Though LGBT people have been able to seek asylum in the United States since the ‘90s, they still face a multitude of challenges upon arrival in the US as well as in their application process, leaving an air of uncertainty for many whether they will be successful in their cases. This thesis seeks to understand these challenges and how they relate to the perception of identities of LGBT asylum seekers, especially as it relates to Western stereotypes of gender and sexuality. To examine these issues, this thesis includes in-depth interviews with four officials who work closely with asylum seekers to incorporate their input on the asylum system as a whole and how the system impacts LGBT asylum seekers. Based on the analysis of court cases and supplementary qualitative data, this thesis aims to reveal the implications of relying on “consistency” as evidence of credibility based on the stereotypes and how this can harm LGBT asylum seekers as well as others outside of the LGBT community. Finally, this thesis proposes an intervention to alleviate these challenges not only for those in the LGBT community but for everyone seeking asylum in the US and suggests a new framework for how to understand and communicate identities of asylum seekers without limited definitions of their sexual identities or stripping them of autonomy.

While abortion is a vital reproductive right, its absence is not the only threat to bodily autonomy. This thesis utilizes a reproductive justice lens to showcase how religion and politics have contributed to centering a ‘choice’ binary that limits a more nuanced understanding of reproductive freedom. This has led to the dominance of the abortion narrative, which overshadows discussions on other forms of reproductive healthcare. Religion and politics have also cultivated a pro-birth – rather than pro-life – approach to women’s reproductive health. This is particularly true in Oklahoma, where no previous research has been conducted on women’s broader reproductive healthcare experiences – consequently, this research turns to women and amplifies their voices to better understand the current state of reproductive healthcare. Participant survey responses were analyzed in the areas of contraception, abortion, prenatal care, and postnatal care. A t-test shows that there is not a statistically significant difference in care quality between birth and non-birth categories. However, the analysis of variance (ANOVA) test results do reveal that prenatal care in Oklahoma is rated much more highly than other forms of reproductive healthcare, and with much less variation than ratings in other categories. Additional findings reveal that more pain management is needed during intrauterine device (IUD) insertion, that finances are a major barrier to all forms of reproductive healthcare, and that sterilization is much more difficult to obtain than any other form of contraception. The study concludes that the experiences of respondents are reflective of a pro-birth approach to reproduction and motherhood. Findings from this research broaden existing scholarship on reproductive health and justice by contributing new knowledge that is relevant to women inside and outside of Oklahoma. The study recommends that additional research should be conducted to improve women’s reproductive healthcare in Oklahoma and beyond, particularly in a post-Roe world.

The transgender community is often targeted by hate crimes at greater levels thananyone else under the LGBTQAI+ umbrella but the true scope of the epidemic is far from understood due to dramatically low rates of reported hate crimes. The current study seeks to understand the relationship between transgender people and authorities through an indepth analysis of historical and current trends in reporting GIB hate crimes. In conjunction, I apply the notion of regional identity to hypothesize which US region(s) will have the highest rates of GIB inclusive policies based on their historical identities and socio-political underpinnings. I posit the Pacific, Mountain, New England, and Mid Atlantic (West and Northeastern) regions will have the highest rates of protection for transgender people from 2013-2019. Additionally, I assert there will be a moderate (0.2- 0.4 correlation coefficient) to high (0.4+ correlation coefficient) correlation between GIB inclusive policies and reported rates of violence. A simple linear regression found a high correlation (.934) between regional political identities and their rate of enacted GIB policies. Furthermore, based on the annual report data provided by the FBI, the regions with the highest tallies of GIB inclusive policies were the same regions with the highest rates of reported GIB hate crimes with an average of 0.537 over a seven-year time span. This study provides evidence that regional socio-political underpinnings directly affect policy enacted regarding GIB protections and that those policies are aligned with higher rates of reported violence.

The increasing job opportunities abroad as spa therapists attract significant numbers of young Indonesian women. Although the placement process is conducted by licensed recruitment agents and supervised by government officials, migrant workers might be at high risk of experiencing work exploitation and physical or sexual abuse. To investigate the phenomenon of documented, yet still vulnerable, female migrant workers, this research conducts interviews with several former spa therapists who were working in Malaysia and some civil servants. This study highlights that individual or personal resistances could be a collective political struggles. Specifically, this research connects individual experiences with the bigger picture of social, economic, and political condition, which, together, constitutes a gender-based labor migration system. To do this, the research employs qualitative-interpretive research methods through discourse analysis and in-depth and open-ended interviews. It also employs an intersectional feminist approach to data analysis to reveal how Indonesian female migrant workers are marginalized and oppressed and the power dynamics at play.

This paper examines the intersections of faith, patriarchy, feminism, and institutional failure in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Members of the faith believe the paternal structure of the organization is God's plan. The paper focuses on home, church, and the public sphere to provide a more complete understanding of the ways in which the practices of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints blur the lines between public and private and asks how women, most centrally the author, navigate contradictions in the doctrine and the institution of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Finally, this paper examines the tension between critical thought from a feminist perspective and being a devout member in the eyes of the church.Data was collected and presented using interpretivist methodology, ethnography and autoethnography. The author draws upon her experience as a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and examines the ways power is layered and instrumental to the patriarchal teachings which are often contradictory and in tension with women developing full personhood.

Through the lived experiences of Georgian queer migrants, this thesis argues that the international and national refugee laws and practices are an essential starting point but remain weak and, in some cases, even exclusionary when it comes to protecting lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQI) individuals. Specifically, this thesis documents the experiences of Georgian LGBTQ migrants to reveal the social, political, cultural, and economic factors in Georgia and recipient countries essential to shaping their experiences with belonging and protection. It critically explores how one’s LGBTQ identify shapes their sense of belonging in Georgia, how their identity played a direct role in deciding to migrate, and how queer migrants’ identities shape processes in migration and resettlement. Engaging the academic scholarship on citizenship and migration, this thesis contributes new insights for understanding how international and national institutions and laws overlap to create a restrictive regime that forces Georgian migrants to navigate asylum by detaching their claims from their persecution as LGBTQI individuals. Through centering the experiences LGBTQI, this thesis reveals injustices and harms as well as possible top-down legal remedies to improve identity-based protections in national anti-discrimination law and international asylum law.