The purpose of this study is to examine the social and communicative barriers LGBTQIA+ students face when seeking healthcare at campus health and counseling services at Arizona State University. Social barriers relate to experiences and internalizations of societal stigma experienced by sexual and gender minority individuals as well as the anticipation of such events. Communication between patient and provider was assessed as a potential barrier with respect to perceived provider LGBTQIA+ competency. This study applies the minority stress model, considering experiences of everyday stigma and minority stress as a predictor of healthcare utilization among sexual and gender minority students. The findings suggest a small but substantial correlation between minority stress and healthcare use with 23.7% of respondents delaying or not receiving one or more types of care due to fear of stigma or discrimination. Additionally, communication findings indicate a lack of standardization of LGBTQIA+ competent care with experiences varying greatly between respondents.

This paper argues that the representation of diversity in Asian American genders and sexualities in the media challenges US stereotypes of Asian American masculinity and femininity and offers alternatives for both Asian American and white US audiences to be exposed to and thereby potentially reconsider, non-normative gender and sexual identities of Asian Americans. For the purposes of this paper, four different anime will be analyzed for their insight on: (a) the formation of queer identity of Asian characters and (b) observations on how diverse and accurate representations of Asian gender and sexuality has the potential to influence the creation of broader representations of Asian and Asian American gender and sexuality in the future. The four anime analyzed for these purposes were Wandering Son (Hōrō Musuko), Sweet Blue Flowers (Aoi Hana), My Hero Academia (Boku No Hero Academia), and The Legend of Korra.