LGBTQ+ Research

In my LGBTQ+ gender research, I have developed a mixed method program of research that has studied the construction and evolution of gender identities within lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ+) cultures.   This 25-year program of research has developed a theory of gender that is inclusive of LGBTQ+ experience and that articulates the functions that make a construct be understood as a 'gender.'  In this work, I have investigated the development and meanings of LGBTQ+ genders and the influence of these genders on issues such as discrimination and healthcare.  This body of work has been concerned with studying the historicity of these communities – examining how gender identities arise over time in relation to evolving social realities and the competing social understandings of gender.  The Psychology of Women Quarterly has featured this work in a special issue focusing on its implications (Levitt, 2019).  I developed an empirically-based theory of LGBTQ+ gender that speaks to the commingling of essential and constructed aspects of gender and to how new genders are formed in actions to stigma from both mainstream heterosexual and LGBTQ+ communities. This work considers why certain LGBTQ+ gender identities coalesce and thrive at certain points in time. This research highlights how members of a community unite to claim sets of values in order to claim power and resist marginalization by larger groups.  It examines the foundation for the development of gender aesthetics that define desirability within a community, as these values are embodied and expressed materially.  

In addition, using survey and qualitative research, I have documented sexual and intersection minority stressors (especially related to heterosexist and transphobic legislation and policy).  This research has examined the detrimental influence of political and organizational discrimination, such as the anti-LGBTQ marriage amendments, and policies to restrict LGBTQ adoption, fostering, or fertility-related medical care; e.g., Arm et al., 2020; Levitt et al, 2009; Levitt et al., 2020).   This work has been used in amicus briefs at the district and supreme court levels to protect LGBTQ+ rights.

Most recently, I have been working with colleagues to develop  interventions to reduce stress and depression associated with heterosexism and transphobia.  My colleagues and I have been developing freely available expressive writing exercises to support LGBTQ+ people to heal from and overcome heterosexism and transphobia.  In these exercises, LGBTQ+ people are provided with a forum and structure to consider troubling stigma-related experiences and to develop responses to them that work in the context of their own lives.  These exercises have been found to be helpful to 85-99% of participants across varied studies and to result in decreases in both depression and event-related stress.  See www.LGBTQMentalHealth.com to learn more about this work or to utilize these exercises. 

Example articles

Levitt, H. M. (2019). A psychosocial genealogy of LGBTQ+ gender: An empirically based theory of gender and gender identity cultures.  Psychology of Women Quarterly, 43(3), 275-297. https://doi.org/10.1177/0361684319834641.

Levitt, H. M., Collins, K. M., Maroney, M. R. & Roberts, T. S. (2022). Healing from heterosexist experiences:  A mixed methods intervention study using expressive writing.  Psychology of Sexual Orientation and Gender Diversity, 9(2),152-164.  https://doi.org/10.1037/sgd0000478