Farewell LGBTQ+ Competency. Rest In Peace. May You Never Be Needed Again

Abstract

LGBTQ+ psychology and LGBTQ+ competency are two concepts which, on the surface, appear constructive, even liberating. In this article, I discuss their downside. The premise that an LGBTQ+ person will receive better care if the staff have LGBTQ+ competency applies not only to gender and sexual minority people, but also to other minority groups about whom cultural competence can supposedly be obtained. Developing specific competence to serve a certain social group has become a common strategy in health care and other fields (e.g., Fish & Evans 2016; Harper et al. 2013). While this may well be a very nice thought, in this article I want to paint a more nuanced picture and discuss why the idea of “LGBTQ+ competency” is also problematic – perhaps even completely naive.