Counseling Psychology doctoral student Jill Huang and faculty members Eric Chen, Ph.D., and Joe Ponterotto, Ph.D. recently published “Heterosexual Chinese Americans’ Experiences of Their Lesbian and Gay Sibling’s Coming Out” in the Asian American Journal of Psychology. Access the article at dx.doi.org/10.1037/aap0000051.
This qualitative study explored the experiences of second-generation heterosexual Chinese and Taiwanese Americans who have gay biological siblings… The authors explored the participants’ overall experience in relation to their gay sibling’s coming out, how their sibling and family relationships evolved over time, and how traditional Asian values were related to their worldview and relationships to family members over time…
The results of the interviews highlighted the importance of sibling relationships to the coming out process for gay siblings. Siblings typically bonded over the gay sibling’s sexual orientation disclosure, became more self-reflective and self-aware, and became more politically active. Participants’ struggles in accepting their gay sibling’s sexual orientation revolved around conflicts between lesbian and gay sexual orientation and their ethnic cultural values, family values, and faith.” Read the full abstract.
