Table 2.

Examples of Quotes From LGBTQ Youth Representing Negative and Positive Factors by Domain

Domain	Negative Factor	Positive Factor
Sexual and gender identity	And I was like “Did you just call me a faggot?” And he's like, “So, you are then?” I was like, “What does it matter?” because in my mind maybe I was bi but it wasn't like a fully developed thought. I wasn't out to myself yet and I wasn't out to anyone else yet.	The thing that's really cool about it [being LGBTQ] is I'm a very independent person, and it gives me a sense of, not like standing out, but it gives me a sense of being unique and individual.
Responses to a stigmatized identity	As for me . . . I do the self-negative part. I do have very low self-esteem type thing, so whenever someone says something [homophobic], it really cripples me. Like him, I'm mentally disabled that way, so I'm just going to avoid [inaudible]. But yeah, so I take it the negative way, but it's what I've grown up with so . . . I mean I've been yelled at “fag” here [at school] like twice . . .	I have strong internal principles. I have faced enough adversity over the years in various forms, and I know I am, and I'm sticking to that because I figure I've paid my dues with what I've been through—and I owe it to myself to make something out of it, or else like what's the point of going through all this? I'm going to do what I want to do. I'm going to make something out of it.
Family	Bad thing is like you're in the closet and you don't really like want to tell your family. You have no idea if they are going to support you or if they're going to kick you out of their life or whatever.	Like the best experience you could have asked for coming out, I had with my parents. And they were a hundred percent accepting, and I was really happy.
Peers	[My] friend ‘freaked out’ when I told him I was bisexual and he came to our group to hang out—at first he was scared and didn't want anyone to touch him and then he calmed down.	I think that your best bet for people that are going to accept you and that are going to help you out— when you're going through trouble is going to your friends.
School	The other big thing that I've heard a lot of people complain about and that I've dealt with personally a lot like the less direct homophobia, like “oh that's so gay, that person's such a faggot,” when it's like not even that they're talking about someone who is actually homosexual, they're just like, “oh, he's such a fag.”	A lot of people aren't out, so especially in junior high when we didn't have a GSA or anything—I felt kind [like] I was the only one and now that there's a GSA, it's a lot easier because I'm not like the only one. It's like having other people there who are like the same age and already out, or not or half or whatever”
Religious institutions	There was one girl in particular who would constantly say “Well, because you're gay or lesbian or whatever, you're going to hell.” And then she'd constantly come up to us and ask, “Are you gay? Are you lesbian?” knowing we were those things and then she's like, “You need to find Jesus. I think you need to find the holy way.” On the last week of school, she even took me out of two class periods to sit down in [name deleted]'s office and try to get me to convert.	I do have friends who are Christian or Catholic or whatever, and you know they're fine with me being gay. They're not like telling me I'm going to hell and I'm blah, blah, whatever. You know they're just like, “Okay.That's cool.” There are some churches that are okay, I mean that are gay-friendly. So it just depends on where you are and what type of religion you have.
Neighborhood & community	A pretty bad thing that happened to me was I was on the bus and I was spit on because I was commenting on someone's purse and I was wearing purple nail polish. I got spit on six times before I got off the bus.	I grew up in a place where walking down the street holding hands with your boyfriend was probably not the best idea but here I always expect someone to yell something from a car or say something or give me a dirty look and it doesn't happen anywhere near as much as I'd expect it. Like I walked all over the mall with my boyfriend, holding hands and barely got any looks and no one said anything.
	My ex-girlfriend's little brother, he's gay and he lived in [city name], and now he's laying in a coma that he's been in for the past six months because some kids started beating the shit out of him because they knew he was gay.
LGBTQ community	I think that you know eighteen through whatever, . . . I mean they're adults, but . . . Maybe like they're not twenty-one, so they can't meet people in places that you have to be twenty-one. When they hear about adult things it's people who are like forty and up, so like there's a point that it's kind of like you're an adult, but you're such a young adult that you're not--there's nothing there for you.	It actually has been a safe haven coming for myself because if I have any like gay type or like questions or stuff . . . because at my house I have a homophobic father, which I need to once in a while leave and feel safe and happy . . . when you want to come out to like my father you can't really . . . but [name of organization] is to actually help you, like how do you come out to a person who's not “acceptive” to it, or plus just being safe in an area that you know you're in a group of other gay people that can actually help with those situations or just. . . . just have fun in a safe area.