tag:theconversation.com,2011:/uk/topics/homophobia-333/articlesHomophobia – The Conversation2024-03-26T16:03:55Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2245532024-03-26T16:03:55Z2024-03-26T16:03:55ZZulu culture and sexual orientation: South African study reveals the health costs of stigma<p>Same-sex relationships are legal in South Africa and <a href="https://www.concourt.org.za/index.php/gay-and-lesbian-rights">protected</a> by the constitution. Unfair discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation is against the law. </p>
<p>But in practice many cultures don’t necessarily see this as a right.</p>
<p>Traditional Zulu culture, for example, perceives same-sex relationships and sexual intercourse as taboo and <a href="https://njas.fi/njas/article/view/185">unAfrican</a>. Statements like <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/0146167209338072?casa_token=3Nlm_dy4VSAAAAAA:tsFKGVDS7M-aA6S7bf0WSEMP79fpblscX-UsoJ6oXi_G-VBMMicAAQVwROuOrvzsMm4JYDfjNu0CLdQ">“real men are not gay”</a> indicate some people’s ideas about masculinity and sexuality. </p>
<p>These cultural norms have profoundly negative effects on Zulu men who have sex with men.</p>
<p>This abuse often triggers <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5843994/">depression, suicide and drug abuse</a>. </p>
<p>As a public health specialist with an interest in marginalised groups, I conducted <a href="https://journals.co.za/doi/full/10.31920/2634-3649/2023/v13n1a2">research</a> looking into the role Zulu culture plays in discouraging men who have sex with men from accessing healthcare. </p>
<p>Stigma rooted in cultural beliefs was rife and many of the men we interviewed were too afraid to go to a health clinic.</p>
<p>This research is a tool for policymakers to use to ensure better healthcare for marginalised communities.</p>
<h2>How we went about our study</h2>
<p>In South Africa, men who have sex with men are categorised as a <a href="https://southafrica.iom.int/sites/g/files/tmzbdl1136/files/documents/KeypopPolicybrief.pdf">key population</a>, a vulnerable group more likely to get sexually transmitted infections, due to their socio-economic isolation. </p>
<p>Our study participants were living in <a href="http://umlazi.co.za/what-is-the-population-of-umlazi/">Umlazi</a>, an urban area of least 400,000 inhabitants in the province of KwaZulu-Natal. The province is the home of the Zulu monarchy and the majority of Zulu people – the largest ethnic group in South Africa. More than <a href="https://www.worlddata.info/languages/zulu.php">13 million</a> people speak isiZulu as their first language. </p>
<p>Many Zulu people forced from “<a href="https://www.sahistory.org.za/place/umlazi">white” towns</a> during apartheid ended up in Umlazi. <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666154323000728#:%7E:text=The%20mushrooming%20of%20informal%20settlements,Isipingo%2C%20Amanzimtoti%2C%20and%20Jacobs.&text=Fig.,1.">Informal settlements</a> have also mushroomed around Umlazi as those desperate for work flock to urban areas in search of jobs. </p>
<p>In our study we interviewed 25 participants, men who have sex with men, between the ages of 21 and 55. They were representative of different areas of KwaZulu-Natal as they had roots in Ulundi, Nongoma, uPhongolo, eDumbe and Vryheid. </p>
<p>They shared their experiences in a very emotional way. They described how they were frequently forced to conceal their sexual orientation to avoid being rejected or discriminated against. Study participants were representative of different areas of KwaZulu-Natal as they had roots in Ulundi, Nongoma, uPhongolo, eDumbe and Vryheid. </p>
<blockquote>
<p>Culture is very stigmatising, discriminatory, and depriving. I grew up in a community where people see same-sex relationships as culturally taboo, so tell me, how would you come out in such a community? People create culture; instead of discriminating against same-sex relationships, these same people must accept and embrace them as cultural norms. (Funani) </p>
</blockquote>
<p>For some participants, the traditional rite of passage from boyhood to manhood at the age of 21 was a source of alienation and pain.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>At the age of 21 you are celebrated as a man in the Zulu culture … you are dressed like a Zulu warrior with skin, a spear, and a shield. I was deprived of this because they said I am not a man. … I became sick because of this and was admitted to the hospital for weeks. I almost lost my life because I was deprived of my rights. (Linda) </p>
</blockquote>
<p>Yet another participant spoke about his experiences of not being accepted:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I don’t care about culture because the culture has let me down as a gay man. Culture does not respect me … I would have killed myself in the more conservative rural areas because the culture does not accept me. I have suffered so many mental health crises because of this. (Sanele) </p>
</blockquote>
<h2>‘I could hear them laughing’</h2>
<p>The men consistently cited fear of discrimination and a lack of understanding among healthcare providers as reasons they avoided health clinics. </p>
<blockquote>
<p>I went to my local clinic because I had a sexually transmitted infection and needed care. When being attended to by the nurse, I was asked some silly questions that did not feel like they were taking my medical history. Then I was reprimanded about my sexuality as being culturally wrong and needing to change, which made me decide never to use my local clinic again. (Lindani) </p>
</blockquote>
<p>Most of the participants related to these experiences.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I had a sexually transmitted infection and went to my local clinic for medical care. Getting there, a nurse attended to me, and during the section, she walked away to a separate room, where she went to tell other nurses about me. I could hear them laughing. I took my bags and left the clinic and never went back. (Siyanda) </p>
</blockquote>
<p>The impact on the men’s health could be critical:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I would rather die with my sickness than use such facilities. (Anele) </p>
</blockquote>
<p>Another said:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Due to my outfit I was kept in the queue for a long time, and when I was finally attended to, the nurse asked me if I am male or female. I respectfully answered her, and she called her other colleagues to make fun of me. (Solomon)</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>Cultural sensitivity</h2>
<p>Collaboration with cultural influencers and community leaders is essential to protect the rights of men who have sex with men while honouring cultural values. </p>
<p>Such interventions should be culturally appropriate, holding in esteem and respecting the Zulu traditions and values, as well as embracing the full spectrum of health matters encountered by men who have sex with men. </p>
<p>Similarly, healthcare providers should receive training to support this community and establish discrimination-free healthcare environments. </p>
<p>Efforts such as these would promote inclusivity and healthcare access for all.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/224553/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ikekhwa Albert Ikhile does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Same-sex relationships in Zulu culture are perceived as taboo and unAfrican. Some men who have sex with men avoid seeking care at health clinics.Ikekhwa Albert Ikhile, Postdoctoral Fellow, University of South AfricaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2063752024-02-09T13:35:58Z2024-02-09T13:35:58ZLack of access to health care is partly to blame for skyrocketing HIV rates among gay Black men<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/573871/original/file-20240206-20-wvuls8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=453%2C91%2C3636%2C2624&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A man takes a free HIV test during the Harlem Pride parade in New York City.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/man-takes-a-free-hiv-test-during-the-harlem-pride-parade-in-news-photo/1152819582?adppopup=true">Kena Betancur/AFP via Getty Images)</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Over the past 20 years, people living with HIV in the United States have seen a drastic improvement in their overall <a href="https://www.thebodypro.com/article/hiv-life-expectancy-in-u-s-matches-general-population-with-some-differences">quality of life</a>. But the medical achievements that have made those lives better and created longer <a href="https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanhiv/article/PIIS2352-3018(23)00028-0/fulltext">life expectancies</a> have not benefited all communities. </p>
<p>In fact, some communities still have higher rates of new cases of HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. This is especially true for <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/hiv/group/msm/bmsm.html">Black gay and bisexual men</a>. Black queer men are <a href="https://minorityhealth.hhs.gov/omh/browse.aspx?lvl=4&lvlid=21">six times more likely</a> to die as a result of HIV-related complications when compared with queer men of different races.</p>
<p>In addition, in the <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/hiv/group/msm/bmsm.html">most recent available data</a>, Black queer men made up 26% of all new cases of HIV in 2019 despite making up <a href="https://williamsinstitute.law.ucla.edu/publications/black-lgbt-adults-in-the-us/">less than 3% of the total</a> U.S. population. </p>
<p>Finally, <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/nchhstp/newsroom/2016/croi-press-release-risk.html">data released in 2016</a> revealed that if the rates then of new HIV cases persisted, an estimated 1 in 2 Black queer men would acquire HIV in their lifetime. </p>
<p>For comparison, those rates mirror the <a href="https://www.prb.org/resources/the-status-of-the-hiv-aids-epidemic-in-sub-saharan-africa/">prevalence of HIV in sub-Saharan Africa</a> in 2003 when the international community began sending help, including then-<a href="https://www.cgdev.org/page/overview-president%E2%80%99s-emergency-plan-aids-relief-pepfar">President George W. Bush</a>, who approved and implemented his <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2023/02/28/1159415936/george-w-bushs-anti-hiv-program-is-hailed-as-amazing-and-still-crucial-at-20">Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief</a> program.</p>
<p>To this day, sub-Saharan Africa is still considered the epicenter of the AIDS crisis and accounts for <a href="https://www.unaids.org/en/resources/presscentre/pressreleaseandstatementarchive/2023/july/unaids-global-aids-update">nearly 70%</a> of the world’s HIV infections.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://doi.org/10.1353/hpu.2023.a903345">prevalence of HIV</a> in the Black queer community has been well documented in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/09540121.2023.2189223">academic research</a>, including <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/00027642221145027">my own</a>, which demonstrates that when patients’ <a href="https://doi.org/10.5744/rhm.2023.6012">treatment plans</a> include access to health care and other social services, the patients stay healthy longer. </p>
<h2>The question of risky behavior</h2>
<p>The wide reach of HIV in the Black queer community is not due to members of that community having more sex, or using protection less, or having more partners than queer people of other racial or ethnic backgrounds.</p>
<p>In fact, long-standing studies have shown that when Black queer men have access to appropriate health care, they use condoms more often, and test themselves for HIV more often, than queer men of other races.</p>
<p>For example, <a href="https://www.contagionlive.com/view/hiv-rates-in-young-black-gay-men-strikingly-higher-despite-fewer-risk-behaviors">a study</a> conducted in 2018 found that young Black gay men reported lower rates of sexual risk behaviors, fewer sexual partners and more lifetime HIV tests, but still maintained the highest number of new cases.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A Black man sits at a table surrounded by a group of other men at a large gathering." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/574193/original/file-20240207-22-snwbsu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/574193/original/file-20240207-22-snwbsu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=367&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/574193/original/file-20240207-22-snwbsu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=367&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/574193/original/file-20240207-22-snwbsu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=367&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/574193/original/file-20240207-22-snwbsu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=461&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/574193/original/file-20240207-22-snwbsu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=461&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/574193/original/file-20240207-22-snwbsu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=461&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A Black man sits among the audience at the annual World AIDS Day commemoration on Dec. 1, 2023, in Long Beach, Calif.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/long-beach-ca-the-audience-was-deeply-moved-by-the-singing-news-photo/1825635482?adppopup=true">Brittany Murray/Long Beach Press-Telegram via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Studies published in <a href="https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2012.301003">2012</a>, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s10461-014-0842-8">2015</a>, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s10461-018-2270-7">2019</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s10461-021-03430-6">2021</a> have shown that the increase in HIV infections in the Black queer community is not about the number of sexual encounters.</p>
<p>According to those studies, Black queer people have a higher risk of contracting HIV than those others because their communities are more tightly knit – despite behaving more safely than others.</p>
<p>As a result of social stigma and discrimination, Black queer men are more likely to have sexual relationships within their own racial group. Given the already high prevalence of HIV in this group, this concentration increases the likelihood of encountering a partner living with HIV and increases the risk of HIV infection.</p>
<h2>A perfect storm of racism and homophobia</h2>
<p>Preventive measures such as preexposure prophylaxis, or <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/hiv/basics/prep.html">PrEP</a>, have completely revolutionized the field of HIV treatments.</p>
<p>Available as an <a href="https://www.fda.gov/news-events/press-announcements/fda-approves-first-injectable-treatment-hiv-pre-exposure-prevention">injection</a>, a <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5935218/">daily pill</a> or <a href="https://endinghiv.org.au/blog/prep-on-demand-dosing-guide/">on-demand dosage</a>, PrEP is known to be 99% effective in reducing the risk of acquiring HIV when taken as prescribed.</p>
<p>But in order to receive PrEP, for instance, one must first locate a provider who is willing to prescribe the medicine. <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/feature/nbc-out/unequal-hiv-prevention-pill-use-puts-minority-men-higher-risk-n1059016">There are examples</a> of doctors simply refusing to prescribe it out of fear of “<a href="https://sph.cuny.edu/life-at-sph/news/2018/07/31/prep-perception-promiscuity/">increased promisciuty</a>.”</p>
<p>This sentiment is often rooted in racism and homophobia.</p>
<p>Even if one locates a provider, there is also the ever-looming issue of insurance and affordability. A <a href="https://www.webmd.com/hiv-aids/how-much-truvada-for-prep-costs">month’s supply</a> of Truvada, one of the two FDA-approved PrEP drugs, is nearly $2,000 without insurance, while a generic version costs $30 to $60 per month. </p>
<p>Though HIV care and <a href="https://www.healthaffairs.org/content/forefront/new-guidance-prep-support-services-must-covered-without-cost-sharing">PrEP</a> are broadly covered under the Affordable Care Act, that often means only the cost of the prescriptions. Patients are frequently surprised to learn that the lab costs of blood tests and analysis of PrEP are <a href="https://kffhealthnews.org/news/article/prep-hiv-prevention-costs-covered-problems-insurance/">not always covered</a>, nor are additional tests for other medical conditions, such as diabetes or high blood pressure. </p>
<p>This is problematic because in order to stay on PrEP, you must engage in quarterly check-ins and bloodwork. </p>
<h2>Lowering the risks</h2>
<p>HIV prevalence is highly <a href="https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/18/9715">concentrated in the South</a>, which accounts for over 50% of new HIV cases. The region also has the highest fatality rate for Black queer men.</p>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.3389/fcomm.2020.00026">My research</a> typically uses interviews of Black queer men to better understand how Black gay men experience and face structural barriers such as access to testing and <a href="https://health.gov/healthypeople/priority-areas/social-determinants-health">adequate housing</a>.</p>
<p>Most men I interview are living with HIV and offer insights on their lived experiences and professional expertise with great vulnerability and power.</p>
<p>For example, Travis – a pseudonym – is from Little Rock, Arkansas, and is living with HIV. “If I’m worried about where I’m going to sleep or how I’m going to afford medicine, I don’t care about getting tested,” he explained. “I am not gonna come to my appointment to get poked with needles.” </p>
<p><a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4509742/#:%7E:text=For%20example%2C%20Peterson%20and%20Jones,reduce%20HIV%2Drelated%20racial%20disparities.">Research</a> shows Travis is not an outlier. </p>
<p>Issues such as <a href="https://www.hud.gov/program_offices/comm_planning/hopwa">housing</a>, <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7716244/">employment</a>, <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23876086/">transportation</a> and concerns <a href="https://ajph.aphapublications.org/doi/10.2105/AJPH.2019.305389">about costs</a> of health care are major obstacles in staying healthy.</p>
<p>Another man I interviewed lives in Los Angeles and pointed out that the younger generation has had limited education about the risks of <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/hiv/group/msm/brief.html">Black gay life</a>. </p>
<p>“We don’t even think about the fact that so many young Black gay men were never taught about HIV and condoms in school,” he said. “We don’t learn that.”</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/206375/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Deion Scott Hawkins does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>When appropriate care is available, several studies have shown, gay Black men are more likely to test themselves for HIV and engage in less risky sexual behaviors than gay men of other races.Deion Scott Hawkins, Assistant Professor of Argumentation & Advocacy, Emerson CollegeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2205692024-01-10T18:38:26Z2024-01-10T18:38:26Z30 years of LGBTQ+ history in Russia: from decriminalisation in 1993 to ‘extremist’ status in 2023<p>In 2023, the “LGBTQ+ movement” in Russia was <a href="https://www.hrw.org/news/2023/11/30/russia-supreme-court-bans-lgbt-movement-extremist">labelled as “extremist</a>”. This marked the culmination of a troubling 30-year cycle from the decriminalisation of homosexuality in 1993, via the introduction of the “<a href="https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2013/01/russia-anti-gay-propaganda-law-assault-on-freedom-expression/">gay propaganda law</a>” in 2013 through years of political and public discrimination against sexual minorities. </p>
<p>The progression in the mistreatment of LGBTQ+ people in Russia has coincided with the progression of Putin’s regime, which has become more autocratic. The Russian supreme court’s recent judgment that the international LGBTQ+ community is an <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/nov/30/russia-supreme-court-outlaws-lgbt-movement">“extremist” movement</a> represents a hybrid recriminalisation of homosexuality 30 years after the ban was removed. </p>
<p>From now, on identifying as LGBTQ+ is hazardous in Russia as it can be interpreted as “participating in an extremist organisation”, which is a criminal offence. Essentially, we are back to the situation before 1993.</p>
<h2>Before Putin</h2>
<p>Even back in 1993, the decriminalisation of homosexuality by Boris Yeltsin’s government appears to have been something of a box-ticking exercise, required for joining the Council of Europe. The bill that decriminalised consensual sex between men was adopted <a href="https://www.manchesterhive.com/display/9781526167460/9781526167460.00034.xml">without any public debate</a> as part of a package of legislation. </p>
<p>There was no official explanation of why it was being adopted, let alone why homosexuality had been criminalised in the first place. Even Russia’s prison officers were not aware of the reform as there was no follow-up order to release <a href="https://www.manchesterhive.com/display/9781526167460/9781526167460.00034.xml">inmates convicted of “sodomy”</a>.</p>
<p>While the change of law represented a step forward, there was no real attempt to bring the Russian public along with it. This meant that in most parts of Russia it failed to indicate any real social shift in attitudes. This lack of open dialogue allowed entrenched homophobia to persist and social stigma to endure.</p>
<p>This absence of meaningful change resulted in rising prejudice that <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/6310883.stm">thrived in political discourse</a>. The early 2000s saw an alarming surge in negative portrayals and hate speech against the LGBTQ+ community. And these emanated from the highest levels of government.</p>
<h2>Homophobia under Putin</h2>
<p>In 2000s, different legal initiatives targeting LGBTQ+ people emerged, framed under the guise of “protecting morals”. </p>
<p>In his 2017 study, <a href="https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/russian-homophobia-from-stalin-to-sochi-9781350000797/">Russian Homophobia from Stalin to Sochi</a>, historian of Russia Dan Healey tracks the discourse surrounding this demonisation of sexual and gender minority movements with derogatory comments and baseless accusations against LGBTQ+ people. They have been variously branded as “seducers of children” and accused of “spreading HIV infection, moral vices, and the destruction of the nation”. </p>
<p>Proposals to reinstate Stalin’s 1934 ban on homosexuality were <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10896-023-00638-z">introduced in 2003, 2004 and 2006</a>, reflecting a growing anti-LGBTQ+ sentiment at government level. While the bills were unsuccessful, they marked a disturbing shift as anti-gay rhetoric penetrated the government and set the stage for more restrictive measures in the years that followed.</p>
<p>At first, some Russian regions (13 out of 83) <a href="https://heinonline.org/HOL/Page?handle=hein.journals/russlj3&div=19&g_sent=1&casa_token=&collection=journals">adopted legislation that restricted LGBTQ+-related expressions in public</a> between 2006 and 2013. This initiative was considered successful and in 2013 Putin’s government brought in the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/jun/11/russia-law-banning-gay-propaganda">federal gay propaganda law</a>. This turned out to be a watershed in the mistreatment of LGBTQ+ people.</p>
<p>This law was ostensibly aimed at protecting minors from information that could “entice them into a homosexual lifestyle” (my translation of the language of the <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/43617053">2013 bill</a>). In 2014 the constitutional court claimed that the ban was needed to protect the rights of minors and that it was proportionate, since it does not prohibit gay-related information completely. </p>
<p>In reality the law worked as a blanket ban, restricting any neutral to positive expressions related to homosexuality. The cases when people were fined for “gay propaganda” <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15564886.2023.2167142">varied greatly</a> – from screening LGBTQ+-themed movies to wearing clothes with rainbow print, from providing psychological help to discussing homosexuality in public.</p>
<p>The “protection of minors” was mere window dressing. The chairman of the constitutional court himself <a href="https://www.fontanka.ru/2014/09/29/230/">stated that</a> “the legal meaning of this ban is not so much to solve the problem of promoting homosexuality among minors – but to outline an understanding of the deviating nature of this type of behavior”. </p>
<p>In 2022 this false pretense was abandoned when the ban was extended to the “gay propaganda” among all citizens, not just minors. It also <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10896-023-00638-z">introduced bans</a> on the “propaganda of pedophilia” and the “promotion of gender reassignment”, making it illegal for people to change their legal gender.</p>
<p>The 2013 law was scrutinised in a <a href="https://globalfreedomofexpression.columbia.edu/cases/case-bayev-others-v-russia/">2017 decision</a> of the European Court of Human Rights. The court held that Russia had violated both the freedom of expression and prohibition of discrimination. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15564886.2023.2167142">judgment highlighted</a> how dangerous this combination might be for a society: “by adopting such laws the authorities reinforce stigma and prejudice and encourage homophobia which is incompatible with the notions of equality, pluralism, and tolerance inherent in a democratic society”.</p>
<p>The Russian government took no notice. Between 2013 and 2021, <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15564886.2023.2167142">there were 117 cases</a> brought under the 2013 legislation, with 36 resulting in convictions. </p>
<h2>Authoritarianism and homophobia go hand in hand</h2>
<p>The rise of homophobia and bigotry, which flows out from the centre of power in Russia, has coincided with the increasingly authoritarian governing style of Putin’s two decades at the top of Russian politics. In the early 2000s, Russia was categorised as a <a href="https://www.economist.com/media/pdf/DEMOCRACY_TABLE_2007_v3.pdf">“hybrid regime”</a>, judged to have “significant democratic faults” by the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Economist_Democracy_Index#:%7E:text=These%20nations%20can%20have%20significant,being%20fair%20and%20free%20democracies.">Economist Democracy Index</a>. </p>
<p>When the 2013 gay propaganda law came into force, the same index classified the country <a href="https://siyosat.files.wordpress.com/2014/10/democracy_index_2013_web-2.pdf">as “authoritarian”</a>. And, when in 2022 Russia <a href="https://www.eiu.com/n/campaigns/democracy-index-2022/">fell to its lowest point</a> on the democracy index with the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the authorities expanded the scope of the gay propaganda law and introduced the “extremist” status in 2023. </p>
<p>Many analysts of Russian politics believe that the latest anti-gay measures are a sop to Putin’s conservative base and a <a href="https://www.hrw.org/news/2023/05/17/russia-homophobia-and-battle-traditional-values">distraction from the war in Ukraine</a> – especially when it was going badly in late 2022 and early 2023. For the Kremlin, LGBTQ+ groups are a handy target, a convenient scapegoat. Meanwhile, many ordinary Russians are being made to suffer.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/220569/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sergey Katsuba does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Under Vladimir Putin homophobia has become a government policy reminiscent of Stalin’s era.Sergey Katsuba, PhD Candidate, Sutherland School of Law, University College DublinLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2171802023-11-22T19:09:36Z2023-11-22T19:09:36ZQueer archives preserve activist history and provide strategies to counter hate<iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100px; border: none; position: relative; z-index: 1;" allowtransparency="" allow="clipboard-read; clipboard-write" src="https://narrations.ad-auris.com/widget/the-conversation-canada/queer-archives-preserve-activist-history-and-provide-strategies-to-counter-hate" width="100%" height="400"></iframe>
<p>With <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/9542496/anti-lgbtq2-protests-rise-canada-explainer/">anti-2SLGBTQ+ protests</a> and <a href="https://www.ctvnews.ca/politics/facing-calls-to-act-canadian-lawmakers-note-rising-tide-of-hate-and-violence-against-lgbtq2s-community-1.6402660">hate and violence</a> against 2SLGBTQ+ communities on the rise, it’s a tough time to be queer or trans in Canada. </p>
<p>2SLGBTQ+ people and organizations have a long history of resisting efforts to harm or erase us, and much of that history is preserved in community-based archives.</p>
<p>The Canadian Gay Liberation Movement Archives <a href="https://arquives.ca/about">was founded in 1973</a> and still exists today as <a href="https://arquives.ca">The ArQuives: Canada’s LGBTQ2+ Archives</a>. There are also a growing number of smaller 2SLGBTQ+ archives across the country. </p>
<p>Since 2020, I have been helping to <a href="https://www.thespec.com/news/hamilton-region/mcmaster-professor-and-students-build-hamilton-2slgbtq-community-archive/article_c6324960-b9d4-5725-831d-04488e702a11.html">build a 2SLGBTQ+ Community Archive in Hamilton, Ont.</a> My students and I are often amazed at just how long 2SLGBTQ+ communities have been resisting very similar kinds of backlash, hate and violence to what we’re seeing today.</p>
<p>Anyone concerned about 2SLGBTQ+ struggles today can learn from the history of resistance and activism preserved in these archives.</p>
<h2>Narratives about saving children</h2>
<p>In the 1970s, gay and lesbian groups successfully fought back against conservative U.S.-based celebrity Anita Bryant’s “<a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/nbc-out/out-news/1970s-christian-crusader-anita-bryant-helped-spawn-floridas-lgbtq-cult-rcna24215">Save Our Children</a>” campaign. Today, Bryant’s anti-gay sentiments are amplified by campaigns like the “1 Million March 4 Children.” </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-the-parental-rights-movement-gave-rise-to-the-1-million-march-4-children-213842">How the 'parental rights' movement gave rise to the 1 Million March 4 Children</a>
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<p>But we can learn from the successful tactics of 2SLGBTQ+ organizers who fought against those campaigns. By building alliances with labour groups, progressive churches and more, these activists held successful counter demonstrations across Canada, from Toronto to Winnipeg to Edmonton to places as small as <a href="https://www.figure1publishing.com/book/out-north/">Moose Jaw, Sask.</a></p>
<p>More than a decade after these events, organizations like the Hamilton United Gay Societies (HUGS) and the Gay and Lesbian Association of McMaster refused to forget the hate-filled vitriol of Bryant’s campaign. They exposed her tactics in their monthly newsletter and reminded readers about the power of the counter-demonstrations that took place.</p>
<h2>Lack of BIPOC and trans representation</h2>
<p>My students and I noticed right away that the gay and lesbian people and histories documented in 2SLGBTQ+ archives were mostly white. There is very little representation of <a href="https://read.dukeupress.edu/tsq/article-abstract/4/2/170/84689/All-Power-to-All-People-Black-LGBTTI2QQ-Activism?redirectedFrom=fulltext">Black, Indigenous or other racialized groups</a>, and also very little representation of <a href="https://archivaria.ca/index.php/archivaria/article/view/13729">trans lives and histories</a>.</p>
