Legal consciousness and LGBT research: the role of the law in the everyday lives of LGBT individuals.

The law occupies a prominent place in the everyday lives of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) individuals, and the continuing regulation and policing of sexuality and gender weighs heavily on many people who identify as LGBT. Despite remarkable progress in the area of LGBT civil rights, LGBT individuals in the United States still lack formal equality and are denied many of the protections that are afforded other historically disadvantaged groups. These legal disabilities represent an ongoing source of minority stress and can produce a correspondingly high degree of legal consciousness within the LGBT community.