Running head: The LGBT Community

My Cultural Immersion with the LGBT Community

Rosine T. Niyungeko
Georgia State University

The LGBT Community

My Cultural Immersion with the LGBT Community

Prior to the activity
Prior to doing this activity I was so ignorant to The LGBT community because of how I
was brought up. I didn't think that there was anything else to be rather than being heterosexual.
At the age of 13, it was when I was exposed to the LGBT group. I come from a culture that is so
close minded that they believe that there's only one way to be, and that is being heterosexual. It
is not expected to be anything else because it's wrong in their mind. Just like them I was very
ignorant to other cultures because I didn't understand it, and I thought my sexual orientation was
the one that existed and everyone else's was not right. I thought that they were just making up it.
So for a long time I was very ignorant, and I judged anyone who was not like me. From what I
can recall I was not exposed much to the group because everyone I knew had the same views as
me for all I could tell. Also, the media over exaggerating on everything did not help at all. For
example, they would show that gay people were very hipper, sexual and feisty all which are not
acceptable to my culture. So I developed this notion that gays were so uncontrollable and needed
to come to their senses. The media has currently been very helpful in helping me understand the
LGBT community because it has come to a point where they recognize that in order to up sell
their rating they need to include this community into their programs and it's good for us the
viewers because we are exposed to it. For example, 2000 to 2005 there was a 30 percent
growth the Midwest and in 2006 in six states that ban same sex marriage the population
increased faster the national average in six of the eight states, States such as Kansas, New
Hampshire, Colorado, Ohio, Nebraska and Missouri (Leaving the Closet, 2007). I feel very
sympathetic to the LGBT community because in some state or countries, there are some benefits
that they cannot get because of who they are. In some cases, they are discriminated upon or even
harmed. I think that my current view of this group would be helpful to me because I now see that
the problem is not with them being themselves it's with me.
Briefly describe why you choose to study this group and your cultural immersion
experience
The main reason I chose this group of people is because for the longest time I was close
minded that I couldn't see past my cultural believes. It took me a long time to become so
accepting to this community group. After interviewing some people from this group of people, I
realized that there's a lot to learn about The LGBT community other than what I see from the
surface. That's why it was crucial for me to do an interview on two people who are gay. I wanted
to see if they both experienced the same kind of treatment within their community or dominant
culture. The interview that I did with Jose was very different to that of Sarnaa. While
interviewing them, I realized that even with the struggles that society puts upon them for being
different, they struggle in their social support systems. For example, Jose's family is so antihomosexual that he has never told them about his sexual orientation. He has a fianc, but they
think he is his roommate because that's what he told them (Jos, personal communication,
October 17, 2014). They speculate that there's more to what he told them, but they have a policy
such as the don't ask don't tell policy. Sometimes they ask him about it, and he brushes it off
because he is so afraid of what they are going to say to him (Jos, personal communication,
October 17, 2014).

The LGBT Community

On the other hand for Sarnaa's case, it wasn't the fact that he was afraid that his family
wasn't going to accept him, but his church and friends where his main concern. He grew up in
places where being gay was okay and so his family was already exposed to that community so it
wasn't hard for them to understand. He was just so afraid that if he came out his job wouldn't be
as accepting of him. He felt like they would take his position away as a missionary man. So he
decided to get married to a woman but it didn't stay for that long because he knew that he wasn't
living up to his true self (Sarnaa, personal communication, October 20, 2014).

Research and provide a brief summary of an area of interest about this group
My interest with The LGBT community would have to be with teens who are coming to
learn that they are different to what society expects them to be. I feel like this stage in growing
up is the toughest time that young people face. Also, their families play a big role in their lives
and if there's no one there to help them go through it to make sure that they end up being okay.
Some adolescent face difficult times because they are already going through their hormonal and
then adding to the fact that they are suffering to come out to their families and friends. When
they do come out sometimes they are marginalized and oppressed which might put them at
higher for suicide. Homophobic attitudes and behaviors appear to be interrelated with other
forms of verbal and physical forms of peer victimization ( Espelage, 2008, p.1). Thats why I feel
like when we start with schools we can reduce attitudes that children have about the LGBT
community. By helping them come to an understanding that being homosexual okay.
After the Activity
This experience has opened up me up to be accepting of The LGBT community because I
feel like we are too soon to judge others without understanding the facts. For example, I was
judging the LGBT community from the perspective of what I was brought up to believe. I didnt
understand it but was too quick to dismiss the fact that these are other fellow human beings that I
was judging. That by not trying to understand them was being oppressive. I remember coming to
class the first day and the first thing that we were taught was to forget everything that our
families taught us. We were going to start new to learn to accept others for who they are and not
what society believes of a certain person. This experience has left me with the belief that all
stereotypes that society we may see in the media are not exactly what these individual are. For
example that just because you are a lesbian does not be that you should dress like a boy. Just
because you are a gay men or boy does not mean that you should dress or behavior as girls do.
Ive come to learn that everyone is different and it just depends on your personality. What I have
mostly learned about this group was that it is hard when society is forcing you to dress or be a
certain way just because you are a boy or girl, but these people sometimes may not understand
that their so many things that maybe going on in the same persons mind. They may be confused
and they dont need society to add any pressure on them because they might already be
struggling with the same fact themselves. I can honestly believe that this experience has taught
be to be more open minded because these people could be my brothers or sisters going through
the same thing.
Continued Cultural Work

The LGBT Community

While doing this activity, I have come to the conclusion that it is not enough just doing
an interview there's more to learn. How would I know how to treat my clients if I didnt know
about them? Within the LGBT community, there's so much to learn other than people being gay
or Lesbian. I know there's more than the LGBT community, but it's more like LGBTQIAAP. I
feel like if one day I come in connect with people who are different from me, in the sense of
sexual identity it will be hard for me to communicate with them because I wouldn't know to act
around them. So I'm hoping to continue my journey of study through putting myself out there. If
I plan to work in a hospital, I know that this is part of the clients that I will be working with, so
it's really in my best interest to explore more about this particular community.

The LGBT Community

Reference
Espelage, D. L., & Swearer, S. M. (2008). Addressing research gaps in the intersection between
homophobia and bullying. School Psychology Review, 37(2), 155-159.
Leaving the Closet. (2007). Atlantic, 299(1), 44.