Webinar summary | Exploring LGBTQIA+ Identities and Representation

In this webinar, Peter talked about the LGBTQIA+ identity, their experiences in healthcare, issues and assumptions, and made suggestions about the use of appropriate language. He also showed an example of his ELT materials incorporating family and relationships vocabulary. The main take-away message of the webinar is the call for making the LGBTQIA+ community more visible in teaching resources and the use of inclusive language when building a doctor-patient rapport.

Peter explained what the acronym LGBTQIA+ stands for: Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans, Queer, Intersex, Asexual, plus other identities such as genderfluid, pansexual, etc. He described differences between the terms: sex, gender identity, gender expression, and sexual orientation. He suggested using alternative vocabulary: “chosen family” vs “nuclear family”, adjectives “cis” vs “trans”, avoiding an assumption that everybody is straight, and recognizing themselves as she or he, mother and father, husband and wife.

He created a short practical guide called LGBTQIA+ identities in English Language Teaching (ELT), which contains lists of vocabulary, listening, writing, reading and speaking activities on topics such as family, jobs, life events, school and education, sex and gender, sexual orientation, romantic orientation, and gender identity. The guide is free upon subscribing to Peter´s mailing list. More teaching resources developed by him can be found at his website.

Further information about statistics, issues, and challenges, can be found in the following reports presented by Peter:

• Hidden Figures: LGBT Health Inequalities in the UK (2020)
• Pride in Practice LGBT Patient: Experience Survey 2021 (2021)
• LGBT in Britain: Health Report (2018)

Watch the webinar here.