Member Article

Queering Counseling Education and Licensure

Onyx Solomon, MS, MFT/PCC Trainee

As a queer graduate student and MFT Trainee, I believe we are doing a disservice to our queer clients and peers by neglecting the training and integration of queer identities in graduate programs and licensure. Only Washington, D.C., has any specific licensure requirements related to LGBTQ+ cultural competence of all licensure requirements across the nation (Jauregui & Harper, 2025), which points to a systemic gap within our field. This status quo seems insufficient to address the unique pressures that queer people face in today’s sociopolitical context, and may leave trainees, students, and newly graduated associates underequipped to address the needs of the queer community.

I observed my graduate coursework to feel out of date and entry-level.  In some instances, the content felt incredibly invalidating, including derogatory terminology, such as transvestite and transsexual, and included controversial material as required reading, like the 2024 Cass Review which has been noted as having a high risk of bias.

My program offered a narrow integration of queer identities in the core curriculum.  In a human sexuality and intimacy course only one of the seven weeks was dedicated to queer identities and offered limited choices of bibliotherapy recommendations. Though this assignment offered some choice in the works available, the list was still primarily cis- and heteronormative, with only around ten percent of the selected books focused on queer issues. The book I selected was certainly comprehensive in the day it was published, and at times condescended to the intended audience: the early transition transgender person. The Transgender Guidebook offered an entry level, but comprehensive overview of the transgender experience in 2012. With some similarities, in the cross-cultural psychology course I attended, only one week of the eleven was dedicated to queer identity. Together, these represented the majority of the queer identity discussions in my program, neglecting the various intersections of queer identity across cultural backgrounds and experiences. These issues were often addressed during class time, but would probably not have been mentioned if I or my queer classmates did not mention them. The segregation of queer identity felt marginalizing.

Research on queer identity often takes a cisgender, heteronormative perspective, comparing queer populations to the ‘control’ group of non-queer populations. While this allows the field to evaluate the disparities that result from marginalization unique to queer people, the misuse of research contributes to the marginalization of queer people, such as in the Cass Review . A current limitation of the literature is that it often lacks queer perspectives in research teams conducting clinical research, and they inadvertently adopt cisnormative and heteronormative perspectives as a result. Understanding queer needs by incorporating queer perspectives is a necessary step to address clinical problems.

Queer needs can range from attachment trauma and harassment to systemized violence by the government. These adversities often result in reduced economic and health outcomes (Caitlin, 2003; Christian et al., 2018; Collens & Du Preez, 2023; Osborn, 2025). In recent months, government surveillance, discriminatory policy, and physical violence against queer people, particularly transgender people, has increased (Kalish, 2026; Nesterak, 2026). In the legislative field, fewer than half of the states have banned Sex or Gender Identity Change Efforts (SOGICE) services (often referred to as “conversion therapy”) by licensed professionals, and across 48 states, around 600 licensed professionals and 70 interns or associate clinicians advertised SOGICE services, which have been associated with an increase in suicide, depression, anxiety, and trauma disorders . This is in direct opposition to the standard of care therapists are expected to be held to.

Emerging literature on cultural competency and affirming practices in supervision has started to catch up to queer experiences. Hagler (2020) highlights that queer trainees may experience reduced success in their training programs if their supervisor is not sensitive to the cultural differences between cisgender, heterosexual people and queer individuals. This lacking undermines the working alliance within the supervisory dyad and ultimately affects the quality of client care. In particular, Hagler argues that LGBTQ+ cultural competency is among the least addressed in both frequency and depth in clinical settings. It has also been observed that all marginalized communities, particularly queer people and queer people of color, face both financial and social barriers to admission in advanced degrees. Hsueh et al. (2021) identified this as a potential factor in the disparity in the admission and retention of marginalized individuals in graduate programs. Fitterman-Harris et al. (2022) also identified trends within educational settings that are barriers to queer participation in academia, and argue that relegating queer identities to multicultural counseling and human sexuality curriculum acts as a continuation of marginalization. They advocate for queer identities to be integrated directly into the core curriculum (Fitterman-Harris et al., 2022).

LA-CAMFT may be well-positioned to address this concern. One direction is advocacy for our queer clients at the state and national level through our professional organizations. The Society for Sexual, Affectional, Intersex, and Gender Expansive Identities (SAIGE) is seeking partners at local levels to address some of these concerns and represents a potential avenue for engagement in state government.  Another might be to integrate more intentional licensure requirements for queer cultural education via collective lobbying efforts between chapters. LA-CAMFT could also facilitate more seminars by queer voices, supplementing our graduate programs and CEs.  I believe that as an organization LA-CAMFT and its members can continue to lead the way forward in advocating for change and equity for queer therapists and clients by identifying and addressing licensure and academic heteronormative biases in our professional field.

Onyx M.C. Solomon (they/them) is an MFT trainee working at an adolescent care facility. Onyx is a queer student, aspiring clinician and researcher, and advocate.

(For a full list of references from this article, please email Jenni J.V. Wilson at JenniferJVWilson@gmail.com or President@lacamft.org)