"Your sexuality is yours and yours alone": a reflexive thematic analysis of sexual orientation microaggressions and their impact on LGB emerging adults' sexual health knowledge and attitudes.
Robinson T, Coleman T, Carmack C • Frontiers in public health • 2025
Sexual orientation microaggressions (SOMs) greatly influence how LGB individuals view their identity, sexual health, and attitudes toward sexual behavior, with family, religion, coping strategies, and sex education emerging as critical thematic domains.
Key Findings
Results
Early familial experiences with sexual orientation microaggressions shaped LGB emerging adults' understanding of their identity and sexual health from a young age.
Family interactions were identified as a critical early context in which SOMs occurred and influenced identity development.
Participants described how familial microaggressions contributed to negative self-perceptions and limited their access to affirming sexual health information.
This theme emerged as one of four major themes from reflexive thematic analysis of four focus groups with N=17 LGB emerging adults (M age = 20.4 ± 2.4 years).
Family context was described as shaping attitudes toward sexual behavior and sexual health knowledge early in life.
Results
Religious persecution related to sexual orientation functioned as a form of microaggression that negatively impacted LGB emerging adults' sexuality and sexual health attitudes.
Religious messages were identified as a distinct thematic domain contributing to SOMs experienced by participants.
Participants described religious contexts as sources of hostile or derogatory messaging about their sexual orientation.
This theme was identified as one of four core themes in the reflexive thematic analysis.
Religious persecution was framed as a systemic influence on how LGB individuals internalize their identity and approach sexual health.
Results
LGB emerging adults developed coping and resilience strategies in response to sexual orientation microaggressions, which in turn influenced their sexual health attitudes and behaviors.
Coping and resilience strategies constituted one of four major themes identified through reflexive thematic analysis.
Participants described ways they navigated identity-related microaggressions and how those strategies shaped their engagement with sexual health.
The theme suggests that resilience is actively constructed by LGB individuals in response to microaggressive environments.
Coping strategies were linked to participants' broader attitudes toward sexual behavior and sexual risk.
Results
Sexual education and miseducation emerged as a critical theme, with participants describing inadequate or exclusionary sex education as a form of or contributor to sexual orientation microaggressions.
Miseducation and exclusion from mainstream sexual health curricula were identified as systemic microaggressions affecting LGB emerging adults.
Participants described receiving sexual health education that did not address LGB identities or experiences, leading to gaps in knowledge.
This was identified as one of four major themes from four focus groups with 17 LGB emerging adults.
The authors note that 'sexual health education begins during the stage of adolescence,' suggesting early educational exclusion has lasting effects.
Results
Sexual orientation microaggressions were found to influence both sexual health knowledge and attitudes toward sexual risk behavior among LGB emerging adults.
The study utilized reflexive thematic analysis of four focus groups with N=17 LGB emerging adults (mean age 20.4 ± 2.4 years).
SOMs were described as derogatory, hostile, and homophobic insults with adverse mental and physical health outcomes.
Results suggest that SOMs affect not only mental health and identity development but also how LGB individuals approach sexual health and risk-related sexual behavior.
The study identified a gap in prior research, noting that 'little research has addressed the systemic influence SOMs have on sexual health knowledge and risk-related sexual behavior.'
Discussion
Addressing sexual orientation microaggressions in education, family, and healthcare systems was identified as a strategy to enhance healthcare access and quality for LGB individuals.
The authors suggest that addressing SOMs across multiple systems 'may enhance healthcare access and quality and create inclusive environments.'
Inclusive environments were described as encouraging equitable experiences early in identity development.
The findings point to systemic-level interventions rather than individual-level approaches alone.
The study recommends future research to examine LGB youth experiences of SOMs and impacts on identity development, well-being, and sexual health behaviors.
What This Means
This research suggests that lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) young adults frequently encounter subtle but harmful forms of discrimination called sexual orientation microaggressions (SOMs) — derogatory or dismissive comments and behaviors related to their sexual identity — and that these experiences have real consequences for how they learn about and engage with their sexual health. Through focus groups with 17 LGB emerging adults (average age around 20), researchers identified four key areas where these microaggressions occurred and caused harm: within families, through religious messages, in how people coped and built resilience, and through inadequate or exclusionary sex education. Participants described receiving sexual health information that simply did not include or acknowledge LGB people, which left them with gaps in knowledge and shaped negative attitudes about their own sexuality and health.
This research suggests that the harm from microaggressions goes beyond psychological distress — it also affects whether LGB individuals feel safe seeking healthcare, how they understand sexual risk, and whether they receive accurate sexual health education at critical developmental stages. Family environments and religious settings were described as particularly influential early sources of microaggressive messaging that shaped long-term attitudes. At the same time, participants also demonstrated resilience and developed strategies to navigate these hostile environments.
The practical implications of this research point to the need for changes at the systems level — in schools, families, religious communities, and healthcare settings — to create more inclusive and affirming environments for LGB youth and young adults. The authors call for future research specifically focused on younger LGB individuals to better understand how microaggressions during adolescence shape sexual health knowledge and behavior before those patterns become entrenched.
Robinson T, Coleman T, Carmack C. (2025). "Your sexuality is yours and yours alone": a reflexive thematic analysis of sexual orientation microaggressions and their impact on LGB emerging adults' sexual health knowledge and attitudes.. Frontiers in public health. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2025.1522751