Finding equilibrium: Mentoring, sexual orientation, and gender identity.

The authors explore mentoring relationships in which one or both members are lesbian, gay, bisexual, ortransgender (LGBT). They highlight the role of stigma, in its variable presentations, as an importantunderpinning of these relationships. They argue that explicit attention to stigma, both within thementoring relationship and beyond, is of value to the mentoring process and outcome. The authors offera developmental perspective on mentoring needs, and they suggest specific considerations for LGBT andheterosexual mentors of LGBT students.Keywords: mentoring, gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgenderWhensomeonewiththeauthorityofateacher. . .describestheworldandyou are not in it, there is a moment of psychic disequilibrium, as if youlooked in the mirror and saw nothing. (Adrienne Rich, 1986, p. 199)