Accessing Counseling Services Where the Rainbow Doesn't Shine: A Heterosexism Audit Study

• Published in: Journal of homosexuality Vol. 68; no. 13; pp. 2246 - 2265
• Main Authors: Shin, Richard Q., Smith, Lance C., Vernay, Collin N., Welch, Jamie C., Sharma, Rajni, Eberhardt, Maeve
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Routledge 10.11.2021; Taylor & Francis LLC
• Subjects: audit study; Audits; Counseling; Counseling services; Discrimination; Fictitious; Help seeking behavior; Heterosexism; Heterosexuality; Homosexuality; implicit bias; LGB; Medical personnel; Mental health; mental health barriers; Mental health professionals; Mental health services; Sexual orientation; social justice; Therapists; heterosexism; LGB; implicit bias; discrimination; mental health barriers; audit study; social justice
• ISSN: 0091-8369; 1540-3602
• DOI: 10.1080/00918369.2020.1734377

Through a field experiment set among licensed therapists (N = 425), we found nuanced evidence of heterosexist discrimination at the entry point of mental health services for a fictitious White, presumably gay man seeking counseling. We called therapists in LGB-affirming and LGB-hostile states and left voicemails requesting services. To manipulate perceived sexual orientation, a confederate using the name "Jon" recorded one of three conditions (a) heterosexual-presenting Jon, (b) gay-presenting Jon, and (c) gay-sounding Jon. Analyzes comparing the rate of returned calls for each condition within LGB-affirming versus LGB-hostile states against our referent group, gay-presenting Jon calling mental health professionals in an LGB-affirming region, revealed a number of significant effects. Notably, being perceived as gay in LGB-hostile states significantly decreased the rate of returned calls, with the reverse being true in an LGB-affirming state. The use of "gay-sounding" voice, however, did not appreciably affect these relationships.