This Association for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Issues in Counseling (ALGBTIC) special issue is a culmination of 2 years of collective activities centered on increasing the focus and attention of assessment and research with the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, gender expansive, and queer/questioning (LGBTGEQ+) communities. In response to identified gaps in the current assessment and research literatures related to counseling those within the LGBTGEQ+ communities, servant leader scholars representing ALGBTIC and the Association for Assessment and Research in Counseling (AARC) came together in a joint task force to create two sets of standards of care, for assessment and research, for use with these communities. Both sets of standards are included at the beginning of this special issue. Our hope is that these documents serve as a resource and reference for practicing counselors, counselor educators, and their students, for years to come.
In addition, this special issue contains eight other articles, informed by the ALGBTIC Standards of Care, exploring ways to understand, inform, or utilize assessment and research more deeply and in ways that are beneficial and supportive of the LGBTGEQ+ communities. Included are a variety of conceptual and research-based articles examining norm reference groups for commonly used assessments, a review of instruments created to measure LGBTGEQ+ affirmation and discrimination, best practices for assessment and evaluation, as well as articles exploring how research can be conducted in culturally sensitive and relevant ways to accurately represent the experiences of LGBTGEQ+ persons and communities. We hope you find the Standards of Care, as well as the additional articles synthesizing the Standards of Care contained in this special issue, to be relevant for your work and that each will provide you some takeaways for whatever your relationship with counseling, assessing, or researching LGBTGEQ+ persons.