Stryker, 2013).

Intersectionality
As a study of interactions between forms or systems of oppression, domination,
and discrimination, intersectionality (or intersectionalism) traces back to the
nineteenth century, though, as a feminist sociological theory, it was first intro-
duced by Kimberlé Crenshaw in 1989. Intersectionality examines how various
intersecting categories, such as gender, sexual orientation, race, class, ability, reli-
gion, caste, species, and other markers of biological, social, and cultural identity,
lead to the systemic forms of oppression, injustice, and inequality at multiple and
often simultaneous levels (Davis, 2008). Such an understanding recognizes the
complexities of experience, behavior, identity, and reality beyond human beings
pigeonholed into simple categories and neat boxes in the classical conceptualiza-
tions of social oppression, such as racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia,
and religious bigotry, which are considered to act independently of each other
(Luyckx, Schwartz, Goossens, Beyers, & Missotten, 2011; McCall, 2008). In The
Social Organization of Sexuality: Sexual Practices in the United States, Edward
O. Laumann (1994) identifies the difficulties that arise due to the many complexi-
ties and problems associated in making “multidimensional conceptualizations”
(pp. 298–301). As an applicatory framework, intersectionality was initially used
to explore the oppression of women though today people across disciplines and
contexts employ its practices and analytical approaches to all populations to
What is “LGBTQ+” Information? 33

reveal layers of intersections in varied group membership. For example, Monica


Michlin and Jean-Paul Rocchi (2014) edited a collection of work that explored the
complex interrelationships between race, gender, and sex in the context of black
intersectionalities. Derek M. Griffith (2012) took an intersectional approach to
men’s health and “how structural factors and men’s socially-defined characteris-
tics affect the relationship between sex, gender, and health” (p. 106).

IMPLICATIONS FOR THE LIS PROFESSIONS


(INCLUDING LIBRARIANSHIP)
So, why is it important for the LIS professional to know about these interdisci-
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plinary connections and the various theories and concepts as well as the brief
historical milestones of interrelated constructs associated with sexuality and
same-sex orientation weaved into the narrative? How can these inform our efforts
to fill gaps and extend LIS work and the impact of librarianship in integrating an
“invisibilized” knowledge domain, meeting information behavior expectations of
a marginalized population, and developing specific information resources/systems
design for LGBTQ+ people that are more relevant and up-to-date with the expec-
tations of the current times? Use of the term “invisibilized” draws attention to the
reality of LGBTQ+ invisibility that has been intentionally created and imposed
over the years on every aspect of information provision thanks to the dictum of
social mores, religious values, and/or sociocultural and sociopolitical factors asso-
ciated with perpetuating heteronormativity as an all-encompassing human condi-
tion (Jackson, 2006; Oswald, Blume, & Marks, 2005; Schilt & Westbrook, 2009).
The LIS professions and their institutions of privilege have not been immune from
these effects. In order for LIS professionals to serve as proactive agents of social
justice, it is important for them to now critically assess their current knowledge,
standards, policies, and practices (Mehra & Braquet, 2014). It is also pertinent for
them to critically rectify on all aspects of their information creation–organiza-
tion–management–dissemination–education responses, services, and products to
identify what aspects of the “LGBTQ+” have been left out as a result of these
dysfunctional aspects of a hegemonic global culture (Mehra, 2011). The use of
the adjective “progressive” in describing the expected role of the LIS professional
in the chapter refers to an expectation to take concrete actions in changing the
conditions that lack fairness, equality/equity, justice, and/or human rights for
LGBTQ+ people via the use of information (Rioux & Mehra, 2016). The follow-
ing are a few important considerations in this regard.