<p>Many 2SLGBTQ+ archives are now working to <a href="https://arquives.ca/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/Historical-Inequities-Statement.pdf">remedy these gaps</a> in their collections by actively seeking to collect materials from racialized queer and trans community members.</p>
<p>From these gaps we can learn about the <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatoon/people-of-colour-say-racism-exclusion-fetishization-rampant-in-lgbtq-communities-1.6471430">ongoing effects of racism and transphobia within 2SLGBTQ+ communities</a>. While building the Hamilton 2SLGBTQ+ Community Archives, we began with a series of <a href="https://buildingthearchive.hamont.org/critical-engagements-2021/">critical conversations</a> intended to get us thinking about how to move beyond centering whiteness in our collections. We learned about how essential it is to have the diversity of 2SLGBTQ+ communities represented from the outset.</p>
<p>Today, there are also stand-alone archives in Canada for <a href="https://archives.uwinnipeg.ca/our-collections/two-spirit-archives.html">two-spirit</a> and <a href="https://www.uvic.ca/transgenderarchives/index.php">trans</a> communities, while projects like <a href="https://marvellousgrounds.com">Marvellous Grounds</a> in Toronto produce alternative archives of racialized queer and trans people. </p>
<p>The long history of struggle to address racism within 2SLGBTQ+ communities prompts us to be mindful of where and how racism shows up in our present-day organizing. For example, a lot of concern has recently been expressed about the number of Muslim participants in the “1 Million March.”</p>
<p>While we do need to keep talking about the role of religious groups and leaders in these movements, we can also learn from the struggles queer Muslim groups face to address Islamophobia, racism and homo/transphobia all at once. In the ArQuives, we can learn about groups like <a href="https://arquives.ca/curriculum/min-alaq">Min-Alaq</a>, one of the first organizations for gay, lesbian and bisexual Muslims in Canada. </p>
<p>Today, <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/lgbtq-muslims-speak-out-1.6985792">queer Muslims are speaking out</a> about anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric from some Muslim organizations, and calling on all of us to prioritize the needs and well-being of queer Muslim youth. If we want to meaningfully redress those gaps in queer archives, we have to begin by learning from the organizing efforts of racialized queer and trans communities, historically and today.</p>
<h2>Resisting policing</h2>
<p>My students sometimes start out thinking their generation is the first to push back against police discrimination, harassment and violence.</p>
<p>However, these archives show us that 2SLGBTQ+ communities have been resisting unjust police practices for a long time. We can learn from the strategies and tactics of the organizing done in previous generations, if we know where to look for them.</p>
<p>For example, in the organizational records of HUGS we found one document from 1981 that lays out several concerns the community brought to the Hamilton-Wentworth Regional Police following increased police harassment of people presumed to be gay. </p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/559438/original/file-20231114-29-dq9wl2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A black-and-white photo of police officer holding back a protester" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/559438/original/file-20231114-29-dq9wl2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/559438/original/file-20231114-29-dq9wl2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=650&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/559438/original/file-20231114-29-dq9wl2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=650&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/559438/original/file-20231114-29-dq9wl2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=650&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/559438/original/file-20231114-29-dq9wl2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=816&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/559438/original/file-20231114-29-dq9wl2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=816&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/559438/original/file-20231114-29-dq9wl2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=816&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">On Feb. 6, 1981, around 1,000 gay liberation demonstrators marched through downtown Toronto protesting the arrest of nearly 300 men in four city bathhouses the previous day.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/UPC/Gary Hershorn</span></span>
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<p>Community members wanted to know how decisions were made to target the gay community — and who was making these decisions. </p>
<p>They also wanted to know how to lay a complaint against a police officer for harassment or verbal abuse. </p>
<p>This approach demonstrates a clear opposition to police interaction with 2SLGBTQ+ communities. </p>
<p>It can be understood as an early precursor to later actions that have challenged police involvement with the community, <a href="https://www.noprideinpolicing.ca">including restricting their participation in Pride</a>.</p>
<h2>Keeping 2SLGBTQ+ archives alive</h2>
<p>In a 1973 pamphlet calling for donations to the Canadian Gay Liberation Movement Archives, the collective noted that building an archive is <a href="https://www.figure1publishing.com/book/out-north/">“painstaking and timeconsuming work.”</a> Now that I have a bit of first-hand experience with building an archive, I couldn’t agree more. </p>
<p>Most 2SLGBTQ+ archives survive on the labour of volunteers and on donations from members of our communities. Queer archives, according to archivist Rebecka Taves Sheffield, need at least <a href="https://litwinbooks.com/books/documenting-rebellions/">three things to survive</a>: space, money and expertise. To that list I would add that they need visitors, and not just students or academics like me, but anyone interested in learning from past social movement struggles. </p>
<p>In a time when anti-2SLGBTQ+ movements are becoming more vocal, and trying to push 2SLGBTQ+ communities out of public spaces, these archives are an essential resource for preserving histories and providing strategies for resistance.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/217180/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Amber Dean does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Anyone concerned about 2SLGBTQ+ struggles today can learn from the history of resistance and activism preserved in these archives.Amber Dean, Professor, Department of English and Cultural Studies, McMaster UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2109282023-11-16T12:16:27Z2023-11-16T12:16:27ZTwenty years after section 28 repeal, lessons still need to be learned from UK’s homophobic law<p>November 18 2023 marks the 20 year anniversary of the repeal of section 28 in England and Wales. This law silenced any discussion of lesbian and gay matters in schools, and was law for 15 years between 1988 and 2003. It stated that local authorities: “shall not … promote the teaching in any maintained school of the acceptability of homosexuality as a pretended family relationship”.</p>
<p>I was a teacher for every year of section 28. And I and other LGBTQ+ teachers feared we would lose our jobs if we were outed in our school workplaces.</p>
<p>The scene was set for section 28 at the Conservative Party conference in 1987, an election year. Margaret Thatcher accused “hard left education authorities and extremist teachers” of taking opportunity away from children. <a href="https://www.margaretthatcher.org/document/106941">She said</a>: “Children who need to be taught to respect traditional moral values are being taught that they have an inalienable right to be gay.”</p>
<p>Thatcher’s speech came at a moment of moral panic. In 1986 <a href="https://hansard.parliament.uk/lords/1986-12-18/debates/afda921e-413c-46f1-9d08-883838f2367d/LocalGovernmentAct1986(Amendment)BillHl">in the House of Lords</a>, gay people were referred to as exhibitionists, “vicious”, “aggressive” and “reservoirs of venereal diseases”. </p>
<p>Labour authorities funding gay and lesbian groups <a href="https://fiu-original.b-cdn.net/fontsinuse.com/use-images/47/47975/47975.jpeg?filename=90725271.jpg">were mocked</a> and described by the Conservatives as the “<a href="https://notchesblog.com/2017/09/26/the-road-to-section-28/">loony left</a>”. </p>
<p>To erode trust in the Labour party, Thatcher’s government accused left-wing local authorities of pushing a lesbian and gay agenda in schools. </p>
<p>A copy of a book about a girl with two dads, <a href="https://blogs.ncl.ac.uk/speccoll/2021/02/22/jenny-lives-with-eric-and-martin-february-2021/">Jenny lives with Eric and Martin</a>, was bought for a teachers’ centre library in the Inner London Education Authority. National newspapers inaccurately reported that the book was being made available in school libraries – and Kenneth Baker, secretary of state for education, <a href="https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/equityDiversityInclusion/2018/05/section-28-three-decades-on-the-legacy-of-a-homophobic-law-through-the-lse-librarys-collections/">claimed the book</a> was being used as “homosexual propaganda” by Labour local authorities.</p>
<p>Section 28 of the Local Government Act became law in 1988. It had a profound impact on my life. At school, I <a href="https://theconversation.com/heartstopper-how-this-joyous-teen-show-contrasts-with-my-bitter-memories-of-school-life-under-homophobic-law-section-28-212139">hid the fact</a> that I lived with my girlfriend. I also pretended not to be interested in promotion to school leadership, because to be a headteacher came with a level of visibility in the school community that was frankly terrifying for me as a lesbian teacher. </p>
<h2>Impact on students</h2>
<p>I am filled with regret for a life half lived as a teacher, but the regret is not for me: it is for all the LGBTQ+ young people in my schools that I let down. </p>
<p>I knew that young queer people in the secondary schools in which I taught were being harassed in the corridors for being gay, but because of section 28, I ignored the homophobic language. If I thought a young person was about to come out to me, I acted as though I was too busy to talk to them. </p>
<p>In the dedication of my book <a href="https://www.hachette.co.uk/titles/catherine-lee/pretended-schools-and-section-28/9781915261694/">Pretended: Schools and Section 28</a>, I state:</p>
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<p>This book is also for all the LGBTQ+ students in my schools between 1988 and 2003. I am sorry that I let you down. I hope this book will help you to understand why I was not there for you when you needed me most. </p>
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<p><a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/14681811.2019.1585800">My research with other lesbian and gay teachers</a> who experienced section 28 shows that it left a damaging legacy for many of those who taught under this law. I found that only 20% of section 28-era teachers are out to their colleagues at school. On the other hand, 88% of teachers who started after section 28 was repealed in 2003 are out to their fellow teachers in their schools. </p>
<p>Looking back, section 28 was a result of a fight between the right and left of British politics. Now, as the left and right battle to win the next general election, schools, teachers and LGBTQ+ identities are again under the spotlight. </p>
<p>We still await promised government guidance for teachers on gender identity in schools. Once again, they are not being trusted to talk to young people about gender and sexuality. </p>
<p>It is with a heavy heart that I await the political debates that will start as soon as the general election date is set. Spare a thought for those of us listening who are LGBTQ+. We are real people and who we are and who we love should not be used for political point-scoring. Let us at least learn that lesson from section 28.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/210928/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Catherine Lee does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>A teacher reflects on how Section 28 affected her career and the young people she taught.Catherine Lee, Professor of Inclusive Education, PVC Dean Arts, Humanities, Education and Social Sciences, Anglia Ruskin UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2149322023-10-24T21:07:06Z2023-10-24T21:07:06ZQueerphobic hate is on the rise, and LGBTQ+ communities in Canada need more support<p>In the past few years, people who identify as LGBTQ+ have been facing increasing harm and discrimination. Canada is not insulated from growing anti-queer and anti-trans sentiment.</p>
<p>The Saskatchewan government recently passed <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatchewan/sask-parental-rights-law-1.7002088">a controversial bill</a> that requires students to get their parents’ permission to change their pronouns in school. Critics have called the bill a “humiliation” for the province and experts have warned that it could further endanger at-risk youth.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/saskatchewan-naming-and-pronoun-policy-the-best-interests-of-children-must-guide-provincial-parental-consent-rules-212431">Saskatchewan naming and pronoun policy: The best interests of children must guide provincial parental consent rules</a>
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<p>The bill is part of a wave of reactionary anti-LGBTQ+ sentiment that has been on display in legislatures and on the streets. In September, marches were held <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/9972437/anti-lgbtq2-rallies-canada-counter-protests/">across the country</a> to <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-the-parental-rights-movement-gave-rise-to-the-1-million-march-4-children-213842">protest inclusive public education</a>.</p>
<p>Drag queen story hours across Canada <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/9220283/drag-story-time-cafe-protest/">have been targets</a> of <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-anti-gay-activists-target-childrens-libraries-and-drag-queen-story/">coordinated attacks</a>, with one in Québec being forced to <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/drag-story-hour-secret-location-1.6799385">move to an undisclosed location</a> because of safety concerns.</p>
<p>In the United States, the number of anti-LGBTQ+ bills introduced in state legislatures <a href="https://www.aclu.org/legislative-attacks-on-lgbtq-rights">has surpassed 500</a>, and the rate of online harassment against LGBTQ+ people <a href="https://www.adl.org/resources/report/online-hate-and-harassment-american-experience-2023">has been increasing</a>.</p>
<p>Discrimination against LGBTQ+ people is also taking place online. Sexual minority Canadians are <a href="https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/85-002-x/2020001/article/00009-eng.htm">twice as likely to experience inappropriate behaviours online</a>, and LGBTQ+ youth in Canada are <a href="https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/75-006-x/2023001/article/00003-eng.htm">significantly more likely to be cyberbullied</a> than their straight, cisgender counterparts.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/5-things-to-know-about-drag-queen-story-time-206547">5 things to know about Drag Queen Story Time</a>
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<p>We at the <a href="https://odlan.ca/">Ontario Digital Literacy and Access Network (ODLAN)</a> use the term “queerphobic online hate” to refer to all forms of online discrimination and hatred directed at LGBTQ+ people. ODLAN is a volunteer-led non-profit organization with a mission to enhance digital literacy, remove access barriers and support marginalized communities who experience challenges, including digital harms.</p>
<p>Some examples of digital harms include cyberbullying, online harassment and non-consensual image sharing. Queerphobic online hate can also start online and continue in person. For example, an LGBTQ+ gym in Edmonton was <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/queerflex-lgbtq-gym-edmonton-doxing-1.5460939">forced to close</a> because of doxing. </p>
<h2>Queerphobic online hate</h2>
<p>Our goal at ODLAN is to develop digital strategies that mitigate problems LGBTQ+ communities face online. We recently partnered with <a href="https://www.wisdom2action.org/">Wisdom2Action</a>, a consulting firm that works to facilitate positive change related to gender justice and LGBTQ+ inclusion, to conduct a <a href="https://odlan.ca/research-report-2023/">research project</a> on how LGBTQ+ individuals and organizations in Canada have experienced queerphobic online hate. </p>
<p><a href="https://odlan.ca/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/Mitigating-Online-Hate-ODLAN-Full-Report-Digital.pdf">For this project</a>, we conducted six focus groups with a total of 17 participants, including one focus group for racialized participants; one for trans, non-binary, Two-Spirit, genderqueer, agender, and gender non-confirming people; one for people with disabilities, two for any LGBTQ+ anglophones; and one for any LGBTQ+ francophones.</p>
<p>Our research found that LGBTQ+ people and organizations experience queerphobic online hate in many ways. This hate can happen <a href="https://glaad.org/smsi/lgbtq-social-media-safety-program/">on social media</a>, including in the form of public comments or private messages. Participants also reported receiving anti-LGBTQ+ comments in emails directed at them or their organization. Queerphobic online hate was expressed through text, images, videos and emojis, and many spoke about being victims of trolling and anti-trans rhetoric. </p>
<p>Queerphobic online hate can be perpetuated through virtual events. One participant said their organization frequently saw high levels of hateful activity during publicly live-streamed webinars.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, queerphobic online hate can sometimes come from LGBTQ+ people. Our research found that cisgender, gay, white men, including those from older generations, may speak out against trans, queer and non-binary people. Aphobia (<a href="https://www.asexuals.net/aphobia/">prejudice against asexual and aromantic people</a>) was identified as another form of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/00918369.2021.2020543">lateral hate</a> (when members of a marginalized group perpetuate harm against members of their own group). Other participants stated that transphobia is not uncommon in LGBTQ+ spaces and that <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatoon/people-of-colour-say-racism-exclusion-fetishization-rampant-in-lgbtq-communities-1.6471430">those spaces are often unwelcoming to racialized people</a>. </p>
<h2>Misinformation and disinformation</h2>
<p>The roots of misinformation and disinformation about LGBTQ+ communities are diverse and rooted in <a href="https://juliaserano.medium.com/all-the-evidence-against-transgender-social-contagion-f82fbda9c5d4">pseudo-science</a> and <a href="https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5c40e14112b13fb574c1214b/t/62cc7d667829b27c76818f6b/1657568631861/Mapping%2Bthe%2BLandscape%2Bof%2BFaith-Based%2BHeterosexism%2Band%2BTransphobia_2021.pdf">religion</a>. While this is not new, today’s digital world means that anti-LGBTQ+ beliefs can easily be spread far and wide online.</p>
<p>Sometimes, information is misinterpreted and misappropriated to justify anti-LGBTQ+ hate. Misinformation like this may not be shared intentionally, but it still causes harm. Disinformation about LGBTQ+ people, such as them <a href="https://www.npr.org/2022/05/11/1096623939/accusations-grooming-political-attack-homophobic-origins">being “groomers,”</a> is both intentional and harmful, having severe real-world impacts. </p>
<p>As trans people have gained visibility, the trans identity has been framed as a <a href="https://www.technologyreview.com/2022/08/18/1057135/transgender-contagion-gender-dysphoria/">contagion that is rapidly spreading, particularly among young people</a>. Information about rates of de-transition (when someone in the process of transitioning stops or returns to their gender assigned at birth) is often <a href="https://juliaserano.medium.com/spotting-anti-trans-media-bias-on-detransition-a9a782a46894">misinterpreted, taken out of context and posted to social media</a>. Disinformation like this aims to discredit trans people and justify discrimination against them.</p>
<h2>Discriminatory and conspiratorial beliefs</h2>
<p>Our research found that anti-LGBTQ+ ideologies were often combined with other bigoted and discriminatory beliefs and <a href="https://www.the-independent.com/news/world/americas/us-politics/transgender-far-right-qanon-violence-b2108235.html">far-right politics</a>. One racialized participant reported that they had seen anti-immigration sentiment tied to claims that queer and trans people were immigrating to Canada.</p>
<p>Queerphobic online hate has been justified by pseudo-scientific beliefs or arguments about <a href="https://www.adl.org/resources/blog/what-grooming-truth-behind-dangerous-bigoted-lie-targeting-lgbtq-community">protecting children from perceived threats</a>. With an apparently <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/parental-rights-movement-us-canada-1.6796070">growing parental rights movement</a> and <a href="https://egale.ca/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/Egale_Pride_Unravelled_Government_Package_May23.pdf">escalating anti-LGBTQ+ hate in Canada</a>, more research on queerphobic online hate is urgently needed. LGBTQ+ organizations, staff and volunteers also need solidarity and support. </p>
<p>We recommend creating and providing targeted resources that help people deal with queerphobic online hate and develop digital literacy skills. This should be done at multiple levels, including the local level with community organizations, as well as the provincial and federal level with government agencies. It also means filling existing deficits among LGBTQ+ organizations by improving resources, offering mutual aid and sharing resources. </p>
<p>Queerphobic online hate must also be countered with systemic solutions like enhancing the resources and services available to LGBTQ+ organizations, including better and more accessible mental health support. We at ODLAN are invested in these goals by, for example, developing and launching training modules to help organizations develop strategies to address queerphobic online hate and protect themselves from such harms.</p>
<p>Until we have a society that is inclusive and safe for all LGBTQ+ people, individuals and organizations need to keep fighting against queerphobic online hate across Canada.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/214932/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Christopher Dietzel receives funding from the Fonds de Recherche du Québec - Société et Culture (FRQSC) and serves as the Community Research Advisor for the Ontario Digital Literacy and Access Network (ODLAN).</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Hannah Maitland is the co-founder of the Ontario Digital Literacy and Access Network (ODLAN) which authored the report that forms the basis of this article. This report was funded by the Digital Citizen Contribution Program of the Department of Canadian Heritage. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Stephanie Jonsson is the co-founder and Executive Director of the Ontario Digital Literacy and Access Network (ODLAN) which authored the report, that forms the basis of this article. This report was funded by the Digital Citizen Contribution Program of the Department of Canadian Heritage.</span></em></p>LGBTQ+ people face significant harms from online hate.Christopher Dietzel, Postdoctoral fellow, Gender and Sexuality, McGill UniversityHannah Maitland, PhD Candidate in the Department of Gender, Feminist, and Women's Studies, York University, CanadaStephanie Jonsson, PhD candidate, Gender, Feminist and Women's Studies, York University, CanadaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2122382023-08-30T21:56:05Z2023-08-30T21:56:05ZCanada warns LGBTQ+ travellers about the U.S., but those seeking refuge here aren’t always welcomed<iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100px; border: none; position: relative; z-index: 1;" allowtransparency="" allow="clipboard-read; clipboard-write" src="https://narrations.ad-auris.com/widget/the-conversation-canada/canada-warns-lgbtq-travellers-about-the-us-but-those-seeking-refuge-here-arent-always-welcomed" width="100%" height="400"></iframe>
<p>The Canadian government recently issued a <a href="https://www.ctvnews.ca/politics/global-affairs-canada-issues-lgbtq2s-travel-advisory-for-united-states-1.6539763">travel advisory</a> warning LGBTQ+ people about travel south of the border. </p>
<p>Global Affairs Canada updated its travel advice for the United States to warn LGBTQ+ travellers about state laws that may affect them. <a href="https://www.hrc.org/press-releases/roundup-of-anti-lgbtq-legislation-advancing-in-states-across-the-country">Hundreds of anti-LGBTQ+ bills have been introduced in U.S. state legislatures and dozens have been enacted</a>. </p>
<p>Many LGBTQ+ people around the world still face abuse and discrimination, whether it’s from official state policies, family members, peer groups or faith communities. Canada is often seen as a more welcoming country and has become an <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/refugees/canada-role/2slgbtqi-plus.html">attractive destination for many seeking to emigrate</a>. </p>
<p>Canada recognizes same-sex marriage and has laws that protect <a href="https://publications.gc.ca/collections/Collection-R/LoPBdP/CIR/921-e.htm">gender and sexual minorities</a>. However, this does not result in a warm welcome. The lived experiences of LGBTQ+ newcomers tell a story that, despite the image of being welcoming, Canada has not made enough progress to protect and welcome LGBTQ+ refugees. </p>
<h2>Challenges for LGBTQ+ newcomers</h2>
<p>Hopes are high that LGBTQ+ refugee transition to Canada will be much safer with the recent announcement of a <a href="https://www.pm.gc.ca/en/news/news-releases/2023/06/08/providing-lgbtqi-people-safe-home-canada">partnership between the federal government and Rainbow Railroad</a> — an organization that helps LGBTQ+ people fleeing persecution. </p>
<p>Canada presents itself as a nation that offers a warm welcome to individuals of any background. Unfortunately, there is a lot more work needed to make the transition of LGBTQ+ refugees safe and welcoming. Heteronormative ideas dominate social relations in Canada and this influences how refugees are treated.</p>
<p>Say an LGBTQ+ person comes to Canada seeking asylum. They disclose their sexual identity and reasons why they fear returning home to immigration officials. They will gain entry into Canada once officials are satisfied their request for asylum is legitimate. </p>
<p>However, the individual who makes the claim must <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/relationships/after-lifetime-of-hiding-gay-refugees-to-canada-expected-to-prove-theiridentity/article34858343/">somehow prove their sexual identity</a> and live up to western stereotypes of LGBTQ+ communities. Doing so can be very difficult. Refugees may likely have had to keep their sexual identity hidden for fear of being persecuted. In addition, they may not identify with western preconceptions of what LGBTQ+ identities should look like. </p>
<p>They also face the added stress of an immigration system that limits the number of refugees admitted. <a href="https://upstreamjournal.org/coming-out-as-an-lgbt-refugee-in-canada/">They run the risk of being returned to a country where they fear being persecuted</a>. </p>
<p>Additionally, Canadian society continues to have a strong element of homophobia and transphobia despite the legal protections. LGBTQ+ Canadians face challenges in society that other groups do not. LGBTQ+ youth are <a href="https://www.homelesshub.ca/about-homelessness/population-specific/lesbian-gay-bisexual-transgender-transsexual-queer">over-represented among the homeless population</a> and face more family and peer rejection than others. <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/politics/article-record-jump-in-lgbtq-religious-hate-crimes-cases-reported-to-police/">Hate crimes due to sexual identity continue to rise</a>. </p>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/00940798.2022.2090263">Research notes</a> that LGBTQ+ refugees experience a lack of access to resources such as health agencies and living arrangements that are specific to their community. They risk losing social support if they live as their authentic selves. LGBTQ+ newcomers often face the choice between living their true identity or hiding it in order to find acceptance.</p>
<p>Newcomers often rely on relatives who are already established in Canada. Yet unaccepting family members can be a source of abuse for LGBTQ+ individuals.</p>
<p>While the transition to another country is difficult for all newcomers, support from an ethnic or religious community can make it easier. However, an LGBTQ+ individual can be in a difficult position if their community is hostile to their identity. Many might experience rejection by faith communities and be fearful of approaching any once they arrive in Canada. </p>
<h2>Creating a supportive environment</h2>
<p>LGBTQ+ refugees can experience a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/17525098.2017.1300354">less than welcoming reception</a> in Canada. Racism, homophobia and transphobia are part of the lived experiences of newcomers. The portrayal of Canada as a warm and welcoming country is not always the reality for those who come here. However, there are steps the government can take to make the transition safer. </p>
<p>First, ensure that the refugee process is more LGBTQ+ friendly and is not based off of western stereotypes. Immigration agents need to recognize the difficulty for individuals to prove an identity they’ve spent their entire lives hiding.</p>
<p>Second, Canada can make more of an effort to connect individuals with communities that support the rights of sexual minorities. For instance, there are some efforts among faith communities to be <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatoon/2slgbt-faith-religion-1.6489746">affirming of LGBTQ+ individuals</a>. This has great potential as individuals can find a community that provides the support they may lose from others. </p>
<p>Canada should design and support developing <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/13691058.2017.1298843">resources</a> with the LGBTQ+ community in mind. These can include group counselling sessions, health clinics and doctors trained to work with LGBTQ+ people and supporting social groups where LGBTQ+ individuals can be open and comfortable with others.</p>
<p>Third, governments and experts must continue to teach the public about the need for all individuals to be treated with respect and welcome. Canadian society should not be of the opinion that because official policy has been set then everything has been settled. The general public needs consistent messaging that challenges anti-LGBTQ+ sentiment.</p>
