An Interview with Beth Firestein

nQuestion: What is the significance of editing a volume about counseling LesBiGay and Transgender clients at this juncture in the field of sexual orientation studies?nnBeth Firestein: There is still a tremendous scarcity of professional literature addressing bisexual, transgender, queer, and questioning individuals and their counseling needs. Sex researchers, clinicians, and sexual and gender minority individuals, couples and families are in urgent need of access to qualified counselors who have the knowledge and skills to meet their needs. This book advances that cause in a significant way.nnQ: Do you see evidence that the LesBiGay/Transgender paradigm you wrote about in your 1996 volume on bisexuality is manifesting in contemporary U.S. culture?nnBF: Absolutely. Our culture is moving beyond dichotomous notions of sexual orientation and gender identity at a more rapid pace than I could have anticipated. When I edited Bisexuality: The Psychology and Politics of an Invisible Minority (Sage, 1996), I thought I was leading the wave. Now I feel as though I am a field reporter, describing events unfolding in the current culture. For example, 20/20 with Barbara Walters just aired an excellent program on transgender youth on April 27, 2007—concrete evidence of the paradigm shift I wrote about in 1996.nnQ: Who will benefit most from reading this volume?nnBF: Any individual struggling with their own process of identity emergence and spouses or family members who are struggling with the coming out process of a loved one would definitely benefit from particular chapters in this volume. Certainly, the primary audience for this volume will consist of clinicians, students of sexuality and gender identity, sex researchers, academic instructors, sociologists, and queer theory students. In addition, those seeking to understand trends in contemporary U.S. culture with respect to gender identity, bisexuality, and identity development or transformation will also benefit greatly from reading this volume.nnQ: What is the next step in sexual orientation and gender identity studies?nnBF: More in-depth research and writing on the experiences of ethnic and cultural minority bisexual clients, increased focus on understanding trends in individuals’ choices to embrace and refuse various identity labels and the reasons for their choices, increased understanding of issues of youth, aging, and disability as these relate to sexual orientation and gender identity over the lifespan. These are some of the topics addressed in various chapters of this volume that deserve much greater attention in future years.nnQ: How do you hope this book will benefit the field of counseling? What do you see as the near-term future of the field?nnBF: I believe Becoming Visible: Counseling Bisexuals Across the Lifespan has the potential to alter the conceptualization of sexual orientation and gender identity issues at the levels of research, teaching, and clinical practice. Becoming Visible both describes and advances the LesBiGay/Transgender paradigm proposed in Bisexuality. This has the potential to redefine psychology’s understanding of the “normal,” healthy developmental trajectories of bisexual, queer, questioning, and transgendered individuals, couples, and families. Ultimately, this reexamination of concepts of mental health and mental illness could potentially impact all clients who are “different” who are seeking wholeness, validation, and emotional assistance in the therapist’s consulting room.nnQ: What is your deepest hope for this book and those who read it?nnBF: My hope is that readers will come away with an expanded and deeper understanding of the meanings of sex, gender, love, and the erotic in their own lives and the lives of their clients. Further, my desire is to begin to impart some clarity to those in the field around key differentiations between “difference” and “pathology,” concepts that are too frequently confused in contemporary psychology studies and clinical training programs. My hope is that every reader comes away from this book with a deepened sense of themselves, their clients, and the possibilities of the human spirit.nn