Incorporating Transformative Intersectional Psychology (TIP) into Our Understanding of LGBTQ Muslims’ Lived Experiences, Challenges, and Growth

ABSTRACT

This article serves as the first in a series of six articles providing a theoretically and empirically informed approach to understanding Muslim LGBTQ lives from an intersectional positive-growth framework, transformative intersectional psychology (TIP). Within this perspective, LGBTQ Muslims’ religious, gender and sexual identities are mutually interactive and situated within the dynamic systems of power, privilege and oppression. This approach recognizes that LGBTQ individuals negotiate multiple minority identities as they navigate oppression and build pathways of resilience. In the present article, we provide an introduction to TIP and this theory’s relevance to the distinct experiences of LGBTQ Muslims. We then conclude with an overview of the goals of this Special Issue, The LGBTQ Muslim Experience, and introduce the subsequent articles in the series. The articles in this Special Issue address the implications of transformative intersectional psychology for LGBTQ Muslim research, training and clinical practice.

KEYWORDS:

• Transformative development
• intersectionality
• LGBTQ
• Muslim
• Multiple minority identities

Acknowledgments

This Special Issue was inspired by the LGBTQ Muslim Experience Study (Chana Etengoff, PI), and has generously been supported by Eastern Michigan University’s Equality Knowledge Grant. The authors wish to thank the Special Issue contributors for their rigorous commitment to authentically amplifying the voices of LGBTQ Muslims.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.