The Treatment of LGBTQ+ Individuals in Behavior-Analytic Publications: A Historical Review
Behavior analysis has ignored LGBTQ+ people for 40 years—it's time to start collecting data and building affirming practices.
01Research in Context
What this study did
The authors searched every behavior-analytic journal from 1950 to 2020.
They looked for any mention of LGBTQ+ people.
They found only 12 papers total.
What they found
Most papers came from the 1970s and supported conversion therapy.
After 1980, almost nothing was published.
The field has been silent for 40 years.
How this fits with other research
Jimenez-Gomez et al. (2022) shows the field just got its first book on multicultural ABA.
This new book includes LGBTQ+ voices, but Morris et al. (2021) proves we have no research base to build on.
Ferrier et al. (2025) found the field is moving toward kinder practices overall.
Yet Morris shows we never applied that progress to LGBTQ+ clients.
Why it matters
You may have LGBTQ+ clients right now. Without research, you're flying blind. Start by asking about pronouns, family structure, and goals. Document what works. Your single case could become the data we need.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
The purpose of this article is to review behavior-analytic publications to understand the field’s history of including lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and/or queer (LGBTQ+) individuals in research publications. Twelve articles met the inclusionary criteria for review. The results of the review suggested that the representation of LGBTQ+ individuals is lacking in behavior-analytic literature. Of the 12 articles identified, two were categorized as experimental, three as commentaries, three as survey research, two as conceptual, and two as calls to action. The most prominent period for related publications was between 1973 and 1977, with long periods between other articles that were published in 1990, 1996, 2018, and 2019. Experiments published in the 1970s were associated with conversion therapy, to attempt to change an individual’s sexual or gender identity. However, other behavior analysts in the 1970s opposed these experiments. Since these early experiments, there have been no other interventions targeted at affecting the lives of gender and sexual minorities. Behavior analysts must address issues of significance faced by LGBTQ+ individuals through increasing affirming practices, reducing health disparities, increasing safety in schools, and more.
Behavior Analysis in Practice, 2021 · doi:10.1007/s40617-020-00546-4