ABSTRACT
This chapter provides social workers with beginning knowledge needed for practice with lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) youth by contextualizing their experiences within the macro environment, reviewing common challenges they face, and offering guidelines for practice. Shifting terminology can cause anxiety for practitioners seeking to communicate their openness and acceptance of diverse sexual orientations and gender identities. LGBT youth can be found among all populations in the United States; as a population, they cross the lines of race, ethnicity, class, and gender. Identity development is a critical task of adolescence. A disproportionate number of youth experiencing homelessness identify as LGBT. LGBT youth report higher rates of violence and victimization than their heterosexual and cisgender counterparts. The sexual health of LGBT youth is impacted by the maintenance of heterosexual norms in a heterosexist society, where pressure exists to develop heterosexual relationships.
