Gender and sexual minority therapy, formerly known as gay affirmative therapy, was conceived as a response to concerns that lesbian, gay, bisexual and transexual individuals were not getting their needs met, even when therapists themselves identified as gay or lesbian or claimed to be affirmative.
The dilemmas and issues faced by LGBT individuals are demanding and complex and a therapist must be able to put these in an historical, social, personal and biological contexts, and most training institutions are, as yet, failing to meet the require curricular for this to be achieved.
Above all some individuals need a positive space to which they can bring their problems even when they are not connected with their gender experiences and or sexual orientation or sexual practices when these are not considered 'acceptable' by heterosexual norms.
Although I have worked extensively with gay men and lesbians, I came to understand the above at the UKCP / Pink Therapy conference last year, see my blog entry for more about this, and I have since completed both the essentials in sexual minority therapy and the supervision of sexual minority therapy module with Pink Therapy and now offer this specialist service.
I identify as queer though this is more a political identity useful in creating a sense of solidarity between diverse and oppressed people. I have lived openly as a gay man but am probably more bisexual in orientation. I view sex and sexuality as utterly fascinating and wonderful, life enhancing and a creative mode of relating. I will bring an understanding of my own experience together with the ideas of contemporary writers to my work with gender and sexual minority clients.