Contributors Bios for Examining Attitudes booklet

Each coauthor and coeditor listed in their bios what they considered their primary social labels, locations, and characteristics of how they personally experience the world. This is to inform you and other readers about our potential prejudices, expertise, privileges, and disadvantages on the subject. We also hope it dismantles some stereotypes and expands your sense of community.

COAUTHORS

A. Lee Beckstead (he/him), PhD, is white-Peruvian, gay, cisgender, currently nondisabled, and spiritual; was excommunicated in 2009 from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints; and has been in a primary relationship with a man since 1997. He has been a psychologist in private practice since 2003 in Salt Lake City, Utah. He tried to change his sexual orientation by himself in his teens and later with a few Latter-day Saint therapists during his early twenties. He attempted suicide at the age of 18 because he felt hopeless and ashamed about not being able to stop being attracted to guys. He conducted a qualitative study in graduate school from 1998 to 2001 on 50 individuals who tried to change their sexual orientation through psychotherapy. Half reported benefits, half reported harms, and many reported mixed results. Since 2005, he has co-facilitated weekend retreats for male survivors of sexual abuse (https://menhealing.org/). He served on the 2009 American Psychological Association task force making recommendations for those seeking therapy to change their sexual orientation. In 2012, he initiated the LGBTQ-affirmative Psychotherapist Guild of Utah to file ethical complaints against Utah clinicians providing sexual orientation change efforts (SOCE). In 2013, he shifted focus and organized a workshop to foster dialogue and understanding with these individuals. Since then, he’s been meeting twice per month with therapists and educators holding differing views on sexual orientation, gender, and religion (https://reconciliationandgrowth.org/). He testified as an expert witness in a 2015 New Jersey legal case against a Jewish organization accused of consumer fraud due to offering SOCE. Since 2016, he’s been part of a diverse research team studying the health and satisfaction of individuals who are single and celibate or noncelibate, in a same-sex/queer relationship, or a mixed-orientation relationship (https://www.4optionssurvey.com/). Since 2017, he has been the lead coeditor and organizer of the LGBTQIA+ Peacebuilding Book Project (https://findingcongruence.com).

Matthew Nielson, PhD, professionally, is a developmental psychologist who studies gender identity development across the life span. He is particularly interested in how gender norms are socialized, what happens when people don’t want to conform to gender norms, and what happens when they do. His work has been published in developmental, gender, and sexuality journals. Personally, he is a White cisgender man, and he generally identifies as gay. He was raised in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormon) but no longer practices this religion.

Samuel Eshleman Latimer, PsyD, is a licensed clinical psychologist specializing in conflict management at the Cincinnati Center for Dialectical Behavior Therapy. He also serves as a postdoctoral research assistant at Xavier University and leads a local discussion group that values viewpoint diversity, called “Braving Controversy.” Samuel grew up attracted to the same gender, with periods of gender dysphoria. Samuel currently identifies his gender as male and his sexual orientation as fluid. Samuel has given talks on conflict management, gender, sexuality, and other social psychology topics in clinical and academic settings. He is passionate about science and spirituality.

Heather Hoffmann, PhD, is a middle-aged White (mostly) heterosexual cis woman with no religious affiliation who is interested in the factors that contribute to sexual arousal. She has examined the role of conditioning processes in sexual arousal as well as olfactory sexual arousal contagion (i.e., whether we can perceive sexual arousal from body odor). She is an experimental psychologist who performs laboratory and field conditioning studies using psychophysiological and subjective measures. She teaches a range of courses (e.g., Human Sexuality, Introduction to Neuroscience, Behavioral Pharmacology, Behavioral Neuroscience, Conditioning and Learning, Research Methods and Statistics, Pleasures of the Brain, Gay and Lesbian Identities) to undergraduates at a liberal arts college in the midwestern United States. She is a former president of the International Academy of Sex Research.

Eduardo Peres (he/they), MD, from a personal background, is a genderqueer pansexual mixed-race Latino, an immigrant, atheist, and happily married for the past 11 years (and counting) in a nonmonogamous agreement. From a professional background, he is a Brazilian medical doctor, trained in psychosexual therapy with an advanced specialist training in Gender, Sex and Relationship Diversity (GSD) Affirmative Therapy. He currently lives in London, where he is working as a sexual health and HIV specialty doctor. He has professional experience working with gender and sexual health within community-based services, through an affirmative, intersectional, and holistic approach. He has also been involved in lecturing to younger healthcare professionals, mainly medical and nursing students, about LGBTQIA+ health and social determinants of health. He is currently involved in several projects raising awareness about vulnerable minoritized communities, mainly focusing on the intersection between GSD, migration health, and a Latin American identity. He believes that intersectional and affirmative approaches are necessary to improve health outcomes and overall well-being and that changes focusing on equity and inclusivity are an important element toward achieving them.

COEDITORS

A. Lee Beckstead (see bio above)

Sulaimon Giwa (he/him/his) is an associate professor and interim dean of social work at Memorial University of Newfoundland and Labrador in Canada. Sulaimon is a scholar-activist who self-identifies as Black, Muslim, and gay. His intersectional identity adds depth to his contributions in the field of LGBTQ+ studies, demonstrating his unwavering commitment to fostering inclusive discourse from diverse perspectives. Through his academic and community pursuits, Sulaimon demonstrates his astute understanding of the intricacies surrounding identity and representation within the LGBTQ+ community, promoting crucial conversations on equity and social justice. He authored the 2022 book Racism and Gay Men of Color: Living and Coping with Discrimination.

Iva Žegura graduated from and specialized in clinical psychology at the Department of Psychology, Faculty of Philosophy, in Zagreb and is currently pursuing doctoral studies. She is a licensed clinical psychologist and is educated in gestalt integrative therapy, cybernetic psychotherapy, and sexual therapy. She introduced the concept of affirmative and sensitive LGBTAIQ+ mental health practice in Croatia and the Balkans. Also, she initiated and established the Section for Psychology of Sexuality and Psychology of Gender of the Croatian Psychological Association. In 2015, she helped in implementation of legalization and health care for trans people based on SOC WPATH within the Croatian health-care system. She works at the Vrapče Psychiatry Clinic and collaborates with several national universities and departments of psychology. She is a member of the national list of experts for transgender health care at the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Croatia. She is the president of the Section for Clinical Psychology, president of the Section for Psychology and Human Rights, and vice president of the Section for Psychology of Sexuality and Psychology of Gender. In 2021, she was elected to be a member of the board of directors of the European Professional Association for Transgender Health (EPATH) and now she is president-elect. She collaborates with the Global Education Institute of WPATH. She participated in starting the association. She was a member of the executive board of TransAid Croatia, now KolekTIRV, helping establish this nongovernment organization (NGO). She was also a cofounder of the association TransParent Croatia. She regularly collaborates with several Croatian and regional LGBTAIQ+ and human rights NGOs. She is a winner of several professional awards and has authored several books, chapters, and scientific papers. She is a member of several national, European, and international professional associations.