ABSTRACT
Social workers can celebrate marriage equality as a positive step towards recognizing the importance of human relationships while also acknowledging that there is more work to do in the fight for social justice. LGBTQIA (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, questioning, intersex, asexual and ally) couples meet in many of the same ways heterosexual couples meet: social gatherings, work, bars, through friends, and online. Gay relationships end in similar ways to heterosexual ones. Couples break up. They divorce. Sometimes someone dies. When working with diverse populations, social workers build cultural competence by remaining open and welcome to new understandings in order to provide culturally sensitive, effective services. Social workers use critical self-reflection to increase awareness about how their own experiences may impact their work with their clients, whether that is an individual, a couple, a family, a group, an organization, or a community.
