What’s in a Label? Sexual Identity Labeling Among Nonheterosexual Students of Color in College

• In Event: Roundtable Session 28
  In Roundtable Session: Intersectionality in Postsecondary Education

Abstract

This qualitative study investigated the ways in which race and ethnicity influence sexual identify labeling practices of non-heterosexual (e.g., bisexual, gay, lesbian, pansexual) students of color in college. Homosexual identity development and labeling theories were employed as this study’s theoretical framework to explore the labeling practices of 37 non-heterosexual students of color. We identified three major findings that explicate these students’ decisions about their sexual identity labels: identity label modification, comfort with less traditional non-heterosexual sexual identity labels, and sexual identity labels as liberating. Implications for theory, research, and practice are highlighted.

Authors

• Derrick L Tillman-Kelly, The Ohio State University

• Terrell Lamont Strayhorn, The Ohio State University