<p>By taking these steps, Canada could live up to the image that all people of all backgrounds are truly welcome here.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/212238/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Andrew Chapados does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Canada has taken positive steps in recognizing and supporting LGBTQ+ communities. However, that support does not always extend to people seeking asylum.Andrew Chapados, PhD Student, Philosophy, Sociology, Social Justice, University of WindsorLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2067312023-06-30T12:39:52Z2023-06-30T12:39:52ZFrom Stonewall to Pride, the fight for equal rights has been rooted in resistance led by Black transwomen<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/534655/original/file-20230628-4980-adwtxh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=215%2C26%2C982%2C777&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">An unidentified participant in a New York City Pride March during the 1980s. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/portrait-of-an-unidentified-participant-dressed-in-a-blue-news-photo/1250531142?adppopup=true">Mariett Pathy Allen/Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Its unclear who threw the first brick at Stonewall Inn on that night in New York City that arguably launched the gay rights liberation movement. </p>
<p>As part of queer lore, <a href="https://ucnj.org/mpj/about-marsha-p-johnson/">Marsha P. Johnson</a>, a Black transwoman at the forefront of gay liberation, or <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Sylvia-Rivera">Sylvia Rivera</a>, a Latina transwoman, was the first. But based on their accounts of that night of June 28, 1969, neither threw that first brick. </p>
<p><a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=-llnDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA135&lpg=PA135&dq=I+was+uptown+and+I+didn%E2%80%99t+get+downtown+until+about+two+o%E2%80%99clock.+When+I+got+downtown,+the+place+was+already+on+fire,+and+there+was+a+raid+already.+The+riots+had+already+started.&source=bl&ots=ZXLgGQdf90&sig=ACfU3U1okjsWKzcQQk4czZfJjSKqPSEtcA&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiTlNGh_6nqAhU4mnIEHbymCuUQ6AEwAHoECAsQAQ#v=onepage&q=I%20was%20uptown%20and%20I%20didn%E2%80%99t%20get%20downtown%20until%20about%20two%20o%E2%80%99clock.%20When%20I%20got%20downtown%2C%20the%20place%20was%20already%20on%20fire%2C%20and%20there%20was%20a%20raid%20already.%20The%20riots%20had%20already%20started.&f=false">Johnson admitted</a> to arriving after the riots had started, and Rivera <a href="https://www.historyisaweapon.com/defcon1/riverarisingandstronger.html">explained in an interview</a>:</p>
<p>“I have been given the credit for throwing the first Molotov cocktail by many historians, but I always like to correct it. I threw the second one; I did not throw the first one!”</p>
<p>The most likely scenario does not involve a brick or Molotov cocktail but rather the pleas of <a href="https://www.thepinknews.com/2020/05/27/who-threw-the-first-brick-at-stonewall-uprising-riot-pride/">Storme DeLarverie</a>, a mixed-race lesbian.</p>
<p>While she was being thrown into the back of a police car, she asked her queer brothers and sisters, “Aren’t you going to do something?”</p>
<p>Because of <a href="https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/stonewall-why-did-mafia-own-bar/">Mafia ownership</a> and stringent liquor laws, the Stonewall Inn, a popular night spot for the queer community, was an <a href="https://www.baruch.cuny.edu/nycdata/disasters/riots-stonewall.html">easy target for police raids</a> during the 1960s.</p>
<p>At approximately 2 a.m., New York police officers arrived to clear out the bar at its closing time. Initially, most patrons were cooperative, but as harassment and arrests increased, the mostly queer patrons fought back.</p>
<p>Though the details of <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/31/us/first-brick-at-stonewall-lgbtq.html#:%7E:text=The%20gay%20rights%20movement%20was,tactical%20police%20in%20riot%20gear.">the origins of that night</a> remain murky, what is clear is that both Johnson and Rivera were there and would later become anchors of gay rights and queer resistance.</p>
<p>Their protests, as well as the actions of other Black gay people in an earlier and little-known act of defiance, demonstrate how queer women of color were often overlooked but at the forefront of gay liberation. </p>
<p>Despite some social progress, Black transwomen continue to pay the price, sometimes with their lives. </p>
<h2>Misperceptions of the Stonewall Riots</h2>
<p>As a first-generation Black American and gay professor who <a href="https://emerson.edu/faculty-staff-directory/deion-hawkins">researches the intersection</a> of <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9843143/">race and health</a>, <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fcomm.2020.00026/full">HIV</a> and <a href="https://journals.upress.ufl.edu/rhm/article/view/1775">queer activism</a>, I look for ways to better teach queer activism during my <a href="https://professional.emerson.edu/search/publicCourseSearchDetails.do?method=load&courseId=1010305&selectedProgramAreaId=1009727&selectedProgramStreamId=1009758">rhetoric of social movements course</a>. </p>
<p>I have learned that the story of Stonewall became popularized when a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LGEJmPwB4yI">movie was released</a> in 2015. But the “Stonewall” movie was met with <a href="https://people.com/movies/stonewall-movie-roland-emmerich-and-jeremy-irvine-defend-whitewashing-criticism/">harsh criticism</a> for whitewashing the story and omitting the role of Black and Latina queer people.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A queer Black man is wearing an outfit that has shiny black crystals." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/534677/original/file-20230628-27-xv7gek.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/534677/original/file-20230628-27-xv7gek.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/534677/original/file-20230628-27-xv7gek.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/534677/original/file-20230628-27-xv7gek.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/534677/original/file-20230628-27-xv7gek.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/534677/original/file-20230628-27-xv7gek.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/534677/original/file-20230628-27-xv7gek.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Gay liberation activist Marsha P. Johnson wears a black sequined jumpsuit during a 1982 Pride March.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/american-gay-liberation-activist-marsha-p-johnson-along-news-photo/1392246163?adppopup=true">Barbara Alper/Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In the movie, a gay white man throws the first brick, but almost every public account of the night <a href="https://www.them.us/story/who-threw-the-first-brick-at-stonewall">discredits this version</a>.</p>
<p>Instead, it was <a href="https://www.brookings.edu/articles/the-black-and-brown-activists-who-started-pride/">queer people of color</a>, especially gender nonconforming individuals, who led the charge. These individuals and other examples of queer resistance are often erased and forgotten in popular culture. </p>
<h2>An overlooked act of defiance</h2>
<p>Stonewall was not the first act of public defiance by a gay community.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.advocate.com/transgender/2018/8/02/dont-let-history-forget-about-comptons-cafeteria-riot">Compton’s Cafeteria riot</a> took place about three years before Stonewall and nearly 3,000 miles away in San Francisco. </p>
<p>Compton’s Cafeteria, located in San Francisco’s Tenderloin district, was a popular late-night gathering spot in the 1960s for transgender people, particularly transwomen. </p>
<p>But the cafeteria’s management and the police subjected these marginalized communities to harassment and constant mistreatment. Transwomen were often arrested under <a href="https://www.glbthistory.org/newsletter-blog-2020/08-feature">female impersonation laws</a> and faced public humiliation and enduring physical violence. </p>
<p>In August 1966, a pivotal incident at Compton’s Cafeteria sparked the flames of resistance. </p>
<p>The documentary “<a href="https://itvs.org/films/screaming-queens/">Screaming Queens</a>” highlights the injustice faced by the trans community at the time, which was <a href="https://sfstandard.com/arts-culture/trans-history-comptons-cafeteria-riot-transgender-remembrance-day-tenderloin/">mostly women of color</a> engaging in sex work.</p>
<p>After years of enduring mistreatment, a group of transwomen, drag queens and gender-nonconforming individuals decided they had endured enough. </p>
<p>When a police officer attempted to arrest one of the transwomen, she defiantly threw her cup of hot coffee in his face. Within a few moments, patrons overturned a police car. </p>
<p>This act of resistance ignited a spontaneous uprising within the cafeteria and on the streets. By the time it was over, police had arrested dozens of people and beaten countless others.</p>
<p>Although the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2019/jun/21/stonewall-san-francisco-riot-tenderloin-neighborhood-trans-women">Compton’s Cafeteria riot</a> did not receive the same level of national attention as other events, it had a profound and lasting impact. </p>
<h2>Hate still runs rampant</h2>
<p>Despite these acts of public defiance and growing public acceptance,
transwomen of color repeatedly report higher <a href="https://www.thetaskforce.org/new-analysis-shows-startling-levels-of-discrimination-against-black-transgender-people/">rates of unemployment</a>, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/26895269.2020.1848691">elevated rates of stigma</a> from health care providers, <a href="https://www.npr.org/2021/03/25/981309903/theres-a-backdrop-of-historic-distrust-in-police-to-solve-murders-of-trans-peopl">shattered trust with law enforcement</a> and <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2021/p0414-trans-HIV.html">disproportionate rates of HIV</a> and other ailments.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A demonstrator holds a sign a that supports Black transsexuals." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/534682/original/file-20230628-19349-ow06qu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/534682/original/file-20230628-19349-ow06qu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/534682/original/file-20230628-19349-ow06qu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/534682/original/file-20230628-19349-ow06qu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/534682/original/file-20230628-19349-ow06qu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/534682/original/file-20230628-19349-ow06qu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/534682/original/file-20230628-19349-ow06qu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A demonstrator takes part in the Queer Liberation March on June 28, 2020, in New York.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/an-estimated-20-000-demonstrators-take-part-in-the-queer-news-photo/1223412024?adppopup=true">David Dee Delgado/Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In addition, the murder of transpeople <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/transgender-community-murder-rates-everytown-for-gun-safety-report/">nearly doubled from 29 deaths in 2017 to 56 in 2021</a>, according to the nonprofit <a href="https://everytownresearch.org/report/remembering-and-honoring-pulse/">Everytown for Gun Safety</a>. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.hrc.org/resources/fatal-violence-against-the-transgender-and-gender-non-conforming-community-in-2022">The Human Rights Commission</a> notes that Black and Latina transwomen are at the highest risk of violence, with some assailants being able to skirt jail time due to “<a href="https://williamsinstitute.law.ucla.edu/press/gay-trans-panic-press-release/">gay/trans panic defense </a>,” which enables a suspect to blame their violent reaction on the victim’s sexuality.</p>
<p>So far in 2023, the murders of <a href="https://www.jsonline.com/story/news/crime/2023/03/06/neenah-man-charged-in-milwaukee-homicide-of-cashay-henderson/69975920007/">Cashay Henderson</a>, a Black transwoman and <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/arrest-made-killing-koko-da-doll-atlanta-rcna81904">KoKo Da Doll</a>, the lead actor in “Kokomo City,” <a href="https://deadline.com/2023/03/kokomo-city-sundance-berlin-award-winning-documentary-magnolia-pictures-director-d-smith-subjects-daniella-carter-dominque-silver-interviews-1235275833/">a Sundance Award-winning documentary</a>, serve as tragic reminders of the ongoing violence and discrimination targeting queer people.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/206731/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Deion Scott Hawkins does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>As violent attacks against gay people continue to increase in the US, Black transwomen face ongoing battles against discrimination in the workplace and over receiving health care.Deion Scott Hawkins, Assistant Professor of Argumentation & Advocacy, Emerson CollegeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2028192023-06-05T12:09:55Z2023-06-05T12:09:55ZHow hip-hop learned to call out homophobia – or at least apologize for it<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/529664/original/file-20230601-25-qtld66.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C12%2C1022%2C669&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Rapper Offset apologized over a homophobic slur.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/rapper-offset-attends-the-offset-54321-single-release-party-news-photo/1416530655?adppopup=true">Photo by Prince Williams/Wireimage/Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>In the 2018 song “Boss Life,” the rapper Offset, part of the multiplatinum-selling rap group Migos, rhymed: “I do not vibe with queers.” </p>
<p>Such casual use of a perceived anti-gay slur is <a href="https://www.independent.ie/entertainment/music/hip-hops-complicated-history-with-homophobia/38911604.html">not uncommon in the history of hip-hop</a>. But the <a href="https://www.billboard.com/music/rb-hip-hop/offset-queer-lyric-yfn-lucci-boss-life-instagram-apology-8094920/">discussion that Offset’s lyrics provoked</a> gave an insight to how the genre is evolving.</p>
<p>Addressing claims of homophobia, the <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/news/offset-migos-homophobia-what-say-vibe-queers-lyrics-yfn-lucci-song-a8166786.html">rapper wrote on Instagram</a>: “I didn’t write the line about gay people. … I got love for all people.” He continued: “To me [by] ‘queer’ I don’t mean someone who’s gay. I mean lame people who film you, post it and stalk you. Lingo that means strange or odd.”</p>
<p>I have no reason to question Offset’s sincerity, although <a href="https://www.nme.com/news/music/migos-offset-responds-to-backlash-over-homophobic-lyrics-2221936">other artists have criticized him</a> for the slur.</p>
<p>But as a <a href="https://socanth.richmond.edu/faculty/moware/">scholar of hip-hop and social consciousness</a>, what interests me more is that Offset felt the need to reply at all; many of his rap predecessors <a href="https://doi.org//10.1007/978-3-319-90454-2">have not felt the need after similar incidents</a>.</p>
<p>As rap music <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/topics/hip-hop-50-135779">approaches its 50th anniversary</a> in August, I believe it is <a href="https://level.medium.com/was-this-the-decade-hip-hop-finally-moved-past-its-homophobia-fed859717407">increasingly embracing challenges</a> to – and debates about – homophobia. That is, hip-hop has evolved to the point where anti-gay rhetoric invites condemnation from members of the culture. It is still present in some rap lyrics – as indeed is true of all genres, <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/life/music/2018/04/12/20-politically-incorrect-songs-thatd-wildly-controversial-today/465246002/">from pop</a> <a href="https://genius.com/28074326">to country</a> – but hip-hop is changing because of more progressive cultural views and greater LGBTQ+ representation.</p>
<h2>The history of homophobia in rap music</h2>
<p>Hip-hop has <a href="https://www.soundoflife.com/blogs/mixtape/conscious-rap-origins">always been a socially conscious genre</a> – but whereas it has <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/hip-hop-standing-black-lives-decades-15-songs/story?id=71195591">historically challenged racial discrimination</a>, it has slowly evolved on issues related to gender and sexuality.</p>
<p>Arguably one of the most poignant social commentaries on institutional racism at the time, “The Message,” released in 1982 by Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, <a href="https://www.advocate.com/arts-entertainment/music/2012/07/18/timeline-hip-hop-homophobia">included the anti-gay slur “f**</a>” in a disparaging context. </p>
<p>Indeed, throughout the 1980s and 1990s, high-profile rap groups <a href="https://www.vox.com/2015/8/25/9205595/compton-movie-misogyny">such as N.W.A</a> and <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/dmx-was-talented-imperfect-antihero-icon-he-was-one-us-ncna1263708">artists like DMX</a> similarly used pejorative language against members of the gay and lesbian community.</p>
<p>Perhaps the most <a href="https://variety.com/2018/music/opinion/eminem-and-the-f-word-why-does-rap-still-tolerate-homophobia-1202947049">famous rapper using homophobic lyrics is Eminem</a>. On “The Marshall Mathers LP,” he rhymed, “Hate f**s?/The answer’s yes.” In the aftermath of this controversy, Eminem <a href="https://www.yahoo.com/video/rewind-story-behind-eminem-elton-214752946.html">performed with famous gay singer Elton John</a> at the 2001 Grammys. Nevertheless, on follow-up albums he continued to use the slur. Throughout this controversy, there was only a muted response from the rap community itself.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A man in a pink jacket holds his hand aloft with that of a man in a white T-shirt and hat." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/529666/original/file-20230601-16-xmjrb2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/529666/original/file-20230601-16-xmjrb2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/529666/original/file-20230601-16-xmjrb2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/529666/original/file-20230601-16-xmjrb2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/529666/original/file-20230601-16-xmjrb2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/529666/original/file-20230601-16-xmjrb2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/529666/original/file-20230601-16-xmjrb2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Eminem and Sir Elton John perform at the 43rd annual Grammy Awards in 2001 in Los Angeles.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/american-rap-star-eminem-and-british-musician-sir-elton-news-photo/2655479?adppopup=true">Dave Hogan/Getty Images</a></span>
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<p>Advocacy groups such as the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation have long campaigned against the use of such language, <a href="https://www.mtv.com/news/cdqr7z/gay-activist-group-plans-pre-grammy-eminem-protest">lambasting Eminem’s hateful rhetoric</a> and lyrics alluding to violence against members of the LGBTQ+ community. </p>
<p>And such lyrics have real-world impacts. Indeed, researchers who studied the link between rap music and resistance among young men of color to coming out found that it influenced some gay men’s decision to conduct any same-sex practices on the “down low” to <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1057/palgrave.lst.8600238">avoid revealing their sexuality</a>.</p>
<h2>The start of change in rap community</h2>
<p>In the latter 2000s, attitudes began to change. For example, in 2005 Kanye West apologized for his past homophobia and even <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/03007766.2011.578517">urged fellow artists to cease</a> using lyrics that degrade the LGBTQ+ community. “I wanna just come on TV and just tell my rappers, just tell my friends, yo, stop it,” he said in reference to derogatory anti-gay slurs. In 2012, Jay-Z decried discrimination against gay people and <a href="https://www.complex.com/music/2012/05/history-rappers-not-being-homophobic">promoted gay marriage</a>.</p>
<p>These individual actions did not end anti-gay expression in rap, but it does, I believe, show progress among those in the hip-hop community. And others, from Nicki Minaj to Fat Joe, <a href="https://www.complex.com/music/2012/05/history-rappers-not-being-homophobic">later followed suit as the 2010s progressed</a>.</p>
<p>Furthermore, hip-hop artists and fans have increasingly welcomed what could be described as a queer aesthetic once frowned upon. Some cisgender male lyricists have appropriated parts of queer culture as part of their act. </p>
<p>For instance, popular Atlanta rapper Young Thug often cross-dresses, wearing women’s clothing. In a 2016 MTV interview <a href="http://www.mtv.com/news/2901714/young-thug-calvin-klein-gender/">regarding his wardrobe choice</a> he stated, “In my world, you can be gangsta with a dress, or you can be gangsta with baggy pants.” </p>
<p>This contrasts with earlier rap. Such attire would be unthinkable in the 1990s when the belief was that “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/03007766.2011.578517">real” men “don’t wear tight clothes</a>,” in the <a href="https://www.villagevoice.com/2008/06/24/from-brooklyn-a-rap-campaign-against-tight-clothes/">words of New York rappers Thug Slaughter Force</a>. This idea was rooted in the belief that “hypermasculine” and “macho” straight guys wore loose-fitting clothing. </p>
<p>However, many present-day male rappers wear tight-fitting clothes – a fashion choice <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/03007766.2011.578517">once considered “gay</a>” and therefore demeaned in the rap world. Moreover, such outfits are created by gay fashion designers, a <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/news/offset-migos-homophobia-what-say-vibe-queers-lyrics-yfn-lucci-song-a8166786.html">point that Offset acknowledged</a> while defending himself against claims of homophobia.</p>
<h2>Out of the closet and onto the mics</h2>
<p>Being comfortable with a gay aesthetic is one positive development. Even more telling, I believe, is the growing number of mainstream LGBTQ+ rappers. For many years there were no high-profile gay hip-hop artists. In fact, as late as 2014 <a href="https://www.popdust.com/larry-king-hip-hop-2650145658.html">Larry King was asking interviewees</a> if they thought there would “ever be … gay rap artists.” There were, of course, but major record labels at that time <a href="https://doi.org//10.1007/978-3-319-90454-2">rejected signing them</a>.</p>
<p>Over the past decade, there has been a rise in the number of successful gay and lesbian emcees. Albeit the music of <a href="https://www.essence.com/entertainment/only-essence/lil-nas-x-lgbtq-legacy/">openly gay Lil Nas X</a> is more pop than rap, it has sold over 1 million copies. Moreover, he has collaborated with other mainstream lyricists like Nas, Jack Harlow, Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion – all cisgender straight emcees. </p>
<p>Lesbian rapper Young M.A achieved platinum status and works with industry rappers. Even 50 Cent, no stranger to homophobic lyrics, <a href="https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-319-90454-2">praised her on Instagram</a>: “Young M.A the hottest s*** out right now. I don’t like a lot of s***, but this is Tuff.”</p>
<p>Perhaps the best example of how hip-hop has evolved on issues of sexuality can be seen in the case of Tyler the Creator. Early in his career, Tyler frequently used anti-gay slurs, such as in the 2011 song “Yonkers” in which he says “I’ll crash that f***ing airplane that that f****t n**** B.o.B. is in.” But <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/news/tyler-the-creator-gay-bisexual-coming-out-scum-fuck-flower-boy-lyrics-i-ain-t-got-time-twitter-garden-shed-a7834751.html">in 2018 he “came out</a>,” revealing his attraction to a man in his music. In the song, “I Ain’t Got Time,” he <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/news/tyler-the-creator-gay-bisexual-coming-out-scum-fuck-flower-boy-lyrics-i-ain-t-got-time-twitter-garden-shed-a7834751.html">rhymes “I been kissing white boys since 2004</a>.”</p>
<p>Eminem responded by calling him a homophobic slur but <a href="https://people.com/music/eminem-apologizes-homophopic-slur-kamikaze/">later apologized</a>.</p>
<h2>Still room for growth in rap music</h2>
<p>In a perfect world there would be no slur to apologize for. But it does show that hip-hop has evolved to a point at which self-reflection and conversations are taking place on past and present instances of homophobia.</p>
<p>As the genre hits 50, previously marginalized LGBTQ+ voices are beginning to be heard – along with denouncements of homophobia by straight artists.</p>
<p>That’s not to say that anti-gay beliefs don’t persist in the music of some. In his 2020 song “Pimpin’ Ain’t Eazy,” <a href="https://pitchfork.com/news/young-ma-responds-to-kodak-black-after-he-raps-homophobic-lyrics-about-her/">Kodak Black uses the anti-lesbian</a> slur “d***,” rapping, “Like a d***, man, you n***** can’t f*** with me.”</p>
<p>But hip-hop is not alone. Homophobia, transphobia and other forms of prejudice persist in the United States and across the globe.</p>
<p>And at least for now, rap artists are called on it – increasingly by members of their own community.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/202819/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Matthew Oware does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Greater representation in rap from LGBTQ artists comes as mainstream artists atone for past lyrics.Matthew Oware, Professor of Sociology, University of RichmondLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2057452023-05-25T01:41:41Z2023-05-25T01:41:41ZWhat can we learn from the marriage equality vote about supporting First Nations people during the Voice debate?<p>In recent months in Australia, we have seen <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/may/09/rockhampton-mob-ringleader-was-head-of-patriots-group-that-posted-anti-islam-content">vigilante racism</a> in Rockhampton, <a href="https://www.sbs.com.au/nitv/article/we-are-tired-swans-legend-slams-booing-of-buddy-franklin/u2vlwkbcy">booing</a>, <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-05-19/lawyer-for-ex-hawthorn-players-speaks-after-clarkson-takes-leave/102370598">abuse</a> and <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-65095927">vitriol</a> directed at First Nations footy players, and the <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-05-14/rally-at-banksia-hill-detention-centre-conditions/102341648">appalling treatment</a> of First Nations children jailed in adult prisons.</p>
<p>Racism is a <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/apr/05/indigenous-voice-no-campaign-event-reinforced-racist-stereotypes-watchdog-says">major issue</a> in the debate over the proposed First Nations Voice to Parliament – and it will likely only continue to get worse.</p>
<p>Regardless of how First Nations people intend to vote, racist <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/may/22/linda-burney-blasts-peter-dutton-for-spreading-misinformation-on-indigenous-voice">public commentary</a> has a harmful impact on the mental health and wellbeing of people and their communities. <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-05-19/stan-grant-media-target-racist-abuse-coronation-coverage-enough/102368652">Stan Grant’s decision to step away</a> from his role with the ABC is a high profile example of this. </p>
<p>Recognising these likely impacts, the federal Labor government has <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-05-10/budget-allocates-millions-to-support-indigenous-mental-health/102326916">committed $10.5 million</a> to support mental health services for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in the lead-up to the referendum vote later this year. </p>
<p>This is a welcome initiative that will enable Aboriginal community-controlled organisations to provide further support for their respective communities.</p>
<p>We can also learn from the experiences of LGBTQIA+ people during Australia’s marriage equality plebiscite how a national vote like this can affect the mental health of a historically marginalised community.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/new-research-shows-how-indigenous-lgbtiq-people-dont-feel-fully-accepted-by-either-community-161096">New research shows how Indigenous LGBTIQ+ people don't feel fully accepted by either community</a>
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<h2>Mental health impacts of the marriage equality plebiscite</h2>
<p>Studies found that increased exposure to the “no” campaign messaging in the lead-up to the marriage equality plebiscite, as well as the harmful public debate, led to <a href="https://theconversation.com/new-research-reveals-how-the-marriage-equality-debate-damaged-lgbt-australians-mental-health-110277">greater levels</a> of <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/ajpy.12245?needAccess=true&role=button">psychological stress</a>, depression and anxiety among the queer community.</p>
<p>Our research focusing on the wellbeing of Indigenous and LGBTQIA+ communities suggests the Voice to Parliament debate will also disproportionately affect Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. </p>
<p>We have found that while people who identified as both Indigenous and LGBTQIA+ experienced frequent sex and gender discrimination, <a href="https://theconversation.com/new-research-shows-how-indigenous-lgbtiq-people-dont-feel-fully-accepted-by-either-community-161096">the impact of racism</a> was more profoundly felt. As a result, it’s important to protect Indigenous people against racism in the very public debate over the Voice.</p>
<p>During the marriage equality plebiscite, mental health services catering to LGBTQIA+ clients saw a <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-09-18/same-sex-marriage-survey-lgbtqi-mental-health-support/8955956">dramatic increase</a> in demand. This led to longer wait-lists and increased stress on the healthcare system. The mental health of LGBTQIA+ people in electorates recording a high “no” vote <a href="https://doi-org.ezproxy.ecu.edu.au/10.1016/j.socscimed.2018.05.015">was also more affected</a> than people in electorates voting “yes”. </p>
<p>This would suggest that funding support for Indigenous people in communities associated with higher levels of racism is a priority. Pre-polling and post-referendum analysis would help establish which areas require this. </p>
<p>A supportive community also matters. LGBTQIA+ people with a close social circle they perceived as supporting marriage equality suffered less severe <a href="https://theconversation.com/new-research-reveals-how-the-marriage-equality-debate-damaged-lgbt-australians-mental-health-110277">negative mental health outcomes</a> from the “no” campaign. For those who didn’t receive support from their friends and family, public messages of support helped. </p>
<p>Unfortunately, not all Indigenous LGBTQA+ peoples <a href="https://www.mdpi.com/2673-995X/3/1/5.%20Conceptualising%20Wellbeing%20for%20Australian%20Aboriginal%20LGBTQA+%20Young%20People.%20Youth,%203(1),%2070-92.">have access</a> to social supports. </p>
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<h2>How could the Voice referendum affect First Nations people?</h2>
<p>According to various surveys, a <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/apr/27/a-majority-of-first-nations-people-support-the-voice-why-dont-non-indigenous-australians-believe-this">majority</a> of Indigenous people support constitutional recognition. But unlike the <a href="https://doi-org.ezproxy.ecu.edu.au/10.2104/ha080044">1967 referendum</a>, the Voice to Parliament referendum faces an organised “no” campaign. </p>
<p>There is opposition to the Voice from some media and social media sources that purposefully confuse the case for constitutional recognition. This makes the task ahead more difficult for “yes” campaigners and Indigenous people more broadly. </p>
<p>Racialised stressors that come with the referendum are an additional burden to First Nations communities. One example of this is the opposition’s repeated insistence about “insufficient detail” on the Voice, particularly from the more <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-05-22/peter-dutton-says-indigenous-voice-will-re-racialise-the-country/102378700">conservative side</a> of the “no” campaign.
