ABSTRACT
This chapter emerges from a social context in which prejudice against lesbians and gay men remains commonplace and in which negative attitudes toward lesbians and gay men are held by a significant number of nurses and other health care professionals. Empirical evidence suggests a higher than expected incidence of a number of mental health problems among lesbians and gay men. A popular idea involves a sequence of stages that lesbians and gay men go through when they are realizing and disclosing their sexual identity. The review of the empirical research to date on health care experience, the development and management of lesbian and gay identities, and the mental health of lesbians and gay men showed that such work has not yet been done.
