ABSTRACT
Unfortunately, sexual orientation and gender expression/identity have generally been ignored as bases for inequality. Speaking about gays and lesbians, Gamson and Moon (2004) comment, “With some noticeable exceptions . . . sociologists of race, class, and gender nonetheless tended to treat sexuality as a weakly integrated addendum to the list of intersecting oppressions” (p. 52). While this invisibility is changing rapidly, scholars still need to do more work to understand how sexuality and gender identity intersect with other identities. Too often scholars and activists assume homogeneity in the LGBTQ population, ignoring how factors like class and race result in very different experiences and needs ( Hutchinson 2001 ). Similarly, while statistics can be helpful in understanding averages, collecting data on LGBTQ people as a group obscures how being a lesbian is different from being a gay man or how transgender people face particularly high levels of poverty, incarceration, and violence.