This invalidates and distorts the work, expertise and experience of Indigenous people over decades on all sides of the debate.</p>
<p>This vote will have little adverse impact on the lives of non-Indigenous Australians. However, supporting Indigenous family members, friends and colleagues is important. Like the marriage equality plebiscite, a <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5899433/">minority community</a> will face the greatest impact from the vote, not the majority with power.</p>
<p>Being supportive of Indigenous people firstly requires an understanding that we, as First Nations people, are entitled to <a href="https://theconversation.com/for-a-lot-of-first-nations-peoples-debates-around-the-voice-to-parliament-are-not-about-a-simple-yes-or-no-199766">diverse</a> political views. </p>
<p>We are not here to educate or carry the burden of raising awareness on the referendum. We are also not interested in experiencing increased racial violence under the guise of political debate. This debate is one that non-Indigenous people can walk away from, but will remain felt by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. </p>
<p>Sustained mental health support for Indigenous people after the referendum will hopefully lessen the harm from the racism that will probably follow, irrespective of the outcome. </p>
<p>In order to combat racism and <a href="https://thewest.com.au/news/indigenous-voice-to-parliament/aec-warns-of-increasing-misinformation-over-indigenous-voice-to-parliament-referendum-c-10739488">misinformation</a>, it is vital for non-Indigenous people to have informed conversations about the referendum – <a href="https://togetheryes.com.au/">around the kitchen table</a>, at work, and even at your infamously racist uncle’s house. </p>
<p>Within our <a href="https://nit.com.au/09-05-2023/5891/murdoch-university-leadership-declares-unanimous-support-for-the-uluru-statement-and-yes-for-the-voice-to-parliament">respective</a> <a href="https://www.ecu.edu.au/about-ecu/voice-to-parliament">organisations</a>, non-Indigenous colleagues are also educating themselves and others around them. They are taking the opportunity to elevate the voices of their Indigenous peers and proactively considering ways to support Indigenous communities throughout the campaign and afterwards.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/205745/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Bep Uink receives funding from the NHMRC and Australian Research Council.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Shakara Liddelow-Hunt receives funding from the NHMRC. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sian Bennett receives funding from Pathways of Care Longitudinal Study (POCLS), NSW Government.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Braden Hill does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>In order to combat racism and misinformation, it is vital for non-Indigenous people to have informed conversations about the referendum with those around you.Braden Hill, Deputy Vice Chancellor (Students Equity and Indigenous), Edith Cowan UniversityBep Uink, Research fellow, Murdoch UniversityShakara Liddelow-Hunt, Research assistant, Telethon Kids InstituteSian Bennett, Lecturer, Edith Cowan UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2059662023-05-23T21:05:44Z2023-05-23T21:05:44ZIn the Alberta election, the stakes are high for 2SLGBTQ+ youth<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/527800/original/file-20230523-23-4uaiwv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C4646%2C2990&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Protesters take part in a Gay Straight Alliance (GSA) rally at the Alberta legislature in Edmonton before the United Conservative Party cancelled GSA protections in June 2019. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source"> THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jason Franson</span></span></figcaption></figure><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100px; border: none; position: relative; z-index: 1;" allowtransparency="" allow="clipboard-read; clipboard-write" src="https://narrations.ad-auris.com/widget/the-conversation-canada/in-the-alberta-election--the-stakes-are-high-for-2slgbtq+-youth" width="100%" height="400"></iframe>
<p>How Albertans vote next week will have major implications for vulnerable populations in the province, especially 2SLGBTQ+ youth. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://egale.ca/awareness/brief-on-police-reported-hate-crimes-2021/">rise in anti-2SLGBTQ+ hate crimes</a>, <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/calgary-drag-protest-arrest-1.6780251">violent protests at youth drag events</a> and a raging debate about <a href="https://calgaryherald.com/news/world/gender-queer-tops-library-groups-list-of-challenged-books">book bans in schools</a> are just a few of the issues directly impacting 2SLGBTQ+ youth and their parents and allies. </p>
<p>And yet, there has been too little attention paid to the campaign promises and historical records of Alberta’s major political parties on the issue of 2SLGBTQ+ rights. </p>
<h2>Alberta has high gender diversity</h2>
<p>In Canada, about <a href="https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/daily-quotidien/210615/dq210615a-eng.htm">one million people are 2SLGBTQ+</a>. Almost one-third of this population is under the age of 25. </p>
<p>By this estimate, there may be approximately 175,000 2SLGBTQ+ residents of Alberta. The province has <a href="https://calgaryherald.com/news/local-news/census-data-show-transgender-non-binary-population-in-alberta-above-national-average">higher gender diversity</a> in youth than Canada at large, with more than <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/alberta-2021-census-gender-age-dwelling-1.6432469">12 per cent of Canada’s transgender and non-binary young people</a> living in the province. </p>
<p>This means that in Alberta, if you don’t identify as 2SLGBTQ+ then you probably know someone who does, and they are likely a young person. </p>
<p>Where do Alberta’s New Democratic Party (NDP) and United Conservative Party (UCP) stand on 2SLGBTQ+ youth rights? </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A man in a suit walks among smiling young people." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/527812/original/file-20230523-20159-w0efx3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/527812/original/file-20230523-20159-w0efx3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527812/original/file-20230523-20159-w0efx3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527812/original/file-20230523-20159-w0efx3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527812/original/file-20230523-20159-w0efx3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527812/original/file-20230523-20159-w0efx3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527812/original/file-20230523-20159-w0efx3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">David Eggen, NDP education minister at the time, walks with kids on his way to speak about the passing of Alberta’s gay-straight alliance bill in Edmonton in 2017.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jason Franson</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>NDP</h2>
<p>The NDP’s current platform commits its government to restoring the rights of youth to <a href="https://calgary.ctvnews.ca/alberta-ndp-promises-to-push-lgbtq2s-rights-if-elected-1.6053802">form and join gay-straight alliances (GSAs)</a> with privacy protections, to expand coverage for trans health care and to develop an inclusive and affirming curriculum.</p>
<p>NDP Leader Rachel Notley cites the 2019 passage of the Conservative government’s Bill 8, which erased NDP-backed measures to protect GSAs in schools, as among the reasons <a href="https://www.prpeak.com/politics/notley-tells-nomination-meeting-gay-straight-bill-convinced-her-to-stay-as-ndp-leader-6685848">she decided to stay on as leader to run in the 2023 election.</a> </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-gay-straight-alliance-clubs-could-sway-the-alberta-election-115087">Why gay-straight alliance clubs could sway the Alberta election</a>
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<p>Notley dubbed Bill 8 “Bill Hate” and <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/alberta/article-rachel-notley-says-bill-on-gay-straight-alliances-convinced-her-to/">speaks explicitly about her disgust with the UCP’s celebration of its passing</a> that involved party members splashing in the reflecting pool on the legislative grounds. </p>
<p>When her government was in power, it introduced and passed <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/gender-bill-passage-historic-event-for-alberta-transgender-woman-says-1.3354856">Bill 7, which amended the Alberta Human Rights Act</a> to prohibit discrimination on the basis of gender identity and gender expression. </p>
<p>In terms of visibility and representation, the NDP’s Janis Irwin (<a href="https://the-pigeon.ca/2021/03/05/how-janis-irwin-became-albertas-ml-gay/">Alberta’s “ML Gay”</a>) has a demonstrable record of advocacy on 2SLGBTQ+ rights. Her dedication to <a href="https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=563295137718436">supporting 2SLGBTQ+ youth</a> across the province is also exemplary. In 2022, when Calgary Pride introduced an approval process for political parties to march in the parade, the <a href="https://calgaryherald.com/news/politics/ndp-gets-green-light-for-calgary-pride-parade-participation">NDP passed the test</a>. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1660777579476033539"}"></div></p>
<h2>UCP</h2>
<p>The UCP’s current platform on 2SLGBTQ+ issues is unclear. Nestled under the culture and inclusivity umbrella, the UCP platform on 2SLGBTQ+ rights includes the fact that the party <a href="https://www.unitedconservative.ca/issue/culture/">recognizes Pride Month</a> by raising the Pride flag. While the UCP indicates it has appointed a staff member focused on 2SLGBTQ+ Albertans, it’s unclear who was appointed and what work they have done to date. </p>
<p>The UCP has a deeply troubling track record when it comes to 2SLGBTQ+ rights. Among the UCP’s first measures passed under Premier Danielle Smith’s leadership was <a href="https://www.unitedconservative.ca/wp-content/uploads/Plenary-Agenda-2022.pdf">Resolution 17</a>. It shifts the rights of self-determination and bodily autonomy from young people to their parents, who can refuse to recognize their child’s gender identity if it is “incongruent with the child’s birth sex.” </p>
<p>This resolution upholds the rhetoric of “<a href="https://apnews.com/article/religion-education-gender-identity-0e2ca2cf0ef7d7bc6ef5b125f1ee0969">parental rights</a>,” which has become a dog whistle for discrimination against 2SLGBTQ+ youth around the world. </p>
<p>As we <a href="https://edmontonjournal.com/opinion/columnists/opinion-ucp-resolutions-banning-diversity-sexuality-education-are-deeply-troubling">previously argued</a> about Resolution 17, the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jadohealth.2016.06.012">evidence makes clear</a> that it is vital for the <a href="https://www.hhs.gov/about/news/2023/03/31/new-hhs-report-released-transgender-day-visibility-offers-updated-evidence-based-roadmap-supporting-affirming-lgbtqi-youth.html">health and wellbeing of trans and non-binary youth</a> to have their <a href="https://transpulsecanada.ca/results/report-health-and-well-being-among-trans-and-non-binary-youth/">gender identity affirmed</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A group of people, including a person in a wheelchair, hold signs urging the protection of gay-straight alliances." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/527805/original/file-20230523-17-fak3u3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/527805/original/file-20230523-17-fak3u3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527805/original/file-20230523-17-fak3u3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527805/original/file-20230523-17-fak3u3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527805/original/file-20230523-17-fak3u3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527805/original/file-20230523-17-fak3u3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527805/original/file-20230523-17-fak3u3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Protesters hold signs outside a courthouse in Medicine Hat, Alta. in June 2018 before a court challenge to an Alberta law that prevented schools from telling parents if their children joined gay-straight alliances.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Lauren Krugel</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In terms of visibility and representation, UCP candidates have shown little regard for the rights of 2SLGBTQ+ youth. </p>
<p>It was recently revealed that UCP candidate Jennifer Johnson made <a href="https://calgaryherald.com/news/politics/ucp-candidate-says-transphobic-comments-claims-on-pornography-in-schools-not-about-alberta">transphobic remarks in 2022</a>. She advocated for removing sex education from school curriculum and repeated misinformed and discredited rumours about gender-affirming health care. </p>
<p>She also equated <a href="https://edmonton.ctvnews.ca/alberta-ucp-candidate-says-sorry-for-comparing-transgender-students-to-feces-in-food-1.6403154#:%7E:text=Earlier%20Wednesday%2C%20the%20NDP%20called,said%20NDP%20candidate%20David%20Shepherd.">trans children in schools to putting “poop” in cookie batter</a> — in other words, a contamination. Smith’s original response was to distance herself from Johnson but she now suggests that the candidate, if elected, could find a place in the UCP caucus <a href="https://calgary.ctvnews.ca/she-has-a-lot-of-work-to-do-smith-suggests-door-still-open-for-controversial-ucp-candidate-1.6406195">“with a lot of work.”</a> </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1658627772758085633"}"></div></p>
<p><a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/9590434/torry-tanner-ucp-resigns-lgbtq2-stereotypes/">Another UCP candidate, Torry Tanner, resigned</a> after a campaign video showed her claiming that kindergarten children were being shown “pornographic materials” and that teachers were helping kids change their gender identity without parental consent or knowledge. </p>
<h2>Danielle Smith</h2>
<p>Smith, leader of the UCP, has her own lengthy record of letting down 2SLGBTQ+ people. She refused to disavow Wildrose candidate Allan Hunsperger’s 2012 <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/gay-activists-demand-wildrose-remove-candidate-1.1136121">homophobic blog post</a> when he stated that gay people “will suffer the rest of eternity in a lake of fire, hell, a place of eternal suffering.”</p>
<p>Instead, Smith argued that Hunsperger made these statements in his role as a pastor, not as a political candidate. </p>
<p>Smith’s dismaying record is consistent with her party’s actions. It was the UCP, after all, that <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/253800/alberta-reinstates-cash-for-gender-reassignment-surgery-after-delisted-in-2009-3/">cut funding</a> for gender-affirming surgery in 2009. </p>
<p>In 2022, <a href="https://calgary.ctvnews.ca/governing-ucp-denied-application-for-calgary-pride-parade-while-other-parties-accepted-1.6015198">Calgary Pride refused to allow the UCP to participate</a>, citing the party’s inability to meet the required threshold of support for the community. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="People march in a parade, some wearing rainbow clothing and carrying signs." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/527810/original/file-20230523-27-eaz6vt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/527810/original/file-20230523-27-eaz6vt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=292&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527810/original/file-20230523-27-eaz6vt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=292&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527810/original/file-20230523-27-eaz6vt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=292&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527810/original/file-20230523-27-eaz6vt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=367&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527810/original/file-20230523-27-eaz6vt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=367&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527810/original/file-20230523-27-eaz6vt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=367&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A scene from a Calgary Pride parade. Calgary Pride organizers snubbed members of the UCP in 2022.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Lauren Krugel</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>What’s at stake</h2>
<p>In a recent debate, Smith was <a href="https://calgary.ctvnews.ca/ucp-leader-danielle-smith-says-time-to-depoliticize-lgbtq-issues-during-debate-1.6403904">pressed on how the UCP would protect LGBTQ+ rights</a>. She responded that these issues were private family matters and should be depoliticized.</p>
<p>But human rights are always political. Indeed, there is a direct link between anti-2SLGBTQ+ rhetoric and <a href="https://theconversation.com/we-must-all-speak-out-to-stop-anti-lgbtq-legislation-204805">increasing violence targeting 2SLGBTQ+ communities</a>. </p>
<p>How Alberta votes on May 29 will either pave the way for 2SLGBTQ+ youth to be affirmed in their identities or it will create a formal pathway for homophobia, biphobia and transphobia in the province.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/205966/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>How Alberta votes on May 29 will either pave the way for 2SLGBTQ+ youth to be affirmed in their identities or it will create a formal pathway for homophobia, biphobia and transphobia in the province.Leah Hamilton, Professor, Department of General Management & Human Resources, and Department of Psychology (cross-appointed), Mount Royal UniversityCorinne L. Mason, Associate Professor, Women's and Gender Studies, Mount Royal UniversityIrene Shankar, Associate Professor, Sociology, Mount Royal UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2012862023-05-10T12:28:23Z2023-05-10T12:28:23ZBlack queer college students want to explore their identity – but feel excluded by both Black and LGBTQ student groups<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/524947/original/file-20230508-15-n57mo2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Befriending other Black queer students can build a sense of safety and connection. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/afro-latinx-young-women-sitting-on-the-grass-in-a-royalty-free-image/1415722219">Juanmonino/E+ Collection/Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>For his new book “<a href="https://nyupress.org/9781479803910/black-and-queer-on-campus/">Black and Queer on Campus</a>,” American studies professor Michael Jeffries interviewed 65 Black LGBTQ college students across the U.S. – 40 from historically Black colleges and universities, or HBCUs, and 25 from predominantly white schools.</em></p>
<p><em>The Conversation asked Jeffries to discuss what he learned about how queer Black students view LGBTQ student organizations, their general experiences on college campuses and their opinions about current events.</em></p>
<h2>What specific challenges do Black LGBTQ students face on college campuses?</h2>
<p>The Black LGBTQ students I interviewed understood that college is an opportunity to explore their identity. But many still struggled to move past the bigotry and difficult experiences they had growing up as young queer people.</p>
<p>Deron, a senior at a historically Black university who grew up in the suburbs of a large Southern city, explained, “When I was a teenager, [my mother] kind of kept me sheltered from the gay community. So it kind of made me develop a negative mindset toward the LGBT lifestyle. I mean, as far as participating in the community, she just shunned me away from it for a long time, and I had really negative thoughts about it up until this semester.”</p>
<p>Other major challenges were tied to the broader political environment. Students believed racist, homophobic and transphobic sentiments were being expressed with increased frequency, which made them angry, disappointed and fearful about the future of the United States. Several interviewees talked about the rising threat of white supremacy and the feeling that white supremacists on and around their campuses were emboldened during the Trump era. </p>
<p>Cat, a 19-year-old student at a large, predominantly white school, lamented that “seeing someone get up on a podium and spew hate and misinformation on a regular basis … and just the people making our decisions right now, it’s like, how did y'all get there? It’s like, you know how they got there, but then you’re losing faith in humanity by acknowledging that.”</p>
<p>Finally, students told me they didn’t feel a sense of belonging in either Black student organizations – which seemed to have little regard for queer Black folks – or LGTBQ spaces and student organizations, which were primarily white.</p>
<p>Candace, who attends a large, prestigious public university, told me that one of the problems that Black LGBTQ students face in white LGBTQ spaces is tokenism. She felt that queer Black folk are “there for the entertainment of white queers, and to be able to feel like they’re woke, or like they’re part of this group that really accepts people.” Albert, who also attends a large public university, described a serious blind spot within the primarily white LGBTQ organization on his campus, and the exclusion he experienced there.</p>
<p>“They would talk about like … dating in the gay community, or something like that. And I’m just like, they don’t really date Black people, so there’s that.”</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Three young adults smile and pose together" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/525164/original/file-20230509-21-9hrdjf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/525164/original/file-20230509-21-9hrdjf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/525164/original/file-20230509-21-9hrdjf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/525164/original/file-20230509-21-9hrdjf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/525164/original/file-20230509-21-9hrdjf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/525164/original/file-20230509-21-9hrdjf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/525164/original/file-20230509-21-9hrdjf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Connecting with other Black LGBTQ students can help build a sense of safety and belonging.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/group-of-friends-laughing-and-having-fun-shot-royalty-free-image/1316648966">Justin Lambert/DigitalVision Collection/Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>How do they overcome those challenges?</h2>
<p>One of the most common and powerful ways that students said they overcome these challenges is by building community with one another.</p>
<p>“I know in meeting each other, [my queer friend and I] were both kind of like, ‘Wow, another one!’ And we’re always like, so excited,” said Parker, one of the few trans students I spoke with. “It’s like whenever Black queer people get around each other, I feel like we get strong in our personalities. … I know that there’s support around me. And it’s like these networks keep growing and growing.”</p>
<p>Abraham, a leader of the queer Black student organization at his historically Black university, explained the importance of his group as a collective that cultivated a sense of connection and safety.</p>
<p>“We started hanging out to where we spent all our time together,” he said. “Our organization became like a family. If we felt like someone in this family was being attacked by someone on this campus, we jumped in and said, ‘Yo, that’s not going to happen on our watch.’” </p>
<p>Abraham did not tell me that he or anyone he knows in the Black queer community had been physically attacked by people on campus. But he did say there were times he and his friends felt unsafe, in part because the campus was open enough that visitors could enter and exit freely.</p>
<h2>What stereotypes and threats to safety do Black queer students face today?</h2>
<p>Some students felt that common stereotypes about gay people still exert a powerful hold on the way queer folk are treated within Black communities.</p>
<p>Patricia, who attends a historically Black university, told me about her experience growing up in a small, predominantly Black town in the South.</p>
<p>“If you had ‘sugar in your tank,’ like they say, you got beat,” she said. “They’re in a generation in the ‘80s too where the AIDS epidemic broke out, and they also have that mentality like, 'Oh, if you’re gay, you’re going to have AIDS, or you’re going to get diseases.’”</p>
<p>Several students at predominantly white institutions told me they felt stereotyped and ignored. There was a sense that they were not taken seriously as students or did not deserve their positions at the college. </p>
<p>Ian, a student at a large public university in the Midwest, told me, “I think it’s only me and this other boy that is Black on my floor. Every time I walk down the hallway, or every time I just do regular things that they do, I get stares. … Like I was saying my name, what I’m majoring in and all, like everybody else was doing, but everyone was staring at me like I lost my mind. So that makes me feel uncomfortable.”</p>
<h2>Are students optimistic about the future?</h2>
<p>Though there were students who see progress with respect to LGBTQ issues, very few offered optimistic views of the future for Black people in America, including queer Black people. Some were extremely discouraged about the future, and they believe the U.S. is becoming a more hostile place for people like them.</p>
<p>Still, several students pointed to changes in American politics and culture, like the <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2015/06/26/417717613/supreme-court-rules-all-states-must-allow-same-sex-marriages">legalization of same-sex marriage</a> in 2015 and the increasing <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/nbc-out/out-pop-culture/national-coming-day-15-celebrities-came-2022-far-rcna51467">visibility of LGBTQ celebrities</a>, that give them hope. As Ava, a junior at a private historically Black college, told me, “I don’t think that anything is indicative of the future. That’s why it’s the future – because it’s only made of possibility.”</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/201286/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Michael P. Jeffries does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The new book “Black and Queer on Campus” explores the range of experiences that Black LGBTQ students face at colleges across the US.Michael P. Jeffries, Professor of American Studies, Wellesley CollegeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2047612023-05-03T02:00:15Z2023-05-03T02:00:15ZThe AFL needs real cultural change. Can the new chief deliver it?<p>A long, competitive recruitment process to name a new Australian Football League chief executive has concluded with the appointment of an AFL insider. </p>
<p>By its own admission, the AFL has chosen a safe pair of hands in Andrew Dillon. AFL Commission Chair Richard Goyder described him as “an exceptional football person who had been involved in virtually every major decision across the AFL for many years”. To be exact, Dillon <a href="https://www.afl.com.au/news/917513/afl-commission-appoints-andrew-dillon-to-take-over-as-ceo#:%7E:text=Mr%20Goyder%20said%20Mr%20Dillon,choice%20for%20the%20AFL%20Commission">has been in the AFL for 23 years</a></p>
<p>Since 1897, 13 men have served as CEO of the AFL or its precursor, the Victorian Football League. <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2023/apr/16/a-historic-appointment-of-a-woman-as-ceo-may-be-just-what-the-afl-needs">All have been white</a>, with an average age of 49 at the start of their tenure. </p>
<p>To be sure, Dillon is immensely qualified, but did the AFL miss an opportunity to transform Australia’s national sport with a history-making hire? </p>
<h2>The bold pick: a woman in the role</h2>
<p>The AFL had a chance to name a woman to the role, with an excellent candidate in Kylie Watson-Wheeler. She was unanimously appointed <a href="https://www.westernbulldogs.com.au/news/845786/watson-wheeler-a-unanimous-choice-as-bulldogs-president">president of the Western Bulldogs</a> in 2020 and also serves as senior vice president and managing director of the Walt Disney Company Australia & New Zealand.</p>
<p>The AFL continues to see <a href="https://www.womens.afl/news/16754/females-lead-big-rise-in-football-participation-rate#:%7E:text=FEMALES%20now%20make%20up%20close,to%201%2C649%2C178%20players%20in%202018">double-digit growth</a> in women’s grassroots football participation, in addition to sizeable commercial gains and future possibilities emanating from the <a href="https://www.womens.afl/features/aflw-expansion-four-new-clubs-no-more-afl-overlap">AFL Women’s League</a>.</p>
<p>Of the eight current serving AFL commissioners, two are also women (Helen Milroy and Gabrielle Trainor). And they are not the first to sit at the decision-making table. Sam Mostyn’s 2005 appointment as the league’s first female commissioner was a <a href="https://www.theage.com.au/sport/afl/females-positioned-to-lead-afl-trailblazers-say-20190307-p512jw.html">transformational moment</a>, but she faced resistance and criticism in the job – highlighting the game’s <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-08-27/first-female-afl-commissioner-sam-mostyn-on-one-plus-one/12585664">complex cultural problems</a>. </p>
<p>The AFL’s 2022-24 gender equity action plan set <a href="https://resources.afl.com.au/afl/document/2022/10/27/0ad16b68-dd43-48a9-90aa-d295e4352f75/AFL-Workforce-Gender-Equity-Action-Plan-2022-2024.pdf">lofty aspirations</a> for gender representation across the codes. But <a href="https://research-repository.griffith.edu.au/bitstream/handle/10072/370729/O%27Shea%2CMichelle_Final%20Thesis_Redacted.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y">research shows</a> the numbers of female hires often conceal the gendered workplace cultures and informal practices that can prevent women from progressing in sport management careers.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/jobs-for-the-boys-women-dont-get-a-fair-go-in-sports-administration-111350">'Jobs for the boys': women don't get a fair go in sports administration</a>
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<p>Dillon has refuted suggestions that his appointment is the result of the “<a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-05-01/andrew-dillon-next-afl-chief-executive-/102285858">AFL boys club</a>”. Reflecting the AFL’s espoused diversity and inclusion strategy, he quickly turned the spotlight to “his talented, diverse workforce”. </p>
<p>Diversity is vital for developing the AFL, but the league needs to consider the structural and cultural barriers to attracting this diverse talent in the first place.</p>
<p>Dillon will also need to be sensitive to genuine equity and inclusion - an enduring problem for the AFL. </p>
<p>It is promising to see that <a href="https://www.womens.afl/news/118988/listen-laura-kane-s-unique-path-from-community-footy-to-the-afl">Laura Kane</a> will be the acting executive general manager of football, and she is expected to be among the candidates to fill the role permanently. But only time will tell if we will see real change in the codes’ hiring decisions.</p>
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<h2>Sexual harassment on and off the field</h2>
<p>Historically, AFL House has not been a safe haven for women. Sports journalist Michael Warner’s 2021 book, The Boys Club: Power, Politics and the AFL, unearthed numerous egregious claims about the game’s <a href="https://womensagenda.com.au/latest/an-unsafe-workplace-the-silencing-of-women-the-boys-club-reveals-claims-of-toxic-afl-culture/">treatment of female administrators</a>. </p>
<p>As is often the case in male-dominated organisations, <a href="https://www.theaustralian.com.au/sport/afl/revealed-afl-uses-payouts-to-hush-womens-bullying-claims/news-story/bc58c179e67988a1c5674d4eaa4479a4">women’s voices have been quieted</a> in the AFL through the use of payouts and nondisclosure agreements (NDAs) when they’ve made complaints of sexual harassment or bullying.</p>
<p>There are dangers for women on the field, as well. A 2022 report commissioned by the AFL (but not publicly released) <a href="https://www.womensforumaustralia.org/is_the_afl_a_safe_place_for_women">reported</a> that female and non-binary umpires were subjected to sexual abuse, assault and racial slurs at all levels of the game. The AFL offered a <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-05-03/afl-formally-apologises-for-treatment-of-female-umpires/101034986">formal apology</a> to the umpires.</p>
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<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/its-not-all-about-gender-or-ethnicity-a-blind-spot-in-diversity-programs-is-holding-equality-back-198237">It's not all about gender or ethnicity: a blind spot in diversity programs is holding equality back</a>
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<p>These allegations came after the 2017 revision of the <a href="https://s.afl.com.au/staticfile/AFL%20Tenant/AFL/Files/AFL-Respect-and-Responsibility-Policy.pdf">AFL’s policy for managing complaints and incidents</a>, which sought to address the poor and inconsistent manner in which complaints levelled by women had been managed. The revised policy provides clear supportive processes for those making complaints, together with formal and transparent procedures for complaint management.</p>
<p>The number of complaints is <a href="https://www.respectatwork.gov.au/resource-hub/afls-respect-and-responsibility-policy">higher now than under the 2005 policy</a>, according to the AFL.</p>
