Advancing Research Into the Social Psychology of Sexual Orientations and Gender Identities: Current Research and Future Directions

Over the past decades, LGBTQ+ issues have been at the centre of politics, social move- ments, and human rights discussions across the world. Consistent with these devel- opments, there is a growing interest in social psychological research into sexual ori- entation and gender identities. The emerging research not only taps recent societal developments and the effects of these on LGBTQ+ people; but also focuses on very old research questions of stereotypes and prejudice that are still relevant today. In this special issue, we bring together nine papers addressing several of these issues using qualitative, correlational, and experimental methods with sexual majority and minority samples across different cultural contexts. We discuss the current state of the field and how further research could enhance our understanding of LGBTQ+ issues.