'That relationship is such an important piece': The experience and meaning of graduate social work education for lesbian and gay students

The professional bodies that govern social work education and practice espouse a commitment to social justice that includes recognizing the conditions of oppression under which sexual minorities live in contemporary American society. These same organizations have created education standards designed to eliminate such oppression in the social work education setting. This study reports the findings of interviews with 22 lesbian and gay graduate social work students in an effort to gain an understanding of their educational experiences within the context of this stated commitment to social justice.;The volunteer students for this phenomenological study came from two graduate social work education programs in the Pacific Northwest. Individual, semi-structured interviews were conducted, transcribed, and analyzed to isolate common themes, experiences, and interactions. The deconstruction/reconstruction of the data resulted in a model that identifies the primacy of relationships and the interactions that inform those relationships as the core category under which the data falls. Relationships with faculty and other students were described along a continuum from Marginalizing to Inclusive, including those relationships and interactions that were Dismissive, Ambiguous, Supportive and Validating. How lesbian/gay content was integrated into the classroom (or not) seems to have been a critical issue for participants. Additionally, being able to identify and connect with gay and lesbian social work faculty members was universally identified as desirable and the clearest indication that sexual minority students were welcomed and valued by their programs.;Students described a wide variety of experiences across this relationship continuum both within and between the programs. This variance of experience may be indicative of the lack of coordination or common commitment to validating and nurturing sexual minority students in these social work education programs.;In addition to the findings from the interviews, this study offers an interpretation of the meaning of social work education to the gay and lesbian students who participated. Implications for social work education and suggestions for further research also are offered.