<p>In another positive step, a <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2022/may/19/aflw-players-to-earn-94-pay-rise-in-new-season-next-stop-full-time-professionalism#:%7E:text=2022%2002.19%20EDT-,AFLW%20players%20have%20had%20their%20pay%20almost%20doubled%20under%20a,increase%20from%20%2420%2C239%20to%20%2439%2C184.">recent pay deal</a> almost doubled the salaries of AFLW players (albeit under a one-year collective bargaining agreement). The minimum AFLW wage increased from $20,239 to $39,184, though this is still well below other women’s professional sporting leagues. </p>
<p>AFLW players also remain on precarious six-month contracts and most still rely on income from outside sources. While a step forward, the AFL’s commitment to ensuring AFLW players are the best paid female athletes in Australia by 2030 will require much more attention.</p>
<h2>Racism and homophobia need to be dealt with, too</h2>
<p>In his first comments since being named to the role, Dillon <a href="https://www.afl.com.au/news/917594/in-his-own-words-andrew-dillon-on-hawks-tassie-gill-and-his-biggest-challenge">said</a> he had no intention of trying to fast-track or interfere with the inquiry into allegations of historic racism at Hawthorn. </p>
<p>Although he mentioned getting “the right outcome at the right time”, his statement lacked any mention of the <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-03-28/hawthorn-hawks-racism-review-couple-legal-action/102153140">deep personal costs and ongoing trauma</a> for the people involved. This is a deeply concerning omission in response to an issue that continues to cast a dark shadow over the league since the allegations were made public last September.</p>
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<p>And last month, in a span of <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-04-11/afl-racial-abuse-gillon-mclachlan-charlie-cameron/102210968">less than 24 hours</a>, racial and homophobic abuse was directed at four separate AFL players. </p>
<p>While the outgoing AFL chief executive, Gillon McLachlan, made calls to stop this sort of abuse from happening, it’s clear the sport needs wholesale cultural change.</p>
<p>Is Dillon the man for the job? Will his leadership be bold enough and his team diverse enough to put real action behind the promises? We are hopeful it is.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/204761/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Diversity is vital for developing the AFL, but the league needs to consider the structural and cultural barriers to attracting this diverse talent in the first place.Michelle O'Shea, Senior Lecturer, School of Business, Western Sydney UniversityAlison Pullen, Professor of Gender, Work and Organization, Macquarie UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2045752023-05-02T09:28:01Z2023-05-02T09:28:01ZQueerphobia in Kenya: a supreme court ruling on gay rights triggers a new wave of anger against the LGBTIQ+ community<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523226/original/file-20230427-16-icyfbv.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A demonstrator at Queer Republic protests in Nairobi, Kenya. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">John Ochieng/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images</span></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>The Kenyan supreme court recently struck down a government decision to ban the registration of an LGBTIQ+ community rights organisation, <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2023/3/15/how-an-lgbtq-court-ruling-sent-kenya-into-a-moral-panic">sparking new homophobic rhetoric</a> in the country. Kenya is one of <a href="https://database.ilga.org/criminalisation-consensual-same-sex-sexual-acts">32 African countries</a> that criminalises homosexuality. Those who identify as part of the LGBTIQ+ community are often discriminated against, harassed and assaulted. Lise Woensdregt and Naomi van Stapele, who have researched queer experiences in Kenya for nine years, explain the impact of this ruling.</em></p>
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<h2>What is the significance of the recent Kenyan supreme court ruling on a gay rights organisation?</h2>
<p>The Kenyan supreme court ruled on 24 February 2023 that <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/10OYaKTuvDvkpBUB5GFLXcf8fmrGFr645/view">the government was wrong</a> to ban the LGBTIQ+ community from registering the <a href="https://nglhrc.com/">National Gay & Lesbian Human Rights Commission</a>. The commission provides legal aid, and works to change the law and policy around LGBTIQ+ persons in Kenya. The commission <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-64491276">celebrated this court ruling</a> as a small but significant affirmation of its place in Kenyan society.</p>
<p>The ruling, however, didn’t alter the <a href="https://www.hrw.org/news/2019/05/24/kenya-court-upholds-archaic-anti-homosexuality-laws">Kenyan penal code</a>, which criminalises sexual acts “<a href="https://www.ilo.org/dyn/natlex/docs/ELECTRONIC/28595/115477/F-857725769/KEN28595.pdf#page=62">against the order of nature</a>”. This, in effect, criminalises same-sex sexual acts. Those found guilty <a href="https://icj-kenya.org/?smd_process_download=1&download_id=5018">face</a> up to 14 years in prison.</p>
<p>The law has <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2023/3/15/how-an-lgbtq-court-ruling-sent-kenya-into-a-moral-panic">fuelled stigma and discrimination</a> against queer individuals, making them more vulnerable to violence. </p>
<p>We have been <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13691058.2020.1842499">studying</a> queer experiences <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s13178-018-0337-x">in Nairobi</a>, working closely with LGBTIQ+ self-led organisations. Those involved in <a href="https://northumbriajournals.co.uk/index.php/IJGSL/article/view/1264">our research</a> have been experiencing mounting violence in recent years. The ruling <a href="https://www.the-star.co.ke/news/2023-03-16-gay-people-fear-for-their-lives-escape-mombasa-over-planned-demos/">triggered fears</a> among members of the LGBTIQ+ community across Kenya of increased violence.</p>
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<h2>What have the political responses been?</h2>
<p>A backlash against progress in gender and sexual rights is not uncommon. Pushing for progress in these areas can <a href="https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2020-07-27-the-pink-line-the-worlds-queer-frontiers-the-new-book-from-mark-gevisser/#gsc.tab=0">evoke hate and counter-offensives</a>. </p>
<p>The Kenyan government has joined churches and mosques in their vitriol condemning not only the supreme court judges, but also LGBTIQ+ activists, organisations and citizens. For example, a member of parliament declared that being LGBTIQ+ is <a href="https://www.the-star.co.ke/news/2023-03-01-lgbtq-is-worse-than-murder-for-us-farah-maalim/">worse than murder</a>. He described homosexuality as </p>
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<p>a foreign practice from the West that’s not aligned with African cultures and as such, severe punishment should be meted out on offenders. </p>
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<p>Kenya’s deputy president Rigathi Gachagua added that the government wouldn’t “<a href="https://twitter.com/rigathi/status/1631244014744739841?s=20">condone</a>” same-sex relations, a sentiment shared by president William Ruto. The president <a href="https://www.africanews.com/2023/03/02/we-shall-not-condone-any-attempts-to-legitimise-lgbtq-kenya-deputy-president-warns//">has previously said</a> that unemployment and hunger are the “real” issues, not LGBTIQ+ concerns, and that tradition must be respected. </p>
<p>Kenya’s first lady, <a href="https://www.the-star.co.ke/news/2023-03-06-first-lady-to-lead-prayers-against-lgbtq-onslaught-on-family/">Rachel Ruto</a>, has also claimed that LGBTIQ+ people are a threat to the institution of the family. Another member of parliament, Peter Kaluma, recently submitted a <a href="https://www.the-star.co.ke/news/2023-04-08-details-of-kalumas-bill-on-criminalising-lgbtq/">family protection bill</a> that includes provisions to criminalise LGBTIQ+ organising, funding and, what is ominously termed, “behaviours”. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/kenya-should-decriminalise-homosexuality-4-compelling-reasons-why-203767">Kenya should decriminalise homosexuality: 4 compelling reasons why</a>
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<p>Amid all this, LGBTIQ+ self-led organisations <a href="https://www.galck.org/">have struggled</a> to offer a safe space for individuals to <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/17450101.2022.2146526?src=">find belonging, acceptance and recognition</a>, and to work towards social, political and economic justice collectively. Some, including those that <a href="https://theconversation.com/kenya-should-decriminalise-homosexuality-4-compelling-reasons-why-203767">provide HIV services</a>, have <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O89qRCvXDVU&t=4s">had to close</a> for fear of attacks. </p>
<h2>Based on your research, what have you learnt about what it’s like for LGBTIQ+ people in Kenya?</h2>
<p>Over our nine years of research into queer experiences, we’ve worked closely with grassroots LGBTIQ+ organisations and activists. We are continuously in touch with queer activists, who we speak with as part of our ongoing engagement with and support for queer self-led organisations in Kenya. They have told us that the recent supreme court decision was a step towards decriminalising same-sex sexual acts and was cause for celebration. </p>
<p>Unfortunately, the ruling <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2023/3/15/how-an-lgbtq-court-ruling-sent-kenya-into-a-moral-panic">unleashed vicious anti-LGBTIQ+ attacks</a> targeting organisations, activists and citizens. One young queer activist* told us: </p>
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<p>It is more dangerous now. Our friends are evicted (from their houses). Some have been beaten in the streets. In WhatsApp groups with family or work, people write anti-queer things, and you need to stay silent not to out yourself. You can lose everything if you are found out. </p>
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<p>Another queer activist* told us: </p>
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<p>In the WhatsApp group with parents from school, parents write how to warn our children (against) recruitment by LGBTIQ+ people, and I am in that app. I can’t say anything because it will harm my son. </p>
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<p><em>*Those we interviewed are anonymous for safety reasons</em></p>
<h2>What can be done to empower queer individuals and groups in Kenya?</h2>
<p>Many Kenyan LGBTIQ+ self-led organisations collaborate with government agencies – such as the <a href="https://nsdcc.go.ke/about-us/">National Syndemic Diseases Control Council</a> and the <a href="https://www.nascop.or.ke/about-us/">National AIDS and STIs Control Programme</a>. They also <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s13178-018-0337-x">work with</a> several national and international civil society organisations on health, women rights, sexual and reproductive rights, and social justice. The silence of LGBTIQ+ partners is deafening. As one queer activist told us: </p>
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<p>They eat with us, but when things get tough, we stand alone.</p>
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<p>Eating together here refers to the funds many such organisations receive from donors to work with LGBTIQ+ self-led organisations. </p>
<p>The silence of civil society, including those who collaborate with LGBTIQ+ groups in Kenya and receive funding for this, and the international media is concerning. This silence sends a dangerous message to the government and religious organisations: they can freely target queer individuals and groups without facing resistance or solidarity from the broader community.</p>
<p>The fight for equality and safety for the LGBTIQ+ community requires sustained effort from national and international organisations and governments. On an individual level, financial support is needed as it can empower individuals who identify as LGBTIQ+, providing them with resources, such as the ability to relocate to safer locations. </p>
<p>In our <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13691058.2020.1842499">research</a>, several members told us of the risks they face in Nairobi’s low-income settlements where they live. In these settings, traditional patriarchal masculinity practices – breadwinner-ship, heterosexuality and dominance over women – are celebrated. Not being able to pass as heterosexual is perceived as risky.</p>
<p>Promoting safe spaces and access to stable incomes on a collective level can create a foundation that empowers queer individuals and groups to fight for dignity and respect. </p>
<p>The voices of those affected by anti-LGBTIQ+ violence must be heard and amplified by those who seek a more just and equal world. Only through collective action and solidarity can the LGBTIQ+ community be protected, valued and celebrated.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/204575/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Naomi van Stapele is affiliated with Minority Womxn in Action — MWA, a queer activist organisation in Kenya. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Lise Woensdregt does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>A backlash against progress in gender and sexual rights is common.Lise Woensdregt, PhD Candidate in Sociology, Vrije Universiteit AmsterdamNaomi van Stapele, Professor in Inclusive Education, Hague University of Applied SciencesLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2044312023-04-29T13:49:20Z2023-04-29T13:49:20ZUganda’s anti-homosexuality bill wants to ‘rehabilitate’ LGBTIQ+ people – African psychologists warn of its dangers<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523006/original/file-20230426-24-gec1ca.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Sukhomoy Sen/Eyepix Group/Future Publishing via Getty Images</span></span></figcaption></figure><p><a href="https://www.psyssa.com/psyssa-sgd-hosts-meeting-of-african-mental-health-professionals/">Mental health professionals</a> from across Africa, including Kenya, Uganda, Cameroon, Nigeria and South Africa, have signed <a href="https://www.change.org/LGBTQ_Declaration2023">a declaration</a> against conversion practices that are used to forcibly change the sexual orientation, gender identity or expression of LGBTIQ+ people.</p>
<p>The declaration unambiguously rejects any attempts by mental health professionals to use conversion. The declaration has already been officially endorsed by expert organisations, such as the <a href="https://pathsa.org.za/">Professional Association for Transgender Health</a>.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, the practices described in the declaration are included in the 2023 Anti-Homosexuality Bill <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/4/20/ugandas-president-museveni-refuses-to-sign-lgbtq-bill?traffic_source=KeepReading">proposed by Uganda’s parliament</a>. Ugandan lawmakers have proposed to “rehabilitate” people who are sexually or gender diverse. PsySSA president, professor Floretta Boonzaier, has described the bill to me as “an attack on human dignity, well-being, autonomy and self-determination”.</p>
<p>Conversion practices – or so-called reparative therapies – are <a href="https://www.coe.int/en/web/commissioner/-/nothing-to-cure-putting-an-end-to-so-called-conversion-therapies-for-lgbti-people">unscientific</a> and <a href="https://www.ohchr.org/sites/default/files/Documents/Issues/SexualOrientation/IESOGI/CSOsAJ/IFEG_Statement_on_C.T._for_publication.pdf">do not work</a>.</p>
<p>Yet they are widely used across the continent. <a href="https://outrightinternational.org/insights/fight-end-conversion-practices-africa">Research</a> conducted in three African countries in 2019 found that half of the respondents suffered some form of conversion. These included talk therapy, exorcism, drinking herbs, healing prayers, beatings or sexual assault.</p>
<p>South African psychologists with <a href="https://www.psyssa.com/practice-guidelines-for-psychology-professionals-working-with-sexually-and-gender-diverse-people/">expertise</a> in sexuality and gender have condemned the bill. It goes against <a href="https://work.chron.com/ethical-principals-psychologists-code-conduct-8203.html">a core ethical duty</a> to promote well-being and to minimise harm. </p>
<p>Two examples illustrate this. Firstly, psychologists will be expected to breach confidentiality if a client discloses that they are (or may be) LGBTIQ+. Professionals who don’t report these clients to the police risk six months imprisonment. Secondly, psychologists, and presumably other health workers, will be expected to “rehabilitate” LGBTIQ+ people.</p>
<p>Pierre Brouard, the acting director of the Centre for Sexualities, AIDS and Gender at the University of Pretoria, said in an email conversation that</p>
<blockquote>
<p>this climate of fear would be a betrayal of everything our profession stands for. It is unthinkable that any mental health professional could work in this climate, and we call on all in our profession to condemn this attack on us, and the clients we serve. Reporting clients to the authorities <a href="https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(23)00814-0/fulltext">would be harmful</a>, would inhibit wellness, would invalidate trust, would lack integrity, would be inherently unjust and would damage any relationship of confidentiality.</p>
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<h2>No scientific grounding</h2>
<p>Uganda’s president Yoweri Museveni has requested a science-informed response to the bill. But he has ignored evidence-based critiques that have been presented to him over the years, dating back to <a href="https://www.psyssa.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/PsySSA-Press-release-statement-combined_25022010.pdf">2010</a> and <a href="https://www.apa.org/pi/lgbt/resources/uganda-letter">2014</a>. Brouard has said the bill </p>
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<p>is anti-science and represents a backward step in contemporary understanding of human nature.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-science-behind-a-more-meaningful-understanding-of-sexual-orientation-42641">The science behind a more meaningful understanding of sexual orientation</a>
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<p>For example, in 2015, The Academy of Science in South Africa, in collaboration with the Uganda National Academy of Sciences, concluded in a <a href="http://www.assaf.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/8-June-Diversity-in-human-sexuality1.pdf">comprehensive review of the evidence</a>, that </p>
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<p>contemporary science increasingly recognises the wide range of natural variation in human sexuality, sexual orientations and gender identities</p>
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<p>and that</p>
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<p>there is no justification for attempts to eliminate people who are not heterosexual from society.</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>Perpetuating harm</h2>
<p>The bill is an assault on already vulnerable sexual and gender minorities. </p>
<p>Professor Kopano Ratele, an acclaimed <a href="https://www.hsrcpress.ac.za/books/liberating-masculinities">African psychology</a> scholar, said via email that </p>
<blockquote>
<p>the bill is, at its core, inhuman. Contrary to the sentiment of homosexuality as unAfrican, the bill expresses an unAfrican spirit. It seems that the bill is essentially about some people desiring to control the bodies, relationships, and the inner lives of others. What is so frightening about people loving others?</p>
</blockquote>
<p>LGBTIQ+ people are consistently <a href="https://journals.co.za/doi/abs/10.4102/hsag.v26i0.1487">at a higher risk</a> of developing mental health disorders. This is due to homophobia, transphobia and prejudice against their very identities. </p>
<p>The bill goes beyond criminalising sexual behaviour between consenting adults. Dr Jarred Martin, a senior lecturer in the Faculty of Humanities at the University of Pretoria, said (via email):</p>
<blockquote>
<p>It criminalises identity by prescribing prosecution for how people think, feel, identify, and, ultimately, who and how they love. This attempt to criminalise love is something that South Africans are all too familiar with, having lived under colonial and apartheid era laws which cast love in legal terms as moral or immoral.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Similar anti-LGBTIQ+ efforts are underway in other African countries. <a href="https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2023/04/kenya-safe-havens-at-risk-with-draconian-anti-gay-bill/">Kenya</a> is currently targeting people under a Family Protection Bill. And in <a href="https://www.mambaonline.com/2023/04/13/tanzania-mps-seek-to-tighten-anti-lgbt-laws/">Tanzania</a>, castration is being touted as a punishment for gay men.</p>
<p>Christian evangelical churches from the US have been <a href="https://d1wqtxts1xzle7.cloudfront.net/31262664/2011_conference_HIV_prevention_sexual_minorities-libre.pdf?1392249132=&response-content-disposition=inline%3B+filename%3DHow_and_why_HIV_prevention_efforts_have.pdf&Expires=1682289428&Signature=HPkAAoCXK9uLKDHcT9jG3iaZ8H7m0CywRbiMSmwAdpiWpAeisMHZ%7EV8G3A3qp3ZbMCFF9uf9TimJ-q2m-TgD5nWV2-phfbndU%7EDl9ypRlrrz9qGn-CP5FvSUD0iw6wx1LgOWnie4LR2BSNMmj1I9qaay26xRPgqqyz3IUBdI4-ruxdwBmRNoc2JY3TWXlL7vb5Dx0KS%7EbcCQY2qrT69npfJWOVc8PP5%7EIAUCtPa2orpdhnoyXOP%7Em8CxADy26Cczp1dRV5NJyW1Uzge9umESc4rPivg0hCcfZPme-SJTxWtZ4zniDsYun8Vtk1oj7RGVVAkr0zT7enf-Mw3sIkiQdQ__&Key-Pair-Id=APKAJLOHF5GGSLRBV4ZA">directly linked</a> to current anti-LGBTIQ+ ideologies in African countries. </p>
<h2>The next steps</h2>
<p>The message is clear: all psychologists, but especially those of us based on the African continent, should stand together in condemning Uganda’s Anti-Homosexuality Bill. </p>
<p>We call on mental health professionals from across Africa to <a href="https://chng.it/dFggtTSZkW">sign</a> and endorse the declaration and to join the <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2023/04/19/africa/uganda-anti-lgbtq-bill-scientists-open-letter-intl/index.html">growing chorus of experts</a> who have condemned Uganda’s dangerous bill. </p>
<p>The PsySSA Sexuality and Gender Division, for example, has been at the forefront of leading a science-informed critique of the Ugandan bill. In 2017, PsySSA published a pioneering set of <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0081246319853423?journalCode=sapc">practice guidelines</a> for psychology professionals working with LGBTIQ+ people. This was a first in Africa and has been <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2214109X22000018">translated and used</a> in other African countries as a global mental health resource. Psychologists, therefore, can and should show leadership in promoting human rights and LGBTIQ+ wellbeing.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/204431/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Suntosh R Pillay is affiliated with the Psychological Society of South Africa (PsySSA) as an executive member of its Sexuality and Gender Division.</span></em></p>The proposed law reinforces unscientific conversion practices – or so-called reparative therapies – that don’t work.Suntosh R Pillay, Clinical Psychologist, University of KwaZulu-NatalLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2037672023-04-18T12:19:39Z2023-04-18T12:19:39ZKenya should decriminalise homosexuality: 4 compelling reasons why<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/520830/original/file-20230413-14-r1pv5c.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Activists agitate for equal rights for all in Nairobi, Kenya, in January 2020. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Tony Karumba/AFP via Getty Images</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Kenya has recently seen the <a href="https://kohljournal.press/health-and-freedom">increasing visibility</a> of sexual and gender minorities. However, this has been met with <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2023/3/15/how-an-lgbtq-court-ruling-sent-kenya-into-a-moral-panic">a growing backlash</a>.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t4uGzjZIzM8">Religious</a> and <a href="https://ntvkenya.co.ke/news/gachagua-on-lgbtq-those-are-satanic-beliefs/">political leaders</a> have been spreading homophobic and transphobic rhetoric. This has happened with the <a href="https://www.hrw.org/report/2015/09/28/issue-violence/attacks-lgbt-people-kenyas-coast">tacit approval</a> of a law enforcement apparatus that’s supposed to guarantee the right to equal protection. </p>
<p>The continued criminalisation of same-sex sexual relations among consenting adults in Kenya worsens social disparities and inequalities. It fuels socioeconomic and health vulnerabilities. </p>
<p>It <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/308163037_Freedom_Corner_Redefining_HIV_and_AIDS_care_and_support_among_men_who_have_sex_with_men_in_Nairobi_Kenya">deprives members of these minority groups</a> access to education, a livelihood, and basic services like housing and healthcare. Criminalisation pushes <a href="https://pure.uva.nl/ws/files/18012125/Thesis.pdf">sexual and gender minorities to the margins of society</a>. Research has shown that sexual and gender minorities are <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/308163037_Freedom_Corner_Redefining_HIV_and_AIDS_care_and_support_among_men_who_have_sex_with_men_in_Nairobi_Kenya">consistently targeted</a> for unfair dismissal from jobs or business opportunities. </p>
<p>The decriminalisation of same-sex relations among adults would lead to four positive outcomes: inclusive development for economic growth, improved health outcomes, the safety and security of sexual minorities, and an acceptance of diversity and equality. This view is based on our <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Emmy-Kageha">research on social exclusion</a>, with a focus on <a href="https://kohljournal.press/health-and-freedom">sexual and gender minorities</a>.</p>
<h2>Inclusive development for economic growth</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.worldbank.org/en/region/afr/brief/social-inclusion-in-africa">Social inclusion</a> is the process of improving the conditions for individuals and groups to participate in society. Social exclusion based on sexual orientation leads to lower societal standing. </p>
<p>This often leads to poorer outcomes in terms of income, human capital endowments and access to employment. People who are discriminated against tend to lack a voice in national and local decision making. </p>
<p>Decriminalisation of same-sex sexual relations would help address institutionalised stigma and discrimination. It would enhance access to equal opportunities by eliminating barriers to employment and other livelihood opportunities.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/lgbti-refugees-seeking-protection-in-kenya-struggle-to-survive-in-a-hostile-environment-182810">LGBTI refugees seeking protection in Kenya struggle to survive in a hostile environment</a>
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<p><a href="https://pure.uva.nl/ws/files/18012125/Thesis.pdf">Research</a> shows that sexual and gender minorities with access to income opportunities support their families financially. This is true even in cases where families aren’t accepting. People who are educated can also compete effectively in the job market. The exclusion of minorities, therefore, means <a href="https://open-for-business.org/kenya-economic-case">the loss of a workforce and their contribution to economic development</a>. </p>
<h2>Better health outcomes</h2>
<p>Social exclusion contributes to poor health among sexual and gender minorities. In 2020, <a href="https://www.unaids.org/sites/default/files/media_asset/2021-global-aids-update_en.pdf#page=6">1.5 million people</a> were newly infected with HIV. Those <a href="https://www.unaids.org/sites/default/files/media_asset/2021-global-aids-update_en.pdf#page=23">most vulnerable</a> to infection include people who inject drugs, transgender women, sex workers, men who have sex with men, and their sexual partners. </p>
<p>These key populations accounted for <a href="https://www.unaids.org/sites/default/files/media_asset/2021-global-aids-update_en.pdf#page=23">65% of HIV infections</a> globally. In sub-Saharan Africa, they accounted for <a href="https://www.unaids.org/sites/default/files/media_asset/2021-global-aids-update_en.pdf#page=24">39% of new infections</a>. </p>
<p><a href="https://open-for-business.org/about">Open for Business</a> is a global research coalition that seeks to address the backlash against the LGBTIQ+ community. In a <a href="https://open-for-business.org/kenya-economic-case">2020 report</a>, the group estimated that discrimination against sexual minorities costs Kenya up to Sh105 billion (US$782 million) annually in poor health outcomes. </p>
<p>Decriminalisation enhances access to healthcare. <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/17441692.2018.1462841">Our</a> <a href="https://kohljournal.press/health-and-freedom">research</a> shows, for example, better health such as decreased new HIV infections in societies that adopt laws that advance non-discrimination and decriminalise same-sex relationships. </p>
<h2>Enhancing safety and security</h2>
<p>In 2014, the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights adopted <a href="https://achpr.au.int/en/adopted-resolutions/275-resolution-protection-against-violence-and-other-human-rights-violations">Resolution 275</a>. The resolution expresses grave concerns about increasing violence and other human rights violations – including murder, rape and assault – of individuals based on sexual orientation or gender identity. </p>
<p>Safety and security are some of the <a href="https://www.article19.org/resources/kenya-murder-lgbtq-activist-urgent-reform/">biggest challenges</a> facing sexual and gender minorities in Kenya. The country has seen an escalation of <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2023/3/15/how-an-lgbtq-court-ruling-sent-kenya-into-a-moral-panic">negative rhetoric and violence</a> targeting sexual and gender minorities, and <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-64491276">related organisations</a>. Hate speech, verbal and physical abuse, sexual violence and police harassment <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/uganda-lgbt-hatecrime-idUSL4N3584J1">have increased</a>. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/justiceforsheila-highlights-the-precarious-lives-of-queer-people-in-kenya-183102">#JusticeForSheila highlights the precarious lives of queer people in Kenya</a>
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<p>In Kenya’s coastal city of Mombasa, for instance, sexual minorities <a href="https://www.the-star.co.ke/news/2023-03-16-gay-people-fear-for-their-lives-escape-mombasa-over-planned-demos/">fled</a> recent <a href="https://twitter.com/citizentvkenya/status/1636702221743079425?s=20">homophobic street protests</a>. A <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/334681176_Are_we_doing_alright_Realities_of_violence_mental_health_and_access_to_healthcare_related_to_sexual_orientation_and_gender_identity_and_expression_in_East_and_Southern_Africa_Research_report_based_on_">2019 report</a> on the experiences of the <a href="https://ccprcentre.org/files/documents/INT_CCPR_CSS_KEN_44420_E.pdf#page=6">LGBTIQ+ community in Kenya</a> found that 53% have been physically assaulted and 44% sexually assaulted. </p>
<p>The criminalisation of same-sex sexual relations among adults contributes to a climate of violence and discrimination. Moreover, criminalisation supports the perpetrators of violence who take the law into their own hands. </p>
<h2>Acceptance of diversity</h2>
<p>Sexual and gender minorities are socially excluded because of the <a href="https://theconversation.com/homosexuality-remains-illegal-in-kenya-as-court-rejects-lgbt-petition-112149">criminal label</a> the law imposes on them. This affects their self-acceptance and mental health. </p>
<p>Homophobic acts are widespread even in countries where <a href="https://theconversation.com/sam-smith-how-queerphobia-and-fatphobia-intersect-in-the-backlash-to-the-im-not-here-to-make-friends-video-199437">same-sex relations are legal</a>. However, decriminalisation helps facilitate some level of acceptance among minority groups and within wider society. </p>
<p><a href="https://ualr.edu/socialchange/2013/01/13/impact-of-the-decriminalization-of-homosexuality-in-delhi-an-empirical-study">Studies</a> <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9293432/">have found</a> that decriminalisation reduces societal violence. </p>
<h2>The way forward</h2>
<p>Same-sex relations, or sexual and gender minorities, <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/43904926">aren’t new</a> <a href="https://www.arcados.ch/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/MURRAY-ROSCOE-BOY-WIVES-FEMALE-HUSBANDS-98.pdf">in Africa</a>. They aren’t a <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/332192031_An_Exploratory_Journey_of_Cultural_Visual_Literacy_of_Non-Conforming_Gender_Representations_from_Pre-Colonial_Sub-_Saharan_Africa">foreign ideology</a>. </p>
<p>Social exclusion constitutes perhaps the most serious challenge towards attaining sustainable and inclusive development. The criminalisation of same-sex relations among consenting adults in Kenya’s penal code exposes the weaknesses of the constitution in ensuring inclusivity. The law must, therefore, be changed. </p>
<p>Repealing criminalisation clauses is an important step toward reducing stigma, violence and discrimination. It would certainly open a new chapter in the lives of sexual and gender minorities.</p>
