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Empowering the Self, Creating Worlds: Lesbian and Gay Latina/o College Students' Identity Negotiation in Figured Worlds

Drawing from Holland, Lachicotte, Skinner, and Cain's (1998) identity theory, this study sought to understand how six self-identified lesbian and gay Latina/o college students negotiated their sexual and ethnic identities. Participants identified two equally flawed dimensions, the hometown and college figured worlds, from which they sought an alternative destigmatizing space for identity negotiation. Through the senses of freedom, security, and belonging, the participants became self-empowered to create a third figured world I term an identity buffer—a space governed by their individual expectations and social norms—where their identities could coexist.