Dear Colleagues,

In 2011 the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies in the United States issued a report entitled The Health of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender People (Institute of Medicine, 2011), which offered an extensive examination of the current state of knowledge related to the physical and mental well-being of lesbians, gay men, bisexual men and women, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) persons living in the US. Similarly, in the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association-Europe’s (ILGA-Europe) most recent report on the lives of LGBTQ persons, living in various places throughout Europe, similarities and differences in country-specific experiences of survey respondents were identified. While the scope of each of these inquiries suggests a significant increase in scholarship focused on sexual minorities, each also underscored the relative dearth of information available in myriad areas – in terms of substantive foci, sexuality and gender identity similarities and differences, and the scope of the geographic locations represented by study participants. In fact, we know relatively little about what it is like to identify as a sexual minority in many parts of the world, and our understanding of LGBTQ lives, outside of relatively few urban arenas, is limited at best. Notably, even the research that has been conducted in these urban arenas generally fails to consider the specific implications of urbanicity as a potential variable of interest. This reality provides the impetus for this Special Issue.

Specifically, this Special Issue seeks to focus on contextually-oriented factors that impact the lives of LGBTQ persons throughout the world. Manuscripts that would be appropriate for this Special Issue would include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Urban-rural comparison studies that offer a more nuanced in-depth understanding of the relevance of these distinctions in offering meaningful insights into the experiences of LGBTQ persons

• Studies that contextualize findings within specific spatial and socio-cultural aspects of the environment

• Cross-cultural studies that focus on contextual differences that influence study findings

• Impact of the intersection between personal characteristics and spatial characteristics in the lives of L, G, B, T, or Q persons

• Historical comparative analyses of the relevance of place in the lives of LGBTQ persons

• Differences in venue-specific presentation of self as sexual minority living in different geographic locations

• Changes in the meaning/relevance of place in the internet age

Theoretical, empirical, and practice-based studies from a wide range of disciplines including law, sociology, political science, criminology, psychology, anthropology, education, social work, social policy, sexuality, and gender studies, as well as contributions which are cross-disciplinary and inter-disciplinary are encouraged. Regardless of the approach, the central organizing theme linking these collected works will be the role of place in the lives of sexual minorities.

Dr. Melanie D. Otis
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All papers will be peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a double-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Social Sciences is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

References:

Institute of Medicine. The Health of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender People: Building a Foundation for Better Understanding. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press, 2011.

International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association-Europe [ILGA-Europe]. “About us.” 2014. Available online: http://www.ilga-europe.org/home/about_us/
what_is_ilga_europe (accessed on 3 March 2015).

• sexual minority
• LGBTQ
• lesbian
• gay
• bisexual
• transgender
• sexuality
• coming out
• LGBT rights
• gender identity