<p>There’s also an urgent need to make sexual and gender minorities visible. Awareness campaigns can help debunk perceptions that they are “anti-religious” or “un-African”. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/what-does-the-bible-say-about-homosexuality-for-starters-jesus-wasnt-a-homophobe-199424">What does the Bible say about homosexuality? For starters, Jesus wasn't a homophobe</a>
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<p>There’s an equally urgent need to identify all forms of discrimination against sexual and gender minorities under domestic and international laws. This will help address the root causes of inequalities.</p>
<p>Decriminalisation of same-sex relations is imperative. It will help address widening disparities, inequalities in society and the gaps in social integration.</p>
<p><em>Nicholas Etyang, a senior policy advocacy officer at the African Population and Health Research Center, is a co-author of this article.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/203767/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Lucy Wanjiku Mung’ala is affiliated with Hivos, where she works as the strategy and impact lead - gender equality, diversity and inclusion. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Emmy Kageha Igonya does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The criminalisation of same-sex sexual relations among consenting adults in Kenya worsens social disparities and inequalities.Emmy Kageha Igonya, Associate research scientist, African Population and Health Research CenterLucy Wanjiku Mung’ala, PhD Researcher, University of AmsterdamLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2023192023-04-17T12:44:32Z2023-04-17T12:44:32ZThe complex relationship between Black gamers and Hogwarts Legacy<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/520335/original/file-20230411-22-kd0zun.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=268%2C7%2C4846%2C3251&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The bestselling title is already a serious contender for the Game Awards' Game of the Year.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/poster-for-hogwarts-legacy-behind-hamleys-on-27th-march-news-photo/1249859350?adppopup=true">Mike Kemp/In Pictures via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>When the computer game <a href="https://www.hogwartslegacy.com/en-us">Hogwarts Legacy</a> was released in February 2023, some critics wondered whether the controversy surrounding J.K. Rowling – whose Harry Potter franchise inspired the game – would hurt sales.</p>
<p>Those supporting the trans community <a href="https://gamerant.com/hogwarts-legacy-social-media-boycotts-jk-rowling-goblin-rebellion/">had called for a boycott</a> of the game. </p>
<p>The British author has become a bête noire of many people in the trans community, <a href="https://www.vox.com/culture/23622610/jk-rowling-transphobic-statements-timeline-history-controversy">repeatedly expressing and supporting views</a> like the unfounded belief that trans women are a danger to cis women.</p>
<p>Nevertheless, the game, which gives players the opportunity to be young wizards making their way in the Potterverse, has proved immensely popular, <a href="https://variety.com/2023/gaming/news/hogwarts-legacy-sales-850-million-1235533614/">selling north of 12 million copies</a> in the two weeks after its launch. It’s already sold more units than the bestselling game of 2022, and it’s seen as a serious contender for the Game Awards’ <a href="https://thegameawards.com/">Game of the Year</a>.</p>
<p>But as a <a href="https://analoggamestudies.org/2018/09/rules-as-written-analyzing-changes-in-reliance-on-game-system-algorithms-as-shifts-in-game-capital/">social scientist who studies gaming subcultures</a>, I’ve been particularly interested in Hogwarts Legacy’s large following among Black gamers, who, like millions of others, seem more than willing to overlook the calls to boycott the title.</p>
<h2>‘That wizard game’</h2>
<p>In 2017, Rowling infamously <a href="https://twitter.com/sistersinead/status/922849074667315200">supported social media posts</a> seen as transphobic. Some fans wanted to know whether her beliefs were misconstrued or if she herself actually held anti-trans views.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"922849074667315200"}"></div></p>
<p>Since then, she’s doubled down on her beliefs, <a href="https://www.jkrowling.com/opinions/j-k-rowling-writes-about-her-reasons-for-speaking-out-on-sex-and-gender-issues/">penning a long post replete with stereotypes</a>: that the trans movement is a “cover to predators,” and that it’s “seeking to erode ‘woman’ as a political and biological class.” Her refusal to reconsider these views has drawn the ire of queer communities and their allies, and Rowling’s supporters and detractors routinely spar on social media. </p>
<p>When Warner Bros. Games announced in September 2020 that it would be producing Hogwarts Legacy, those angry about Rowling encouraged gamers to refrain from purchasing the title.</p>
<p>While Rowling didn’t make the game or offer any developmental input, some LGBTQ activists believed that the game’s success would signal a tacit acceptance of her views on gender. Some of them even refuse to reference the game by its name, instead calling “<a href="https://indiecator.org/2023/03/17/the-hogwarts-legacy-controversy/">that wizard game</a>.”</p>
<h2>‘Black folks done took over Hogwarts’</h2>
<p>While the enthusiastic response to the game may have dismayed some activists, I saw it as a testament to the powerful draw of the franchise, which has attracted millions of fans through books, movies, apparel and <a href="https://www.thetopvillas.com/blog/travel-guides/a-guide-to-harry-potter-worlds-and-attractions/">theme parks</a> over the past 25 years. </p>
<p>In the game, players assume the role of a new student at Hogwarts School, where they learn magic before putting on the famous “<a href="https://harrypotter.fandom.com/wiki/Sorting_Hat">sorting hat</a>” and embarking upon a shadowy quest to earn the respect of their instructors.</p>
<p>The love of this world – and the nostalgia it evokes – seems to supersede the problematic views of the creator.</p>
<p>And yet the game’s popularity among Black gamers might come as a surprise.</p>
<p>The Harry Potter books always had <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Potter_fandom">a broad legion of fans</a>. Many American students – including Black students – were introduced to the Potterverse <a href="https://www.npr.org/2018/12/31/678860349/how-harry-potter-has-brought-magic-to-classrooms-for-more-than-20-years">in their school years</a> and retained a love for the characters and their adventures.</p>
<p>While J.K. Rowling included a handful of characters who were people of color in her books, <a href="https://screenrant.com/harry-potter-characters-of-color-who-deserved-more-parvati-patil-blaise-zabini-dean-thomas-cho-chang/">their scant representation</a> could be read as tokenism, at best. And long before the trans controversy, some Harry Potter fans criticized Rowling for what I call “hindsight representation”: long after the books were published, Rowling claimed that certain characters were of different ethnicities or sexual orientations, without directly highlighting their diversity in the texts.</p>
<p>Nonetheless, gaming boards dedicated to Black gamers <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/HarryPotterGame/comments/1102df3/as_a_black_gamer_i_can_honestly_say_that_this/">were abuzz after the release</a>. The game has gained such a foothold in the Black gaming community that one Facebook commenter <a href="https://www.facebook.com/james.weems3/posts/pfbid02Hk1cQcnHmaJucqWPtWxwfzusAgyExigRpjbvW6qkYExcLWxu2Q7cikb3eGn4w4RLl">triumphantly announced</a> that “Black folks done took over Hogwarts and turned it into an HBCU” – a reference to historically Black colleges and universities.</p>
<h2>Gaining a foothold in a white male world</h2>
<p>Gaming subcultures have long been what sociologist Eric Dunning calls “<a href="https://scholar.google.com/scholar?cluster=10382826295924019814&hl=en&oi=scholarr">male preserves</a>” – spaces dominated by men. These spaces are not necessarily exclusionary; women and minorities can freely take part.</p>
<p>But if you aren’t a white man, it’s important to adhere to the norms and expectations in order to be accepted into the community. </p>
<p>Communication scholar Mia Consalvo has written about how gamers work to acquire what she calls “<a href="https://direct.mit.edu/books/book/4389/CheatingGaining-Advantage-in-Videogames">gamer capital</a>” – expertise, slang and accomplishments that reflect status in gaming subcultures. The requisite benchmarks, the language used and the knowledge that’s valued have traditionally been dictated and determined by white men. </p>
<p>So in order to <a href="https://nyupress.org/9781479818433/the-privilege-of-play/">gain clout within gaming networks</a>, gamers tend to downplay their race, gender or sexuality. And because of a default thinking that the gamer on the other side of the screen is a white male – and a prevalence of games that <a href="https://doi.org/10.1145/3144592.3144602">historically ignore issues of race, gender and sexuality</a> – diversity in the gaming world can be easily erased. </p>
<p>For these reasons, it’s been easy to ignore or dismiss the presence of minority gamers, and Black gamers often struggle to be seen. </p>
<p>In recent years, however, that’s started to change.</p>
<p>In games like Forspoken and Dungeons & Dragons, developers have prioritized different genders, races and ethnicities to acknowledge the diversity of players. In the newest edition of <a href="https://www.dndbeyond.com/races/1-human">Dungeons & Dragons</a>, for example, the image of “human” for the race descriptions is a Black woman. In <a href="https://forspoken.square-enix-games.com/en-us/">Forspoken</a>, gamers play as Frey, a young Black girl from New York. </p>
<p>And this is related to what I see happening in Hogwarts Legacy. Many Black players are applauding the game’s character creator, which offers a great deal of flexibility in making avatars. In particular, those who want to play as Black characters have a vast range of skin colors, hairstyles and hair textures to choose from – <a href="https://kotaku.com/black-hair-games-character-creator-options-kinda-funny-1850170200">choices most digital games lack</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A screen grab of a Black avatar from 'Hogwarts Legacy.'" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/518890/original/file-20230402-3782-qrjkaf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/518890/original/file-20230402-3782-qrjkaf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/518890/original/file-20230402-3782-qrjkaf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/518890/original/file-20230402-3782-qrjkaf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/518890/original/file-20230402-3782-qrjkaf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=423&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/518890/original/file-20230402-3782-qrjkaf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=423&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/518890/original/file-20230402-3782-qrjkaf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=423&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Hogwarts Legacy offers a range of possibilities for creating Black characters.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Steven Dashiell</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>As scholars like Kimberly Moffitt have pointed out, <a href="http://www.hamptonpress.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=978-1-57273-880-5">hair is a central element</a> of African American identity. Complex and thoughtful options for hairstyles in video games represent a significant shift in the recognition of Black gamers – one that challenges <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/15327086221097635">the kind of erasure in gaming subcultures</a> that my research has identified.</p>
<h2>Separating the work from the creator</h2>
<p>How does this square with Rowling’s transphobia, and the calls to boycott the video game? </p>
<p>And, does this speak to the age-old belief from political science that Black Americans are <a href="https://www.uab.edu/news/research/item/3336-many-black-people-are-conservative-but-not-the-way-most-think">socially conservative</a> and therefore more likely to overlook homophobia or transphobia? </p>
<p>I would say no. </p>
<p>Black popular culture has a complicated relationship with the separation of artists from their work. Disgraced luminaries like R. Kelly, Kanye West and Michael Jackson generate sometimes paradoxical associations for Black people: They’re iconic Black artists who, in their personal lives, have <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-64736677">committed crimes</a> or <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2022/10/29/entertainment/kanye-west-antisemitism-anti-black/index.html">expressed hateful ideas</a>.</p>
<p>So many Black gamers are primed to separate Hogwarts Legacy from Rowling, particularly since the game makes huge strides in representation.</p>
<p>Furthermore, research overwhelmingly shows that a large majority of <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/race-ethnicity/2023/02/16/black-americans-views-on-transgender-and-nonbinary-issues/">younger Black Americans are not socially conservative</a>. </p>
<p>So in my view, their desire to be represented in games that have long excluded them serves a broader goal that likely outweighs any negative feelings toward Rowling.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/202319/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Steven Dashiell does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Despite calls to boycott the game by trans activists, the game has proved wildly popular – particularly among Black gamers.Steven Dashiell, Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Sociology, American UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2024722023-04-13T10:00:32Z2023-04-13T10:00:32ZTraditional masculinity is a vague, unhelpful term we should abandon – here’s why<p>Most of us think we know what we mean when we talk about “traditional masculinity”. A term commonly used to describe a broad range of men’s traits and behaviour, it includes things like violence and aggression, emotional restraint, and hunger for power and dominance, to more positive characteristics such as reliability, stability, physical strength, independence and integrity. </p>
<p>Men’s homophobia and misogyny can be framed as traditional masculinity, yet when men sacrifice their comforts and health to provide for family, or give their lives to defend their country, this is regarded as traditional masculinity too. The term has many meanings, yet these are rarely explained.</p>
<p>South African psychology researchers <a href="https://www.psychologistbrittany.com/">Brittany Everitt-Penhale</a> and <a href="https://www0.sun.ac.za/psychology/staff/academic-staff/prof-kopano-ratele/">Kopano Ratele</a> maintain that if we want to <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/21528586.2015.1025826">explore traditional masculinity</a> in a specific context or culture we should not approach it as “a static set of features associated with men that has been timelessly passed down through generations”. In other words, we need to look at its use in its context – geographically, culturally and within specific periods of time.</p>
<p>My <a href="https://research.manchester.ac.uk/en/studentTheses/shifting-masculine-terrains-russian-men-in-russia-and-the-uk">work</a> looks at how masculinity is defined, experienced and negotiated by Russian men living in Russia and Russian <a href="https://www.rescue.org/article/migrants-asylum-seekers-refugees-and-immigrants-whats-difference">immigrant</a> men in the UK. I used to refer to the term “traditional masculinity” to talk about certain views and attitudes of my research participants, but over time I have come to re-evaluate it.</p>
<h2>What are we talking about?</h2>
<p>When we refer to traditional masculinity, which tradition do we have in mind? The Buddhist <a href="https://www.lionsroar.com/the-bodhisattva/"><em>Bodhisattva</em> vow</a> – the commitment to put others before oneself? Or the Jewish tradition of <a href="https://blog.flexfits.com/periods-and-judaism/"><em>niddah</em></a> where men can’t hold hands or hug their wives during or the week after menstruation? Or do we think of the famous English stiff upper lip? There is a wide spectrum of masculinities in any society alongside a plethora of cultural traditions.</p>
<p>Approaching “tradition” as something singular and static doesn’t help us to understand men and masculinities in global and <a href="https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/research/superdiversity-institute/about/about-superdiversity.aspx">superdiverse</a> contexts.</p>
<p>Journalists, activists, academics and organisations such as the <a href="https://eige.europa.eu/publications/gender-equality-index-2021-report/traditional-norms-masculinity">European Institute for Gender Equality</a>, the <a href="https://apps.who.int/iris/handle/10665/332974">World Health Organisation</a> and <a href="https://trainingcentre.unwomen.org/RESOURCES_LIBRARY/Resources_Centre/masculinities%20booklet%20.pdf">UN Women</a> often overlook these nuances. It is commonly stated that traditional masculinity reflects old-fashioned ideals of manhood based on the cult of power, ownership, homophobia, sexism, racism – effectively (and falsely) constructing these phenomena as things of the past. </p>
<p>The label is therefore used to describe some men’s behaviour and attitudes as “stuck in the past” or “backward”. This logic suggests that the opposite of traditional masculinity would be modern masculinity – non-violent, enlightened, caring, compassionate, supportive of women’s emancipation and sexual freedoms.</p>
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<h2>Imperial views</h2>
<p>It is common in western commentary to call non-western and migrant men traditional, portraying them as stuck in <a href="https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/5050/refugee-crisis-demilitarising-masculinities/">oppressive and backward gender roles</a>. Post-colonial theorist <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Gayatri-Spivak">Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak</a> famously captured how white British colonisers in India portrayed brown Hindu men as a <a href="http://www.bahaistudies.net/neurelitism/library/subaltern_speak.pdf">problem that needed fixing</a>: “White men are saving brown women from brown men.”</p>
<p>This kind of binary thinking about traditional and modern masculinities is troubling. It conflates chronological and social progress, sustains division of the world into “<a href="https://read.dukeupress.edu/books/book/2555/chapter-abstract/1360482/The-West-and-the-Rest-Discourse-and-Power-1992?redirectedFrom=fulltext">the west and the rest</a>” and, as I have pointed out in previous <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/00380385221110724">research</a>, popularises the assumption that every country will go through the same stages of development and eventually acquire the same levels of gender equality and sexual liberation as the western world.</p>
<p>Conflating a European understanding of gender and sex with the notion of “progress” and imposing it on the diverse societies of colonised countries was a tactic used by <a href="https://enriquedussel.com/txt/Textos_200_Obras/Filosofos_latinos_EU/Heterosexualism-Maria_Lugones.pdf">European colonisers</a>.</p>
<p>Nigerian scholar <a href="https://easteast.world/en/posts/292">Oyeronke Oyewumi</a> describes how the British “civilisational” mission brought gender discrimination to <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Yoruba">Yoruba society</a>, one of the three largest ethnic groups in Nigeria. Before British colonisation, Yoruba women had occupied leadership positions and owned land. Conversion to Christianity promoted strict separation between the world of men and that of women and gradually led to women’s exclusion from public life, education, trade and land ownership. </p>
<p>It’s important to remember that all countries and societies in any period exist in one historical time, yet systems such as imperialism and capitalism continue to <a href="https://www.arabstudiesjournal.org/asj-online/decolonizing-middle-east-men-and-masculinities-scholarship-an-axiomatic-approach">stigmatise</a> boys and men who are poor, resistant to western values and beliefs or racialised (meaning, reduced to racist stereotypes) as backward or traditional.</p>
<p>While masculinity is a historically changing concept, we need to bear in mind that dominant masculinities have been shaped by colonialism, imperialism and capitalism. Australian sociologist Raewyn Connell <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/44981834">writes</a> that masculinities of the French and British empires were:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Bound up with enabling violence – violence sufficient to overcome the considerable military capabilities of the colonised societies … [imperial masculinities] adapted to the need to dominate a colonised population. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>Violence against racialised “others” in the name of civilisational progress continues today in the states with pronounced neo-imperial ambitions such as the <a href="https://engagedscholarship.csuohio.edu/clevstlrev/vol52/iss1/9/">US</a> and <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/00380385221110724#bibr12-00380385221110724">Russia</a>. So tradition is hardly enough to understand or explain gendered violence, domination or risk-taking behaviour among men in post-imperial states. </p>
<p>Contemporary Russian masculinities reveal the complexity of the issue. Scholars see Russian masculinities as <a href="https://theconversation.com/vladimir-putin-the-czar-of-macho-politics-is-threatened-by-gender-and-sexuality-rights-180473">traditional, patriarchal and macho</a>. Yet my <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/00380385221110724#bibr12-00380385221110724">study</a> demonstrates that Russian men think they are not as “progressive” as European men, but are far less “backward” and “traditional” than Arab or Muslim men.</p>
<p>In essence, such thinking has nothing to do with tradition. It is the same Eurocentric hierarchy of modernity/backwardness in which Russian men see themselves as being somewhere in the middle. </p>
<p>The language we use to talk about social problems associated with men’s aspiration to power and control is critical. Although a seemingly convenient shorthand, the term traditional masculinity is unhelpfully broad, rooted in the history of colonialism and works to deem masculinities of migrants and non-western countries as something that needs to be remedied.</p>
<p>In a nutshell, the term traditional masculinity feeds racism and imperialism. We need to <a href="https://theconversation.com/explainer-what-is-decolonisation-131455">decolonise</a> the discussion and use a more nuanced language when talking about men’s lives and behaviours.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/202472/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Marina Yusupova does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The rarely explained term is nebulous at best, and can mean many things – negative and positive – to different groups of people.Marina Yusupova, Lecturer in Sociology, Edinburgh Napier UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2030372023-04-07T13:48:03Z2023-04-07T13:48:03ZMillions of Americans at risk of losing free preventive care after Texas ruling on ACA<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/519403/original/file-20230404-473-pq24if.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=19%2C0%2C2121%2C1406&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Raising the cost barriers for health care will harm the most vulnerable patients.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/mother-talking-with-daughter-while-male-doctor-royalty-free-image/1321467310">Maskot via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Many Americans breathed a sigh of relief when the Supreme Court left the Affordable Care Act in place following the law’s <a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/20pdf/19-840_6jfm.pdf">third major legal challenge</a> in June 2021. This decision left <a href="https://source.wustl.edu/2017/02/americans-divided-on-obamacare-repeal-poll-finds/">widely supported policies</a> in place, like ensuring coverage <a href="https://www.healthcare.gov/coverage/pre-existing-conditions/">regardless of preexisting conditions</a>, granting coverage for <a href="https://www.healthcare.gov/young-adults/children-under-26/">dependents up to age 26</a> on their parents’ plan and removing <a href="https://www.healthcare.gov/health-care-law-protections/lifetime-and-yearly-limits/">annual and lifetime benefit limits</a>.</p>
<p>But now, millions of people in the U.S. are holding their breath again <a href="https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.txnd.330381/gov.uscourts.txnd.330381.114.0_1.pdf">following a March 30, 2023 ruling</a> in Braidwood v. Becerra that would <a href="https://www.healthaffairs.org/content/forefront/texas-judge-just-invalidated-preventive-services-mandate-happens-next">eliminate free coverage</a> for many basic preventive care services and medications.</p>
<h2>Litigating preventive care</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/29/2590.715-2713">Section 2713</a> of the ACA requires insurers to offer <a href="https://www.healthcare.gov/coverage/preventive-care-benefits/">full coverage of preventive services</a> endorsed by one of three federal groups: the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices or the Health Resources and Services Administration. If one of those groups recommends a preventive care service as essential to good health outcomes, then you shouldn’t have to pay anything out of pocket. For example, <a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/house-bill/748/">the CARES Act</a>, which allocated emergency funding in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, used this provision to ensure COVID-19 vaccines would be free for many Americans.</p>
<p>Immunizations, including COVID-19 vaccines, require a recommendation from the <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/acip/index.html">Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices</a> of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, while women’s health services require approval from the <a href="https://www.hrsa.gov/womens-guidelines/index.html">Health Resources and Services Administration</a>. Most other preventive services require an A or B rating from the <a href="https://uspreventiveservicestaskforce.org/uspstf/home">U.S. Preventive Services Task Force</a>, an independent body of experts trained in research methods, statistics and medicine, and supported by the <a href="https://www.ahrq.gov/cpi/about/otherwebsites/uspstf/index.html">Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality</a>.</p>
<p>The lead plaintiff in the ACA case, <a href="https://khn.org/news/article/braidwood-becerra-aca-preventive-services-court-decision-reed-oconnor/">Braidwood Management</a>, is a Christian for-profit corporation owned by Steven Hotze, a physician and conservative activist who has <a href="https://www.texastribune.org/2013/05/15/republican-donor-releases-songs-opposing-obamacare/">previously filed</a> multiple lawsuits against the Affordable Care Act. Braidwood and its co-plaintiffs, a group of conservative Christian employers, objected to being forced to provide their 70 employees free access to pre-exposure prophylaxis, or PrEP, a medicine that is <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/hiv/basics/prep/prep-effectiveness.html">nearly 100% effective</a> in preventing HIV infection. Hotze claimed that PrEP “facilitates and encourages homosexual behavior, intravenous drug use and sexual activity outside of marriage between one man and one woman,” despite a lack of evidence to support this. He also claimed that his religious beliefs prevent him from providing insurance that covers PrEP.</p>
<p>PrEP received an <a href="https://www.uspreventiveservicestaskforce.org/uspstf/recommendation/prevention-of-human-immunodeficiency-virus-hiv-infection-pre-exposure-prophylaxis">A rating</a> from the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force in June 2019, paving the way for it to be covered at no cost for millions of people. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/434528/original/file-20211129-19-1jm1jvh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Red ribbon hanging from the North Portico of the White House" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/434528/original/file-20211129-19-1jm1jvh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/434528/original/file-20211129-19-1jm1jvh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=408&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434528/original/file-20211129-19-1jm1jvh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=408&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434528/original/file-20211129-19-1jm1jvh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=408&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434528/original/file-20211129-19-1jm1jvh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=512&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434528/original/file-20211129-19-1jm1jvh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=512&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434528/original/file-20211129-19-1jm1jvh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=512&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">PrEP is a key tool to helping the U.S. reach its goal of substantially reducing new HIV infections by 2030.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/ObamaWorldAidsDay/c146dee7e944420482f3e5786d4d2e50">AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Though Section 2713 of the ACA <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ypmed.2021.106690">doesn’t work perfectly</a>, sometimes leaving patients frustrated by <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/getting-charged-for-free-preventive-care/2014/01/17/98fbd1fa-7ec2-11e3-95c6-0a7aa80874bc_story.html">unexpected bills</a>, it has made a huge difference in reducing costs for services like <a href="https://doi.org/10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2021.1248">well-child visits</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1097/MLR.0000000000000610">mammograms</a>, just to name a few.</p>
<p><a href="https://aspe.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/documents/786fa55a84e7e3833961933124d70dd2/preventive-services-ib-2022.pdf">Over 150 million Americans</a> are enrolled in private health insurance, allowing them to benefit from free preventive care, with <a href="https://www.healthsystemtracker.org/brief/preventive-services-use-among-people-with-private-insurance-coverage/">about 60%</a> using at least one free preventive service each year. Raising the cost barrier again for PrEP, for example, would <a href="https://doi.org/10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2021.22692">disproportionately harm</a> younger patients, people of color and those with lower incomes.</p>
<p>As public health researchers at <a href="https://www.bu.edu/sph/profile/paul-shafer/">Boston University</a> and <a href="https://sph.tulane.edu/sbps/kristefer-stojanovski-phd-mph">Tulane University</a> who study <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=bDT820kAAAAJ&hl=en">health insurance</a> and <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Kristefer-Stojanovski-2">sexual health</a>, we believe that prevention and health equity in the U.S. stand to take a big step backward with this policy in jeopardy.</p>
<h2>What preventive services are affected?</h2>
<p>The ruling in Braidwood rests in large part on the <a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution/articleii">appointments clause</a> of the U.S. Constitution, which specifies that certain governmental positions require presidential appointment and Senate confirmation, while other positions have a lower bar. </p>
<p>Texas federal <a href="https://www.healthaffairs.org/content/forefront/texas-judge-just-invalidated-preventive-services-mandate-happens-next">District Judge Reed O'Connor ruled</a> that because the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force is an independent volunteer panel and not made up of officers of the U.S. government, they do not have the appropriate authority to make decisions about which preventive care should be free, unlike the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices or Health Resources and Services Administration. O'Connor also ruled that being forced to cover PrEP violated the religious freedom of the plaintiffs.</p>
<p>Following his initial ruling in September, both sides submitted briefs that tried to inform the “remedy,” or solution, the judge would ultimately recommend. He could have chosen, as the <a href="https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.txnd.330381/gov.uscourts.txnd.330381.112.0_3.pdf">federal government advocated</a>, to grant only the plaintiffs an exemption from covering PrEP under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act. But O'Connor instead chose to make his “remedy” apply nationally and cover more services.</p>
<p>He invalidated all of the task force’s recommendations since the Affordable Care Act was passed in March 2010, returning the power to insurers and employers to decide which, if any, preventive care would remain free to patients in their plans. A few of the <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2023-04-01/braidwood-ruling-further-weakens-aca-on-prep-drugs-preventive-care">recommendations covered by his ruling</a> include PrEP; blood pressure, diabetes, lung and skin cancer screenings; and medications to lower cholesterol and reduce breast cancer risk. As of 2022, <a href="https://www.commonwealthfund.org/blog/2022/aca-preventive-services-benefit-jeopardy-what-can-states-do">15 states</a> have laws with ACA-like requirements for plans in the insurance marketplace, but not for large employer plans generally <a href="https://blog.petrieflom.law.harvard.edu/2023/04/03/three-reactions-to-braidwood-v-becerra/">exempt from state oversight</a>.</p>