An Integrative Interdisciplinary LGBTQ+ Information Model


It is important for the library professional to have at their fingertips, accurate,
authoritative, current, and diverse viewpoints related to LGBTQ+ information
in today’s politically and culturally hostile climate. Select relevant and specific
phrases as applied to LGBTQ+ from the American Library Association’s (latest
amended 1996) Bill of Rights include the provision of books and resources for
34 BHARAT MEHRA

the “interest, information, and enlightenment of all people of the community the
library serves,” non-exclusion of materials “because of the origin, background,
or views of those contributing to their creation,” and the obligation of libraries
to “provide materials and information presenting all points of view on current
and historical issues.” Fig. 2 integrates a few interdisciplinary LGBTQ+ perspec-
tives that were touched upon in this chapter. Such an integrative interdisciplinary
LGBTQ+ information model should also include the theories and constructs
related to sexualities and sexual orientations that were visualized in Fig. 1 and
discussed earlier in this chapter.
On one level, the various LGBTQ+ perspectives listed can be considered sim-
plistic. For example, the “philosophical” and “religious” perspectives can be sepa-
rated. Some examples of the listed disciplines might be considered too broad and
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not at the same related levels as the others (e.g., there might be several perspec-
tives within the “psychological” perspective such as behavioral, cognitive, affec-
tive, etc.). The terminology and vocabulary representing the perspectives, too,

Fig. 2.  Integrative Interdisciplinary LGBTQ+ Information Model.


What is “LGBTQ+” Information? 35

might be considered by some to need change. The strategy of listing the identified
perspectives is for the reader to consider them as “place-holders” to be reflected
upon and modified accordingly based on a conscious and deliberate assessment
by the progressive librarian in response to the need for representing diverse view-
points, contextually situated relevance, prevailing knowledge, and expectations of
localized user communities. A LGBTQ+ LibGuide of sorts is one example of an
information resource that can be designed to integrate some of these listings and
descriptions to contextualize and demarcate information-related resources, mate-
rials, and services that can get organized according to the identified (or modified)
categories in the model.

Growth of a Diversified LGBTQ+ Knowledge Base and Experiences


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Currently, the mainstream and majority of LGBTQ+ information available in


western libraries is Euro/Anglo-centric (Ridge, Hee, & Minichiello, 2008); be it
LGBTQ+ themed text-based books, magazines, graphic novels, scholarly journals,
electronic databases, films, or other materials in multimedia formats (Valentine,
2008). The progressive LIS professional has to inform local and global commu-
nities of information that is representative of a variety of LGBTQ+ knowledge
experiences and cultures from around the world (Mehra et al., 2018). In addition,
LGBTQ+ experiences based on intersectionality such as those of people of color,
older age groups, low-income origins, rural backgrounds, pansexual individuals,
and other oppressed subcultures continue to remain under-represented within this
“invisibilized” population (Taylor, 2013). This is disastrous for young LGBTQ+
people who are exposed only to minimal relevant content and/or a biased set of
white, middle-class (or western) experiences and to model their behaviors solely
on what they see in television and cable entertainment news shows media with
their culturally marginal and stereotyped coverage (Engel, 2013). What is wrong
is the lack of availability and access to LGBTQ+ content more than the few
and far in just what we currently find (Carilli & Campbell, 2013). Caretakers,
social workers, and service support providers of LGBTQ+ youth, including their
teachers, have also complained about the shortage of diverse and useful content
available to them (Graybill & Proctor, 2016; Nothdurfter & Nagy, 2016). The LIS
professional of today and of the future must address this “white elephant” and
contribute creatively in different ways toward developing and making available a
more diversified information set related to the “LGBTQ+.”

Holistic LGBTQ+ Information Representations


Inclusion of accurate and holistic LGBTQ+ information representations (e.g.,
subject headings, keywords, and authority files) emerging across boundaries of dis-
ciplines/domains of knowledge, institutions (e.g., private, public, and non-profits),
user-librarian, and local-regional-national-global divides, among other categorized
areas, is instrumental in assisting our users search and locate relevant information
to meet their needs (Olson, 2000, 2002). The urgency is key since most of the cur-
rent formal organization systems and development of our professional information
resources are structured and based on very basic and limited formalized LGBTQ+
36 BHARAT MEHRA

