Why Does OLOC have a Research Gatekeeper?

Why Does OLOC have a Research Gatekeeper?
by Sharon Raphael, Ph.D.

My name is Sharon Raphael and I volunteered and was appointed by the Steering Committee to be the Research Gatekeeper for the national OLOC. I have a Ph.D. in Sociology from Case-Western Reserve University and have taught since 1970 at California State University Dominguez Hills. Before CSUDH, I taught in the Cleveland area at Akron U., Cleveland University, and Kent State University. My focus of research and activism has been on Lesbian and Gay aging, an area which I pioneered along with my life partner, Mina Meyer. I am presently a Professor Emerita at CSUDH, technically retired, but continue to teach on the campus at CSUDH. My Doctoral Dissertation was titled “Coming Out”: The Emergence of the Movement Lesbian (1974). The data I used to do the research was based on analysis I did of taped rap groups that were conducted at the Gay Women’s Service Center in Los Angeles in 1972. My role as researcher was as an “insider sociologist” because I was a Lesbian doing research on Lesbians which at the time was considered very unorthodox. Back then even the famous Evelyn Hooker (The Hooker Report) frowned on the idea of insiders doing the research. Before Gay Liberation, mainstream researchers did not accept the idea of Lesbians or Gays studying themselves. We know that historically straight researchers with a few exceptions described LGBT persons as “disturbed and perverted”.

Today LGBT persons and other minorities and subcultures are encouraged to do research on their own groups. Insider research is accepted and there is a sense that “insiders” are capable of gathering data and interpreting data with more of a sense of what is really happening and with “an ethical sense” of how the data can be used as compared to our non LGBT counterparts. This is why one of the rules OLOC has is that OLOC expects person/s who do research on Old Lesbians be “out” Lesbians, able to self identify. OLOC also requires that the researcher consult with Old Lesbians in the preliminary research stages. Exceptions to the Lesbian only rule are made if the research is sponsored by government or agencies hired by government that are very large scale, meaning involving large numbers of all kinds of populations (500 participants or more) that may be used in the long run to, for example, help Old Lesbians obtain better health care, better housing, and/or other kinds of services.

Other criteria, OLOC requires is for the researcher to obtain permission to do the research from the researcher’s university, center, or agency (usually obtained from an IRB (Institutional Review Board). IRB’s focus on monitoring the ethical aspects of conducting research on human subjects. Exception to this rule will be made if the reason the researcher cannot obtain approval is of a Lesbophobic nature and other means are used to show ethical guidelines have been fully employed by the researcher. OLOC also requires that the researcher show the Gatekeeper that a Human Consent Form has been obtained which must be signed by those being researched. This is the form that lets the researcher and others know that consent will be given willingly by the person under study whether observed, answering surveys, or being interviewed. This form is important as it protects both the participant in the research as well as the researcher. These forms usually state that the data gathered will only be used for the purposes agreed upon by both the person being researched and the researcher.



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It is important that the research be relevant to the lives of Old Lesbians. This can be hard to discern sometimes but it is important to the Gatekeeper that the research once completed have some practical implications that demonstrates it is of value to Old Lesbians. We also do not want to spend a lot of time on research which is not perceived as a serious research undertaking. Will the results of the research give Old Lesbians some information about ourselves that we will value? This does not mean we want results to only paint a rosy picture of our lives but we should expect the research to be relevant to our lives. Will the research help us in the quest for a better quality of life or will the outcome of the research propel policy makers or others to help Lesbians have more control over their own lives. Perhaps, if you send me your input on what you want research to do for you, I will have a better idea of what kinds of research you as an Old Lesbian prefer or do not prefer. I would be glad to receive this input. Actually receiving this kind of input would be very helpful and exciting to me. (See my e-mail address below, end of article.)

What is OLOC giving the researcher permission to do. If the researcher is given permission to go ahead with the research, what is being given to the researcher is access to put information on our web site or in our newsletter telling OLOC members about the research and where they can be contacted . All names of persons who belong to OLOC are protected and never given out to anyone except our own staff or volunteers for purposes of mailing out Newsletters or other information about OLOC activities.

Some will ask, is all this bureaucratic rigamarole necessary? My answer is yes. This process empowers Old Lesbians to take control of their own destinies including the area of research. The guidelines are an attempt to follow Barabara MacDonald’s and Shevy Healy’s and other OLOC pioneers admonitions that warned us not to allow exploitation of our lives, not to allow younger persons to see us as just repositories of knowledge and then to find ourselves shoved aside not to be seen as relevant enough to show the way when the topic is US. The process is not as cumbersome as it might appear. For more detail contact me at SMRaphael@aol.com and I will send you the step by step guidelines for conducting research under OLOC auspices.