<p>Insurance contracts are typically defined by calendar year, so most people will <a href="https://www.kff.org/policy-watch/qa-implications-of-the-ruling-on-the-acas-preventive-services-requirement/">see these changes</a> starting only in 2024. Importantly, these services will likely still need to be covered by health insurance plans as <a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/42/18022">essential health benefits</a> through a separate provision of the ACA – they just won’t be free anymore. </p>
<p>Other U.S. Preventive Services Task Force recommendations and those made by the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices or Health Resources and Services Administration – namely, immunizations and contraception, respectively – will remain free to patients <a href="https://www.kff.org/womens-health-policy/issue-brief/explaining-litigation-challenging-the-acas-preventive-services-requirements-braidwood-management-inc-v-becerra/">for now</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/419002/original/file-20210902-19-azgfs0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Demonstrator holds a sign saying 'Save the ACA' in front of the U.S. Supreme Court." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/419002/original/file-20210902-19-azgfs0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/419002/original/file-20210902-19-azgfs0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/419002/original/file-20210902-19-azgfs0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/419002/original/file-20210902-19-azgfs0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/419002/original/file-20210902-19-azgfs0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/419002/original/file-20210902-19-azgfs0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/419002/original/file-20210902-19-azgfs0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Affordable Care Act has faced many legal challenges over the years.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/SupremeCourtHealthCare/af7a18ea1fc84b39af301fa84aec0672">AP Photo/Alex Brandon</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>What’s next?</h2>
<p>The <a href="https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.txnd.330381/gov.uscourts.txnd.330381.115.0.pdf">federal government appealed</a> the ruling to the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on March 31, 2023, buoyed by a <a href="https://newsroom.heart.org/news/23-national-health-organizations-respond-to-braidwood-v-becerra-ruling-that-threatens-no-cost-preventive-care">coordinated response</a> from 23 patient advocacy groups. They have asked for a stay while the case continues, which pauses the effects of the ruling. If either O'Connor or a higher court grants their request, it will leave the status quo of free preventive care in place. </p>
<p>But there are also concerns that either the 5th Circuit orthe Supreme Court could take the ruling even further, endangering the free coverage of contraception and other preventive care that remains in place. </p>
<p>The ending to this case may still be several years off, with <a href="https://news.yahoo.com/americans-surprise-medical-bills-health-care-loopholes-131630868.html">even more frustration</a> ahead as the courts undermine national goals in <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/cancermoonshot/">fighting cancer</a>, <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/presidential-actions/2022/10/31/a-proclamation-on-national-diabetes-month-2022/">diabetes</a> and <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/endhiv/index.html">ending the HIV epidemic</a>.</p>
<p><em>Portions of this article originally appeared in previous articles published on <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-next-attack-on-the-affordable-care-act-may-cost-you-free-preventive-health-care-166087">Sept. 7, 2021</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/hiv-prevention-pill-prep-is-now-free-under-most-insurance-plans-but-the-latest-challenge-to-the-affordable-care-act-puts-this-benefit-at-risk-171086">Dec. 1, 2021</a>, and <a href="https://theconversation.com/free-preventive-care-under-the-aca-is-under-threat-again-a-ruling-exempting-prep-from-insurance-coverage-may-extend-nationwide-and-to-other-health-services-190317">Sept. 13, 2022</a>.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/203037/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Paul Shafer has received funding in the past three years from the Commonwealth Fund, Arnold Ventures, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Kate B. Reynolds Charitable Trust, Starbucks Coffee Company, and Renova Health.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kristefer Stojanovski does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>On the basis of government appointment technicalities and religious freedom, Americans may lose free coverage for cancer and blood pressure screenings, HIV prevention medication and other essential services.Paul Shafer, Assistant Professor of Health Law, Policy and Management, Boston UniversityKristefer Stojanovski, Research Assistant Professor of Social, Behavioral and Population Sciences, Tulane UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1933092023-04-04T01:35:31Z2023-04-04T01:35:31ZWhat are microaggressions? And how can they affect our health?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/511582/original/file-20230222-16-acmbcz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=242%2C134%2C5748%2C3233&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://unsplash.com/photos/0VFPFbhuyeY">Hermes Rivera/Unsplash</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Microaggressions are seemingly innocuous verbal, behavioural or environmental slights against members of minority communities. </p>
<p>The term microaggressions was coined by American psychiatrist <a href="https://www.mghglobalpsychiatry.org/chesterpierce.php">Chester Pierce</a> in his 1970 essay <a href="https://dokumen.tips/documents/offensive-mechanisms-chester-pierce.html?page=1">Offensive Mechanisms</a>. He explained:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Most offensive actions are not gross and crippling. They are subtle and stunning. The enormity of the complications they cause can be appreciated only when one considers that these subtle blows are delivered incessantly. Even though any single negotiation of offence can in justice be considered of itself to be relatively innocuous, the cumulative effect to the victim and to the victimiser is of an unimaginable magnitude. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>While originally conceived in the context of race relations, microaggressions may also relate to gender, sexual orientation, religion, disability status, weight, or a <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1745691621991855">combination</a> of these. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/discrimination-against-fat-people-is-so-endemic-most-of-us-dont-even-realise-its-happening-94862">Discrimination against fat people is so endemic, most of us don’t even realise it’s happening</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>What do microaggressions look like?</h2>
<p>Consider these situations. All are real-life stories from people of colour I know (used with their consent): </p>
<ul>
<li><p>a woman walks into a hairdresser’s shop. The shop is empty and the hairdresser is cleaning hair from the floor. The woman asks if she could get a haircut – if not right now, perhaps another day. The hairdresser says she can’t help as she is not taking on any new customers.</p></li>
<li><p>a man is waiting to pick up his partner in his car, parked on a side street near his partner’s apartment, which is located in a predominantly white suburb. He is minding his own business sitting in his own car. Each time a person walks by, they stare at the man, and keep staring as they walk past.</p></li>
</ul>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/microaggressions-arent-just-innocent-blunders-research-links-them-with-racial-bias-145894">Microaggressions aren't just innocent blunders – research links them with racial bias</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<ul>
<li>a couple is waiting to order coffee in a busy city cafe. The server is chatty with the white couple ahead of them. When they progress to the front of the line, the server is curt, avoids eye contact, and is eager to move on to the next customer. After placing their order, the couple stands where other patrons had previously waited for their orders. A staff member comes over and asks the couple to wait outside instead.</li>
</ul>
<p>Examples of microaggressions towards other identity minorities may include <a href="https://www.ed.ac.uk/equality-diversity/students/microaggressions/lgbtq-microaggressions/trans-and-or-non-binary-microaggressions/commontrans-and-non-binary-based-microaggression">moving away</a> from a trans person on public transport, or not considering wheelchair accessibility needs when booking venues for meetings or events.</p>
<p>Each of these incidents in isolation may not seem particularly harmful, and some may even chalk them up to coincidences or “reading too much into a situation”. </p>
<p>However, when experienced repeatedly, daily, or even multiple times a day, they can harm people’s psychological and physical health.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/hDd3bzA7450?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Microaggressions are like death by a thousand mosquito bites/Fusion Comedy.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Microaggressions are subtle</h2>
<p>Microaggressions are often so subtle that even the victim may not realise that they have just experienced one until later – likely because microaggressions are often <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00107530.2020.1780816">accompanied with dissociation</a> (i.e. disconnection from thoughts, feelings or personal sense of identity). </p>
<p>As psychologist Ron Taffel <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00107530.2020.1780816">explains</a>, dissociation is a “psychically handy” tool that helps ease the pain,</p>
<blockquote>
<p>making sure that the moment does not fully register or does its damage until a less vulnerable time later – perhaps during a quiet time alone… </p>
</blockquote>
<h2>Microaggressions affect our physical and mental health</h2>
<p>Microaggressions can occur in all environments, from the workplace, to shops, medical clinics, schools, universities, even while walking or parked on the street. So victims often become increasingly self-conscious and <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09518398.2020.1735556">hypervigilant</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Queer person sits at dinner table" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/511886/original/file-20230223-16-rqlcac.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/511886/original/file-20230223-16-rqlcac.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/511886/original/file-20230223-16-rqlcac.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/511886/original/file-20230223-16-rqlcac.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/511886/original/file-20230223-16-rqlcac.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/511886/original/file-20230223-16-rqlcac.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/511886/original/file-20230223-16-rqlcac.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Having to be constantly vigilant is a significant burden.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://unsplash.com/photos/m7D2Oz3DqPA">Unsplash/Aiden Frazier</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The impacts of microaggressions may extend beyond psychological burden and also impact the body’s <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/17456916211019944?journalCode=ppsa">physiological state</a>. </p>
<p>When humans perceive a sense of imminent danger, the body’s “<a href="https://scholarworks.lib.csusb.edu/meeting-minds/2018/oral-pres-full/21/">fight, flight, freeze response</a>” is activated. While this is a useful evolutionary mechanism to protect us from physical danger, when triggered frequently – as may be the case with microaggressions – it can take a <a href="https://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/understanding-the-stress-response">toll on the body</a> and contribute to issues such as high blood pressure, anxiety, depression and addiction. </p>
<p>Racial microaggressions have also been associated with suicide risk. <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/sltb.12150">One study</a> found experiencing race-related microaggressions leads to more symptoms of depression, which in turn increases thoughts of suicide. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-words-matter-the-negative-impacts-of-racial-microaggressions-on-indigenous-and-other-racialized-people-157637">Why words matter: The negative impacts of racial microaggressions on Indigenous and other racialized people</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Microaggressions may deter people from seeking help</h2>
<p>Health issues among victims may be further compounded when microaggressions are experienced in the health-care sector. A <a href="https://psycnet.apa.org/doiLanding?doi=10.1037%2Fa0022251">study from 2011</a> found that sexual orientation-related microaggressions (for example, <a href="https://www.ed.ac.uk/equality-diversity/students/microaggressions/lgbtq-microaggressions/sexuality-based-microaggressions/common-sexuality-based-microaggressions">derogatory comments</a> or assumptions about a person’s sexual orientation) reduced the likelihood of LGBTIQ+ people seeking psychotherapy and impacted their attitudes towards therapy and therapists.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.jabfm.org/content/jabfp/28/2/231.full.pdf">Research</a> involving Indigenous people also suggests microaggressions impact help-seeking behaviours in this group (such as not scheduling or attending regular health-care appointments), which subsequently increases the risk of hospitalisation.</p>
<h2>Indirect effects of microaggressions</h2>
<p>Microaggressions may also impact people’s health status indirectly. <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0732118X21000441">Research</a> suggests repeated microaggressions can cause marginalised groups to internalise feelings of inadequacy. </p>
<p>Over time, this internalised oppression may impact their academic and professional success, and consequently socioeconomic status. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/511884/original/file-20230223-26-y7af47.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/511884/original/file-20230223-26-y7af47.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/511884/original/file-20230223-26-y7af47.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/511884/original/file-20230223-26-y7af47.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/511884/original/file-20230223-26-y7af47.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/511884/original/file-20230223-26-y7af47.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/511884/original/file-20230223-26-y7af47.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Feelings of inadequacy can hold people back.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.pexels.com/photo/concentrated-diverse-colleagues-working-on-laptop-and-brainstorming-4353594/">Pexels/Ketut Subiyanto</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Sceptics and victim-blaming</h2>
<p>Sceptics often attribute microaggressions to victims’ “negative emotionality” – a tendency to show negative affect and always feel like a victim. </p>
<p>However, proponents argue that this is a form of <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/17456916211011963">victim-blaming</a> that further compounds the harm caused by microaggressions. </p>
<p>Clinical psychologist Monnica Williams <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1745691619827499">suggests</a> that the years of unchecked microaggressions themselves could be the very thing to cause negativity in marginalised people.</p>
<h2>Victims’ responses to microaggressors</h2>
<p>Victims’ responses to microaggressions can vary among people, and among events experienced by the same person. Victims have to regularly <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00107530.2020.1780816">decide</a> whether to let it slide or confront the aggressor. </p>
<p>The discourse on microaggressions in social media seems to be on the rise. <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/2056305120975716">One study</a> found that there was a drastic increase in the usage of the term “microaggression” on Twitter between 2010 and 2018. Social media discussions and other online spaces may help victims (particularly younger people) to <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/2332649220933307">respond more critically</a> to microaggressors. </p>
<p>Other technological innovations, such as the virtual reality-based intervention <a href="https://partner.equalreality.com/training/unpacking-bias">Equal Reality</a>, are also helping people walk in another’s shoes, recognise unconscious bias, mitigate risk of microaggressions, and promote more inclusive workplaces.</p>
<p><em>If this article has raised issues for you, or if you’re concerned about someone you know, call Lifeline on 13 11 14.</em></p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/what-is-a-name-microaggression-and-could-you-be-doing-it-without-knowing-196272">What is a name microaggression and could you be doing it without knowing?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/193309/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mahima Kalla does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>While each microaggression may not seem particularly harmful, they add up and can erode the psychological and physical health of people in minority groups.Mahima Kalla, Digital Health Transformation Research Fellow, The University of MelbourneLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2005032023-04-03T12:27:14Z2023-04-03T12:27:14ZHeteronormativity in health care is harmful for LGBTQ+ patients – and a source of tension for queer and trans doctors<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/518273/original/file-20230329-20-mai8fc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C2000%2C1500&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Expectations of prejudice and discrimination can lead LGBTQ+ patients to avoid seeking health care.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/silhouette-of-doctor-in-white-coat-with-stethoscope-royalty-free-image/1471006528">Nadzeya Haroshka/iStock via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer community have <a href="https://www.americanprogress.org/article/discrimination-prevents-lgbtq-people-accessing-health-care/">long experienced prejudice in medical settings</a>. This can range from <a href="https://doi.org/10.1215/23289252-2399812">microaggressions</a>, such as comments that a patient doesn’t “look” queer or trans, to outright discrimination like <a href="https://legacy.lambdalegal.org/publications/when-health-care-isnt-caring">denial of care</a>. Combined with living in a society where LGBTQ+ people are routinely subjected to <a href="https://www.americanprogress.org/article/discrimination-experiences-among-lgbtq-people-us-2020-survey-results/">discrimination and bigotry</a>, many patients <a href="https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1014257910462">choose not to disclose</a> their sexual or gender identities to medical providers or <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/1475-6773.13229">not to seek care at all</a>.</p>
<p>Even among medical providers who practice some form of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJMp058066">cultural competency</a> – an awareness of and respect for differences across cultures – and are accepting of LGBTQ+ patients, unconscious biases can shape how they <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/maq.12129">understand and talk to and about LGBTQ+ patients and issues</a>. No one leaves their cultural baggage at the clinic door.</p>
<p>I am a <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=sjr9eSIAAAAJ&hl=en">medical anthropologist</a> who researches LGBTQ+ health and health disparities. I have paid special attention over the past decade to how a particular kind of bias called <a href="https://dictionary.apa.org/heteronormativity">heteronormativity</a> shapes how health care providers deliver care and practice medicine.</p>
<h2>What is heteronormativity?</h2>
<p>Heteronormativity refers to a cultural bias that presumes heterosexuality is the natural and normal default state of all people. Under this worldview, <a href="https://theconversation.com/explainer-what-does-it-mean-to-be-cisgender-103159">cisgender male and female</a> bodies are treated as complementary opposites that are “meant” to fit together. Heteronormativity is <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cobeha.2020.03.001">pervasive in contemporary societies</a> and is easily visible in social norms about gender relations, gender roles, sexual attraction and kinship and family.</p>
<p>An example of heteronormativity I have personally experienced in multiple settings is being asked if I have a wife. That question is heteronormative because it presumes the person is heterosexual and requires them to “come out” as not being straight to correct the bias.</p>
<p>Deviations from heterosexuality have historically been considered pathological. Homosexuality was <a href="https://daily.jstor.org/how-lgbtq-activists-got-homosexuality-out-of-the-dsm/">removed from the list</a> of diagnostic mental illness categories only in the 1970s. Despite that change, some contemporary conservative discourses continue to pathologize LGBTQ+ people as <a href="https://www.npr.org/2022/05/11/1096623939/accusations-grooming-political-attack-homophobic-origins">dangerous</a> and <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/nbc-out/out-politics-and-policy/texas-gops-new-platform-calls-gay-people-abnormal-rejects-trans-identi-rcna34530">abnormal</a> and consider the heterosexual nuclear family as the <a href="https://theconversation.com/fear-of-a-non-nuclear-family-102245">ideal social arrangement</a>. This perspective is known as <a href="https://dictionary.apa.org/heterosexism">heterosexism</a>.</p>
<p>While heteronormativity is largely implicit and unconscious, heterosexism is explicit and considers heterosexuality to be morally superior. Heteronormativity might involve asking questions that assume a patient is heterosexual, but heterosexism would deny patients care altogether.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/518279/original/file-20230329-22-jsvodp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Close-up of hands of patient using laptop, wearing rainbow band." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/518279/original/file-20230329-22-jsvodp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/518279/original/file-20230329-22-jsvodp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/518279/original/file-20230329-22-jsvodp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/518279/original/file-20230329-22-jsvodp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/518279/original/file-20230329-22-jsvodp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/518279/original/file-20230329-22-jsvodp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/518279/original/file-20230329-22-jsvodp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Heteronormative biases can sometimes force LGBTQ+ patients to come out during medical encounters.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/close-up-of-the-hands-of-a-patient-in-the-hospital-royalty-free-image/1349347997">Manuel Arias Duran/Moment via Getty Images</a></span>
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</figure>
<p><a href="https://dictionary.apa.org/homophobia">Homophobia</a> – a disgust, hatred or prejudice toward queer people – often stems from heteronormativity or heterosexism. Sometimes homophobia is unintentional, and people don’t immediately recognize that something they said or did is homophobic. Other times, people deliberately intend to express bigotry.</p>
<p>Like other forms of prejudice such as racism and <a href="https://dictionary.apa.org/ableism">ableism</a>, people are socialized into homophobia, heteronormativity and heterosexism. Even members of the groups that are being targeted and marginalized with these forms of prejudice <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0011000007309488">can internalize them</a>. When these cultural norms and values are internalized, they become biases like heteronormativity.</p>
<h2>Heteronormativity in health care</h2>
<p>Cultural norms and values, of which heteronormativity is one, are deeply ingrained and form personal and societal worldviews. These attitudes shape individuals’ thought and behavior and <a href="https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/social-institutions/">social institutions</a> such as health care. So it is unsurprising that heteronormative biases are just as pervasive in medical settings as they are in other areas of society.</p>
<p>Since at least the late 1990s, movements have sought to encourage medical practitioners to be more <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/1524839919884912">attentive to the diversity of their patient populations</a>, including <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/10538720.2022.2042452">LGBTQ+ people</a>. People identifying as members of the LGBTQ+ community are increasingly coming out in medical education settings, though they often continue to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/tct.13078">experience heterosexism, homophobia and transphobia</a>. Nonetheless, LGBTQ+ medical students and practitioners are often at the forefront of <a href="https://www.glma.org/">working for positive changes</a> in order to improve health care for LGBTQ+ people.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/518291/original/file-20230329-26-o20ko3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Medical student wearing rainbow lanyard in front of Harvard Medical School building" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/518291/original/file-20230329-26-o20ko3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/518291/original/file-20230329-26-o20ko3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/518291/original/file-20230329-26-o20ko3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/518291/original/file-20230329-26-o20ko3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/518291/original/file-20230329-26-o20ko3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/518291/original/file-20230329-26-o20ko3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/518291/original/file-20230329-26-o20ko3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Harvard Medical School student Aliya Feroe recalled an experience she had with an OB-GYN who referred her to another physician after learning she identified as queer.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/LGBTQMedicine/40cadc8ae6414f8cbbc0f385a25f040c">AP Photo/Steven Senne</a></span>
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<p>However, integrating their personal and professional identities can be challenging. Medical students <a href="https://doi.org/10.1097/acm.0b013e3182604968">develop identities</a> as physicians with clear <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-56861-0_17">moral boundaries</a> separating them from patients through a process called professionalization. My work with LGBTQ+ medical students has found that their experiences of heteronormativity and heterosexism <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/maq.12289">did not seem to overcome</a> the professionalization they underwent in medical school. Instead, they experienced a friction between their LGBTQ+ experiences and their budding identities as “neutral” and “objective” clinicians. In other words, medical education isolated their sense of who they are as doctors from their sense of who they are as queer and/or trans.</p>
<p>I refer to the ways medical students talked about this tension as an “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/maq.12289">irrelevance narrative</a>.” They would explain how their queer identities were central to their lived experiences and interactions with people except when it came to delivering care to patients, in which case their queerness was deemed “irrelevant.” This was despite the fact that they had all experienced heteronormativity and heterosexism both in and out of medical settings, which clearly indicates that their queerness is very much a part of their professional environment.</p>
<p>I saw the irrelevance narrative as a fascinating example of how <a href="https://doi.org/10.1097/ACM.0000000000001190">medical professionalization</a> can force a disconnect between <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssmqr.2021.100017">personal identity and professional identity</a> for people in marginalized communities. Paradoxically, this separation works to uphold heteronormativity in medical environments. In a field that treats cisgender heterosexuality as a neutral default, students come to see their own queerness as a nonneutral factor that needs to be ignored in order to be professional, leaving those heteronormative biases unchallenged.</p>
<h2>Holistic health care for all</h2>
<p>Professionalism that sets a boundary between the personal and professional is vitally important for clinical work because it enables treatment and safety standards that can <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2386327/">improve health outcomes</a>. But medicine is more than just diagnosing and treating disease. It is as much a social and cultural science as it is a biological one.</p>
<p>Training medical providers to engage in what anthropologists call a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.an.38.091009.100001">holistic approach</a>, which considers each patient as a person with life contexts that play an important role in care, could help providers better understand their patients’ needs. Taking social and cultural factors into account can lead to better and more effective treatment plans. </p>
<p>This kind of educational reform is <a href="https://www.ama-assn.org/education/accelerating-change-medical-education/members-accelerating-change-medical-education">already underway</a>. For example, the Medical College Admission Test was updated in 2015 to incorporate a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1097/ACM.0b013e31828c4ae0">major section on social science</a>. Still, <a href="https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/medical-education-needs-rethinking/">much work remains</a> to be done. </p>
<p>Medical providers must also <a href="https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9781351241779-9/challenging-heteronormativity-medicine-william-robertson">do the hard work</a> of recognizing how their own cultural baggage, social norms and biases profoundly shape their ability to care for patients. This is especially true when treating patients from populations that have historically been mistreated and ignored both in medicine and broader society. Making assumptions about who patients are or what they need, regardless of intention, can make medical settings uncomfortable or even hostile.</p>
<p>To achieve a happier, healthier society, everyone must feel comfortable seeking care when they need it. This requires medical environments to become <a href="https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-59304-7">actively affirming spaces</a> where LGBTQ+ people can feel comfortable being open about who they are and raise health concerns without fear of judgment, ridicule or bigotry. Merely avoiding being openly prejudiced isn’t enough.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/200503/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>William Robertson receives funding from The Wenner-Gren Foundation. </span></em></p>Though some LGBTQ+ health care providers may try to separate their personal and professional identities, the prejudice they experience highlights their queerness in the clinic.William Robertson, Assistant Professor of Anthropology, University of MemphisLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2029102023-03-30T12:04:31Z2023-03-30T12:04:31ZLily Savage: how Paul O'Grady helped embed drag in the British mainstream<p>Many among the British public will mourn Paul O’Grady, the beloved television host, philanthropist and drag queen, who has died at the age of 67.</p>
<p>He brightened up the stage and screen over the years with hilarious one-liners, quick wit and loveable charm, and heightened LGBTQ+ awareness through appearances as his catty but captivating alter ego, Lily Savage.</p>
<p>Numerous celebrities and public figures have paid tribute to O’Grady, including <a href="https://twitter.com/RoyalFamily/status/1640997462176419840?cxt=HHwWgMC-peuf_8UtAAAA">Camilla the Queen Consort</a>, who stated that O'Grady’s “warm heart and infectious humour lit up the lives of so many”. <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-65062542">Others</a> remembered his “fearlessness”, evident in his <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mnMUA1mCMYo">public criticisms</a> of Conservative MPs and government legislation.</p>
<p>O’Grady was also greatly remembered by an array of prominent LGBTQ+ figures and British drag talent. LGBTQ+ rights campaigner <a href="https://twitter.com/PeterTatchell/status/1640992687254806530?cxt=HHwWhICxrfOJ_cUtAAAA">Peter Tatchell</a> recognised O’Grady’s “admirable” campaigns for equality, while RuPaul’s Drag Race UK winner <a href="https://www.mirror.co.uk/tv/tv-news/rupauls-drag-race-star-chokes-29575858">Danny Beard</a> said:</p>