terminologies and vocabularies (Alder, 2009; Olson, 1998; Olson & Boll, 2001).
Contemporary literature continues to draw attention to the limitations and biases
in these authoritative sources, such as the Library of Congress Subject Headings,
the Library of Congress Authority Files (Name and Subject), the Dewey Decimal
Classification, and others, toward LGBTQ+ content in not being inclusive of even
some of the fundamental descriptors and headings as well as their relationships
(via broader, narrower, and related terms and semantic maps) (Drabinski, 2013;
Greenblatt, 2011; Olson, 2007). The need to provide mechanisms of integrating
localized folksonomies and globalized descriptions used by individuals belonging
to the categories and subgroups associated with the “LGBTQ+” is also important
(Bates & Rowley, 2011; Colbert, 2017; Ornelas, 2011). A highly prioritized task
for a concerned LIS professional should be to map current subjects, topics, words,
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terms, and constructs representing various viewpoints across disciplines and user-
librarian/local-global demarcations based on gaps and limitations in the formal
professional tools and resources in specialized areas (Museus & Griffin, 2011;
Singh, 2016). Developing a holistic LGBTQ+ knowledge ontology will make visi-
ble these “invisiblized” content areas and vocabularies (e.g., related to transgender/
transsexual content) (Gustavson, 2009; Pereira & Baranauskas, 2018).

LGBTQ+ Activism
Information advocacy and activism means venturing outside of our bastions
of privileged spaces embedded in the library or information agencies that we
are part of, to identify and develop collaborating initiatives and activities that
are mutually beneficial and further LGBTQ+ concerns and issues on everyday
lives (Markshamer & Tobin, 2014; Mehra & Braquet, 2007). The Public Library
Association (n.d.), a division of the American Library Association, considers
advocacy as “the process of acting on behalf of the public library to increase
public funds and ensure that it has the resources need to be up to date … critical
to the success of libraries.” This is a narrow, internalized, library-centric, self-
absorbed, and solely selfish definition on the website of a professional association
that represents a public service agency with a long history of rhetoric around
engaging with communities and generating external impact (de la McCook &
Bossaller, 2017; Mehra, Rioux, & Albright, 2009). Beyond serving as self-advo-
cates, where is the notion of advocating for external disenfranchised communi-
ties? Unfortunate is a complete absence of words representing understanding in
terms of advocacy in venturing out to make a difference in their communities of
which public libraries are a part of, and, that support them financially via the tax-
payer’s contributions (Lankes, 2016). Within such a limited climate and histori-
cal legacy, it is not surprising the professions have encountered strong resistance
to change from their passive role of bystanders and “neutral” stance (Gregogy
& Higgins, 2013; Moreillon, 2018; Shirley & Baharark, 2017). Nor is it unex-
pected that they have not been proactive supporters traditionally of LGBTQ+
concerns or expectations of other disadvantaged populations in significant and
substantial ways that these communities have considered meaningful (Mehra &
Braquet, 2006). Subsequently, public perceptions, including those of key political
What is “LGBTQ+” Information? 37

players in society too, have not always been very favorable toward public libraries
(Lankes, 2015).

Participatory Engagement and Inclusion of LGBTQ+ Users


The LIS professionals should make intentional and strategic their efforts to
include and involve individuals identifying as LGBTQ+ and others belonging
to various underserved groups in the activities and everyday experiences of the
library. It will help toward better understanding their information-related needs,
expectations, wants, human information behaviors, etc., to develop and design
information resources, systems, services, collections, programs, and other activ-
ities that are more effective and meaningful to these constituencies (Mehra &
Srinivasan, 2007). Such strategies of inclusion will help libraries consider and
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move forward in how their information agency and organization can shape life
experiences that make a difference to people. It will in turn mobilize public opin-
ion in favor of the library and help it extend its impact.

CONCLUSION
What are human attractions? Various intertwining physical, psychological, emo-
tional, social, cultural, intellectual, and other needs shape us as human beings in
who we are attracted to on diverse levels. The inclusion of the term “sex” in the
words “sexuality” and “sexual orientation” does not cut it since they limit the
meanings to only the physical and prevents an encompassing understanding of
human nature in representing these myriad variables on influencing our thoughts,
feeling, actions, attitudes, values, beliefs, behaviors, identities, and other dimen-
sions of the human experience. This chapter briefly introduced readers to select
interdisciplinary LGBTQ+ connections to provide context, content, and subject
awareness related to these constructs relevant to the progressive professionals’
understanding of the “LGBTQ+.” Future directions to further LGBTQ+ librar-
ianship will involve extended work in the adaptation and implementation of vari-
ous directions of thought touched upon in this chapter.

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