The 54th Nebraska Symposium on Contemporary Perspectives on Lesbian, Gay & Bisexual Identities
Volume Editor: Debra A. Hope, Ph.D.
This year the Nebraska Symposium turns its attention to psychological aspects of sexual orientation. Whether one defines sexual orientation as sexual behavior, self-identification, or attraction, sexual orientation is fundamentally about motivation, making it an ideal topic for the NSM. The same-sex marriage debate is part of a broader discussion about sexual orientation that we are having as a society. Many of the issues have or should be addressed by psychology and related fields, yet this literature is not yet well-known. Thus the first goal of this Nebraska Symposium is to provide a forum to for leading scholars to share their work on a variety of topics including the coming out experience, same-sex families, hate crimes and bias, and psychobiological underpinning of sexual orientation. Because gays, lesbians, bisexuals and their families live with an evolving legal status for their civil rights and protections, we will also include a legal perspective. The second goal of this Symposium is to inform teachers of psychology about the state of the art work in this area so that it can be incorporated into courses. Students are interested in what psychology has to say about sexual orientation and it is relevant to nearly every course in a psychology curriculum. Yet most psychologists are unfamiliar with the scientific literature so it is hoped that this Symposium will give instructors a starting point for updating their syllabi. The third goal is to provide mental health providers and educators with the background to better serve their lesbian, gay and bisexual clients and students.
Scheduled speakers include:
Michael Bailey, Ph.D. (Northwestern University)
Marvin Goldfried, Ph.D. (SUNY-Stony Brook)
Gregory Herek, Ph.D. (University of California-Davis)
Charlotte Patterson, Ph.D., (University of Virginia)
Esther Rothblum (San Diego State University)
Ritch Savin-Williams, Ph.D. (Cornell University)
The Symposium will include a poster session and will be followed by a published volume.