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<p>It goes unsaid the work that Paul’s done for the queer community, for me personally, and for many other little gay boys who want to put a dress on.</p>
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<h2>Loud, proud and brave</h2>
<p>O’Grady began his career at London’s Royal Vauxhall Tavern as <a href="https://www.oocities.org/lilysavage_uk/biography.html">Lily Savage</a> in the early 1980s, where he became popular with queer locals. Lily demonstrated drag’s entertainment factor at times of uncertainty and <a href="https://theconversation.com/aids-homophobic-and-moralistic-images-of-1980s-still-haunt-our-view-of-hiv-that-must-change-106580">rampant homophobia</a>, and fans have spoken of a <a href="https://news.sky.com/story/paul-ogrady-little-known-facts-from-a-rubber-gloves-raid-to-trying-his-hand-as-a-mortician-12844667">memorable instance</a> when the tavern was raided during the Aids crisis.</p>
<p>Police entered with gloves, to which Lily hilariously responded: “Look, they’ve come to help with the washing up!” Lily would soon be making appearances at other club and theatre venues, such as the Bloomsbury Theatre and gay nightclub Heaven. However, she would gain major recognition through her regular appearances at the Edinburgh Fringe and on TV.</p>
<p>In 1997 she was given her own talk show on the BBC – The Lily Savage Show – with its popularity leading to arguably her biggest career break hosting the popular longstanding game show Blankety Blank (1997-2002). After this successful run, O’Grady began to step back from Lily and appear more as himself, with a number of popular programmes such as The Paul O’Grady Show and For the Love of Dogs.</p>
<h2>A brief history of British drag</h2>
<p>Lily Savage was often hailed as an inspirational artist within drag’s rich and cultural history in the UK. In his book <a href="https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520393325/drag">Drag: A British History</a>, Jacob Bloomfield notes its impact, and how drag artists have consistently asserted themselves as some of the most “renowned and significant entertainers of their day”.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/zbkmkmn#:%7E:text=Shakespeare's%20As%20You%20Like%20It,would%20drag%20along%20the%20floor.">term “drag” dates back to Shakespeare</a> with men playing women’s roles. From the 18th to the 20th centuries, drag was primarily confined to underground bars and vaudeville houses due to the criminalisation of homosexuality, with performers such as <a href="https://rictornorton.co.uk/eighteen/seraphin.htm">Princess Seraphina</a> and <a href="https://legacyprojectchicago.org/person/julian-eltinge">Julian Eltinge</a> demonstrating drag’s entertainment value.</p>
<p>In later years, drag would become more popular due to comedic queens such as <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2009/jun/01/danny-la-rue-obituary">Danny La Rue</a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/dameednaeverage?lang=en-GB">Dame Edna Everage</a> and Lily Savage, who would often be seen on mainstream television programmes. Today, prominent drag figures such as RuPaul, creator of the TV show <a href="https://www.esquire.com/entertainment/a43145366/rupauls-drag-race-legacy/">RuPaul’s Drag Race</a> and its numerous global spin-offs, demonstrate drag’s mainstream appeal. However, it is important to acknowledge the cultural history of drag and those artists, such as O’Grady, who paved the way for a wider social acceptance.</p>
<h2>Drag under attack</h2>
<p>It is also important to recognise O’Grady’s legacy at a time when drag is being attacked by far-right critics. They argue that the “sexualisation and inappropriateness” of drag represent a threat to children.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2022/aug/11/im-just-trying-to-make-the-world-a-little-brighter-how-the-culture-wars-hijacked-drag-queen-story-hour">Numerous protests</a> have occurred recently at <a href="https://www.dragqueenstoryhour.co.uk/">Drag Queen Story Hour</a> events at libraries across the UK. This led to users on internet forum Mumsnet, <a href="https://www.theweek.co.uk/news/society/953619/what-are-gender-critical-beliefs">gender-critical feminists</a> (women who believe that sex is biological and immutable and cannot be conflated with gender identity) and anti-drag critics <a href="https://www.thepinknews.com/2020/06/23/drag-queen-story-hour-uk-aida-h-dee-sab-samuel-leeds-city-council-sarah-field-mumsnet/?fbclid=IwAR1kts2g7Z30tlIC1waptxwEX0C0bD5_ccjDTXeUvLkRiL6fJmW5z0ipen8">calling for them to be cancelled</a>.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, a series of UK drag shows organised by cabaret company <a href="https://vaultfestival.com/caba-baba-rave/">Cababarave</a>, aimed at mothers with young babies was cancelled after being targeted for its “<a href="https://www.foxnews.com/media/graphic-drag-show-babies-featuring-nearly-naked-men-bondage-outrages-twitter-absolutely-abhorrent">abhorrence</a>”. In the US, criticism of drag has escalated even further, with a <a href="https://news.sky.com/story/tennessee-becomes-first-us-state-to-ban-public-drag-performances-12824159">recent law</a> passed in Tennessee that bans drag and female impersonation in public.</p>
<p>These shifts represent the threats currently posed to drag performers, so it’s worth remembering drag’s origins through performers such as Lily Savage. Drag is not only a unique display of artistry and a political standpoint; one of its primary functions has always been that of entertainment. Lily represented this profoundly, and it is important that the wider British public acknowledge drag performance’s popular past, particularly in uncertain times of shifting cultural attitudes towards drag artists and LGBTQ+ communities.</p>
<p>O’Grady’s dedication to media and charity work, as well as his contribution to the mainstream representation of LGBTQ+ people and drag artists will undoubtedly affect both heterosexual audiences and those who attended his shows, sharing a drink with Lily at a gay bar. Crucially he will be remembered by those who saw themselves represented on mainstream television at a time when queerness was still demonised.</p>
<p>My own memory of O’Grady is when he starred in Snow White at the Bristol Hippodrome in 2003. I was only eight years old, mostly unaware of my own queerness at the time. I was asked to go on stage for an interactive segment of the show, and Lily was just as charismatic and captivating in person as she was from the back of the theatre. This moment will always hold a special place in my memory.</p>
<p>The LGBTQ+ community have lost a powerful force and groundbreaking icon, one that has undoubtedly changed the visibility of LGBTQ+ people in the UK. RIP “Lily of the Scally”.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/202910/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Matt Weaver does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>O'Grady’s camp creation built on the legacy of drag artists that came before him and helped change the visibility of LGBTQ+ people in the UK.Matt Weaver, PhD Candidate in Film, Media & Communication, University of PortsmouthLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1992272023-03-05T14:24:56Z2023-03-05T14:24:56ZLGBTIQ+ migrants and asylum seekers in South Africa: major new study identifies a diverse, wide-spread community<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/511138/original/file-20230220-20-mid27o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">South Africa is the only African nation to formally extend refugee protection to LGBTI+ people.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Luca Sola/AFP via Getty Images</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Since 1998, South Africa has recognised persecution based on gender and sexuality as legitimate grounds for asylum. This makes it the only African country to formally extend refugee protection to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI+) persons. </p>
<p>However, <a href="https://theconversation.com/lgbt-migrants-in-south-africa-religion-can-be-a-blessing-and-a-curse-169758">as research shows</a>, the promise of freedom contained in its <a href="https://www.gov.za/sites/default/files/gcis_document/201409/a130-980.pdf">Refugees Act</a> is yet to materialise for LGBTI+ people.</p>
<p><a href="https://almn.org.za/">Scholars</a>, <a href="https://www.mambaonline.com/2019/05/31/abusive-home-affairs-biggest-challenge-faced-by-lgbti-asylum-seekers/?fbclid=IwAR22tJdhcCJvqoYZzVv1WVsHn6jgJIKmtoHl1ireW7mds5kOrprt7Xse3sk">activists</a> and <a href="https://www.hrw.org/news/2021/07/06/human-rights-watch-submission-south-africa-department-justice">human rights bodies</a> continue to document worrying trends in the asylum system. A recent analysis of refugee status denials involving LGBTI+ applicants identifies <a href="https://lrc.org.za/wp-content/uploads/LGBTI-ASYLUM-REPORT-RFS.pdf">egregious misapplications of domestic and international law</a>. Other studies suggest that <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1363460718797258">homophobia</a>, <a href="https://www.academia.edu/40786838/Shifting_in_the_City_Being_and_Longing_in_Cape_Town">transphobia</a> and <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/abs/seeking-sanctuary/life-on-hold-lgbt-migration-and-the-false-promise-of-freedom/055A814B09C59950884B25ACC2469BBC">corruption</a> are common within the Department of Home Affairs, which is responsible for managing immigration and asylum.</p>
<p>These barriers to protection make it difficult for LGBTI+ asylum seekers to regularise their <a href="https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9780429465055-5/bordering-life-matthew-beetar">legal status, access services or find jobs</a>. This increases their vulnerability to <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13557858.2020.1817342?journalCode=ceth20">discrimination, exploitation, poverty and homelessness</a>.</p>
<p><a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1363460719893617">Earlier studies</a> show that LGBTI+ people who move to South Africa face unique challenges. But they do not say much about the size and constitution of this population or the degree to which certain social, legal and economic issues affect it.</p>
<p>There are two reasons for this. First, research to date has been qualitative, small in scale and focused on particular cities or subgroups. Second, South Africa, like many refugee-hosting countries, does not release disaggregated data on grounds for asylum.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/lgbt-migrants-in-south-africa-religion-can-be-a-blessing-and-a-curse-169758">LGBT migrants in South Africa: religion can be a blessing, and a curse</a>
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<p>The absence of reliable quantitative data makes it difficult – if not impossible – to hold Home Affairs, the police and other state entities to account. When reports emerge of LGBTI+ migrants and asylum seekers being mistreated, the government can dismiss these incidents as isolated or anomalous. </p>
<p>To respond to this knowledge gap, <a href="https://almn.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/final-whatsapp-research-report.pdf">we developed a survey tool</a> that could be distributed using WhatsApp. This allowed us to collect data from people who might otherwise be unwilling or unable to participate in research. We sourced information from 381 respondents, making it the largest data set of its kind in South Africa. </p>
<p>Our data shows that South Africa hosts significant numbers of LGBTI+ migrants and asylum seekers – something long suspected but difficult to prove. It also shows that this population is more dispersed and diverse than previously thought. Where someone lives, how they identify and how long they have been in the country can affect their ability to apply for or renew documentation or to generate income. It can also increase their susceptibility to violence and harassment. </p>
<h2>The search for more data</h2>
<p>Our goal was to collect baseline data that could not only augment existing research but also guide and support future advocacy work. As well as capturing basic demographic information, the survey posed simple questions about respondents’ gender, sexuality, documentation status and reason for migrating.</p>
<p>We wanted the survey to reach as many people as possible so we partnered with three well-known activists: <a href="https://www.hrw.org/video-photos/audio/2021/04/01/where-heart">Thomars Shamuyarira</a>, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e2NSIKv38hE">Masi Zhakata</a> and <a href="https://www.mambaonline.com/2020/06/23/a-plea-for-lgbtq-lives-on-world-refugee-day/">Anold Mulaisho</a>. Each coordinates a network of LGBTI+ migrants and asylum seekers in a different part of the country. The community fieldworkers shared information about the project and enrolled anyone who wanted to take part.</p>
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<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-do-nigerian-gay-and-bisexual-men-cope-this-is-what-they-told-us-117121">How do Nigerian gay and bisexual men cope? This is what they told us</a>
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<p>We opened the survey to all LGBTI+ people who have crossed an international border, regardless of their documentation status. We did this because the distinction between migrants and asylum seekers is blurred in South Africa. Failings in the asylum system push those who may be eligible for refugee protection into the migration system or force them to remain undocumented. Official legal categories can also differ from people’s experiences and self-identifications.</p>
<h2>Old issues, new insights</h2>
<p>The survey results provide further evidence that South Africa is failing to meet its legal obligations. It also offers surprising insights into respondents’ identities, locations, motivations and experiences. We limit our discussion here to five key findings:</p>
<p><strong>Geographic spread</strong></p>
<p>Our analysis shows that LGBTI+ migrants and asylum seekers are dispersed across the country far more widely than first thought. It is <a href="https://za.boell.org/en/2018/10/11/double-challenge-lgbti-refugees-and-asylum-seekers-south-africa">commonly believed</a> that LGBTI+ people move to major economic hubs, such as Johannesburg and <a href="https://www.routledge.com/Beyond-the-Mountain-Queer-Life-in-Africas-Gay-Capital/Camminga-Matebeni/p/book/9781032433875">Cape Town</a>, which are perceived to be more “gay friendly” than other locations. As a result, services targeting them are concentrated in these areas. </p>
<p>The number of survey respondents living outside metropolitan areas suggests a need to reconsider how resources and services are delivered.</p>
<p><strong>Diversity of language</strong></p>
<p>The survey responses show that LGBTI+ migrants and asylum seekers use a wide range of terms to describe their identities. Most remarkable was the use of terms commonly understood to indicate gender – such as “transgender” – to signal sexuality, and vice versa. Of equal interest was the widespread use of “non-binary”, a relatively new term in South Africa, and the limited use of “queer”, a much older term commonly used in advocacy circles. </p>
<p>This finding is of interest to researchers, activists, lawyers, service providers, state bureaucrats and other stakeholders who engage with this population.</p>
<p><strong>Gender-based claims</strong></p>
<p>South Africa extends protection from persecution based on both gender and sexuality. However, <a href="https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-319-92669-8">previous research</a> indicates that transgender and gender-diverse people have had to claim asylum – or have been classified as claiming asylum – on the basis of sexual orientation. </p>
<p>Our data suggests a shift in this pattern. A number of respondents reported claims based on gender identity or expression. The long-term impacts of this remain to be seen, such as how these claims are treated by Home Affairs and whether they result in refugee status being conferred. It also raises questions about what kinds of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/0966369X.2022.2137473">advocacy</a> are necessary to ensure these outcomes. </p>
<p><strong>An inaccessible and confusing system</strong></p>
<p>Most respondents reported being undocumented, an anticipated result given the barriers obstructing LGBTI+ people from claiming protection in South Africa. More interesting was the number of answers that seem to indicate confusion over asylum-related terms, categories, systems and processes. This tells us that programmes intended to inform and support LGBTI+ asylum seekers are not reaching all segments of this community. </p>
<p><strong>Limited online access</strong></p>
<p>There were many people who wanted to participate in the project but could not. Sometimes this was due to language issues, but mostly it was because they had a SIM card but no cellphone. This is concerning given how much advocacy and outreach work is delivered via digital channels.</p>
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<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/desmond-tutus-long-history-of-fighting-for-lesbian-and-gay-rights-131598">Desmond Tutu's long history of fighting for lesbian and gay rights</a>
</strong>
</em>
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<h2>Where to from here?</h2>
<p>A survey such as this cannot tell us everything, but it does provide crucial data on an under-researched and largely invisible population. Our hope is that state agencies use these findings to develop sensitisation programmes and improve service delivery. At the very least, this means treating LGBTI+ migrants and asylum seekers with dignity, respect and compassion, and upholding the rights guaranteed in law. Only then will the dream of freedom be realised for LGBTI+ people who move to South Africa.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/199227/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>This project was made possible through research funding from the Williams Institute Global LGBTI Small Grants Program, the Open Society University Network Engaged Research Fund and the Other Foundation</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Thea de Gruchy receives funding from the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR). </span></em></p>The absence of reliable quantitative data makes it difficult – if not impossible – to hold Home Affairs, the police and other state entities to account.John Marnell, Doctoral Researcher at the African Centre for Migration & Society (ACMS), University of the WitwatersrandB Camminga, Research associate, University of the WitwatersrandThea de Gruchy, Researcher, University of the WitwatersrandLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1985002023-02-07T21:42:15Z2023-02-07T21:42:15ZWhy we are fascinated by the Oscar-nominated ‘Tár,’ a story of rare female power in classical music<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/508482/original/file-20230206-29-jqlr39.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=174%2C404%2C5868%2C2005&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Cate Blanchett plays Lydia Tár in the Oscar-nominated film 'Tár,' that explores power, gender and sexuality.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Focus Features)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Musicians and music scholars are excited to see <em>Tár</em> earn Oscar nominations in 2023. The psychological thriller is set in the rarefied world of classical music, starring Cate Blanchett as a brilliant, ruthless conductor of the real and renowned <a href="https://www.berliner-philharmoniker.de/en/">Berlin Philharmonic</a>. </p>
<p>Music, ephemeral in its power over our emotions, is a notoriously demanding discipline, so this film presents exciting possibilities for an exploration of the dark sides of the “<a href="https://evidencenetwork.ca/jordan-peterson-and-the-cult-of-genius/">cult of genius</a>.” The film also shines a spotlight on the challenges of working in the ultraconservative world of classical music. It gives musicologists a chance to discuss not only the portrayal of music, but also some of the complex social issues present in classical music spheres, such as misogyny, racism and homophobia.</p>
<h2>Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 5</h2>
<p><em>Tár</em>‘s story revolves around <a href="https://open.spotify.com/track/0cqcRqZgkNHanWQ8slYA0v">Gustav Mahler’s <em>Symphony 5</em> (1904)</a>. As Blanchett conducts the opening measures of the dramatic score, she swings her arms wide and punches the air aggressively. Mahler’s Fifth is a heart wrenchingly beautiful rumination on death, so the brooding music complements Tár’s darkness and helps to foreshadow her downfall. Director Todd Field <a href="https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/movies/story/2022-10-07/cate-blanchett-tar-classical-music">described <em>Symphony No. 5</em></a> as his own “gateway drug into a lot of classical music.” In this film, he says, the symphony is “haunting her, coming for her.” </p>
<p>Indeed, the ways that <a href="https://slate.com/culture/2022/12/tar-cate-blanchett-movie-ending-explained-analyzed.html">sounds unsettle Tár</a> — waking her in the night, alarming her when out for a run — contribute significantly to the spooky, gothic story. And how else would a musician be haunted, if not through her ears?</p>
<h2>Women breaking barriers in classical music</h2>
<p>Although the fictional Lydia Tár leads the Berlin Philharmonic, in reality, that orchestra has only ever had male conductors — though they were ahead of the <a href="https://www.classicfm.com/discover-music/when-did-women-join-orchestras/">Vienna Philharmonic</a>, which did not admit women even as orchestra members until 1997. Indeed, orchestral conductors are disproportionately male and straight, and <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/22/arts/music/female-conductors-search-for-equality-at-highest-level.html?">very few women lead any professional orchestras</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="a woman sits and looks to be playing the cello" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/508477/original/file-20230206-17-iwf95h.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/508477/original/file-20230206-17-iwf95h.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=251&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/508477/original/file-20230206-17-iwf95h.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=251&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/508477/original/file-20230206-17-iwf95h.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=251&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/508477/original/file-20230206-17-iwf95h.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=316&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/508477/original/file-20230206-17-iwf95h.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=316&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/508477/original/file-20230206-17-iwf95h.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=316&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Olga, played by Sophie Kauer, is a young Russian cellist who catches Lydia’s eye.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Focus Features)</span></span>
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</figure>
<p>A superb conductor like <a href="https://www.marinalsop.com">Marin Alsop</a> <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/11/arts/music/marin-alsop-baltimore-symphony-orchestra.html">has alluded to</a> navigating misogyny and homophobia while rising through <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/music/2013/sep/06/marin-alsop-proms-classical-sexist">the conservative classical music</a> world.</p>
<p>Alsop, who is mentioned in the film, and <a href="https://ew.com/movies/female-conductor-referenced-in-tar-reacts-to-movie/">who has also criticized its depictions of women</a>, leads through innovative <a href="https://peabody.jhu.edu/faculty/marin-alsop/">and collaborative</a> approaches. Alsop is currently chief conductor of the Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra and regular guest conductor with major orchestras.</p>
<p>Other female and queer musicians are passed up for positions, <a href="https://www.npr.org/2019/02/21/696574690/top-flutist-settles-gender-pay-gap-suit-with-boston-symphony-orchestra">paid inequitably</a> and otherwise abused in the orchestral world. Orchestras implemented <a href="http://doi.org/10.1257/aer.90.4.715">screened auditions</a> specifically to combat sexist bias in assessing talent. Similarly,
<a href="https://oc.ca/en/resource/re-sounding-the-orchestra/">Orchestras Canada, the national association for Canadian Orchestras</a>, has developed strategies to dismantle systemic barriers for Black, Indigenous and other racialized musicians.</p>
<h2>Female conductors urged to project power</h2>
<p>Orchestras and audiences tend to construct an ideal of a conductor as someone with a powerful aura, so female conductors are often urged to project a strong, imperious persona. <a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/class-control-and-classical-music-9780190844356?cc=ca&lang=en&">Musicologist Anna Bull</a> reports that young female conductors who choose a gentler physicality risk criticism for their “weak” presence and lack of power to command a full, rich sound. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.cutcommonmag.com/7-female-conductors-you-should-know-about/">Posters, promo material and even headshots</a> depict female conductors in contorted poses. We see their hair flying as if blown by the sounds they create, and bodies struggling to contain the power they exude. Depictions of Lydia Tár are no different, as we see in <em>Tár</em>’s <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt14444726/">promotional material</a>.</p>
<p>“<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/22/arts/music/female-conductors-search-for-equality-at-highest-level.html?">When men make forceful gestures, they come off as being masculine and virile</a>,” Alsop told the <em>New York Times</em>. But, she noted, when women do that, they’re interpreted as being pushy.</p>
<h2>A missed opportunity to depict nuance</h2>
<p>The filmmaker’s presentation of Lydia Tár, a white lesbian, is as a white masculine-style authority. It makes her out to be a mere copy of her straight male colleagues. But the reality for the few queer conductors working in the field is thankfully much more interesting.</p>
<p>For example, cellist and composer <a href="https://www.crisderksen.com/">Cris Derksen</a> explores the reality of working with orchestras as an Indigenous and queer Canadian in their 2015 work, <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/classical-powwow-music-cris-derksen-1.4518747"><em>Orchestral Powwow</em> (Tribal Spirit Music)</a>. By dispensing with a conductor and elevating a drum circle and cello soloist to lead performance of this work, Derksen asks musicians and orchestras to let go of conventional notions of authority. Derksen’s music re-centres that authority toward a queer and Indigenous perspective. </p>
<h2>Coda: the epilogue</h2>
<p><em>Editor’s Note: This section contains spoilers which reveal plot details of the movie, 'Tár’</em> </p>
<p>The final segment of <em>Tár</em> works like a coda — an additional musical section that comes after the musical resolution, like an epilogue — to this cautionary tale. The story began with Tár telling a hushed, respectful audience that music consists of time, controlled by the conductor. Its conclusion sees her alone in her dreary childhood home, watching her mentor <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XTath-grbvo">Leonard Bernstein explain that music is about movement, change and growth.</a> </p>
<p>This is the lesson that Tár has failed to learn. </p>
<p>The coda ends with Tár banished from the elite western orchestra circuit. Instead, she is working in an unnamed country in the Global South. Here, she is depicted as the bearer of the European classical musical tradition. Her players and audience are depicted as obedient, but indifferent. </p>
<p>As the scene closes, it is revealed that she is actually conducting video game music; this is a dreadful fate for an elite musician. This scene ruefully acknowledges that <a href="https://willxcheng.com/sound-play">video games</a> are nowadays where western orchestral music resides, for audiences and working musicians alike.</p>
<p>Tár’s whiteness, within a neocolonial context, allows her to cling to the authority she has been stripped of elsewhere. It is not clear, though, that she is capable of truly grappling with the <a href="https://www.anothergaze.com/lesbian-allure-colonial-unconscious-todd-fields-tar/">“patriarchal-colonial power” she exerts, “its violence laid bare,” as literary scholar Luna Beller-Tadiar put it,</a> or whether her arrogance will blind her even to this final lesson. </p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">A trailer for the movie, ‘Tar.’ (Focus Features)</span></figcaption>
</figure><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/198500/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jacqueline Warwick is affiliated with Prismatic Arts Festival, as chair of their board.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jacob Caines is affiliated with Choirs for Change and ClassicalQueer.com, as chair of both boards. </span></em></p>‘Tár’ shines a spotlight on the challenges of working in the ultraconservative world of classical music, including complex social issues such as misogyny, racism and homophobia.Jacqueline Warwick, Professor of Musicology, Dalhousie UniversityJacob Caines, Instructor of Music, Dalhousie UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1994372023-02-07T20:48:03Z2023-02-07T20:48:03ZSam Smith: how queerphobia and fatphobia intersect in the backlash to the I’m Not Here to Make Friends video<p><a href="https://www.gaytimes.co.uk/music/sam-smith-breaks-silence-on-their-non-binary-journey-ive-always-felt-gender-non-conforming/">Non-binary singer</a> Sam Smith has caused waves with the release of their music video for <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hYjHhqLSiN4">I’m Not Here to Make Friends</a>, a triumphantly queer declaration of joy and confidence.</p>
<p>The song opens with clips of Judy Garland’s Over the Rainbow and drag queen <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/RuPaul">RuPaul</a> calling for self love, imposed over a decadent scene of Sam Smith flying into a manor party via gold helicopter. Smith emerges clad in pink ruffles – a picture of queer joy.</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">The music video for Sam Smith’s I’m Not Here to Make Friends.</span></figcaption>
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<p>Among the video’s many costume changes, Smith is shown in high-heeled boots, nipple pasties, corsets and – most wonderfully – a showgirl headdress and skintight black dress. The lyrics declare, “I’m not here to make friends, I need a lover”, a motto Smith developed after being <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0fG-MDcEMNI">“friendzoned” on dates</a>.</p>
<p>The video rejects heterosexual, traditional gender roles in favour of queer representation. It features gender-defying outfits and writhing men in revealing underwear, reminiscent of Lady Gaga’s <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=niqrrmev4mA">Alejandro</a> or the hypersexualised images of gay art icon, <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/23268743.2019.1580449">Tom of Finland</a>.</p>
<p>Smith’s video also includes “voguing”, the dance style of the <a href="https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-features/striking-a-pose-a-brief-history-of-ball-culture-629280/">gay ballroom scene</a> (made mainstream by Madonna’s <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GuJQSAiODqI">music video for Vogue</a>), many sequins and – at one point – references to erotic urination as champagne bottles pop onto Smith’s waiting face.</p>
<p>Throughout the video, many people’s genders are unclear. The manor rooms are filled with drag queens and people who look feminine, masculine and androgynous. Smith takes centre frame, being lifted, sought after and gazed at adoringly as they proclaim, “30 almost got me, and I’m so over love songs.”</p>
<p>Smith, frankly, is out to fuck for fun. And this is no different from <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ohD6cyB8RI4">many other</a> mass market pop songs with explicit sexuality woven throughout their lyrics.</p>
<h2>The backlash to Smith’s queer joy</h2>
<p>I’m Not Here to Make Friends is an upbeat song that makes listeners want to dance, an explicit celebration of queer sexuality. This is a departure from Smith’s oeuvre, formed of songs about <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nCkpzqqog4k">break-ups</a>, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PmYypVozQb4">infidelity</a>, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pB-5XG-DbAA">loneliness</a>, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J_ub7Etch2U">pain</a> and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H1hDzq98WIY">self-loathing</a>. It highlights the elements of queer life worth living.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1621247192735301632"}"></div></p>
<p>While it may be worth analysing Smith’s joy as connected to their position as a wealthy, white, LGBTQ+ celebrity (as well as their decadence amid a cost of living crisis), the criticism that has emerged most aggressively in response to the video is explicit in its trans, fat and femme phobia.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.distractify.com/p/sam-smith-music-video-controversy">Newspaper columnists, social media influencers and other conservative pundits</a> have responded to Smith’s video with claims that their non-binary identity is attention grabbing, that their fatness should be covered up, that their video is a bad example to children and that they are “morally debased”, “perverted” and “disgusting”. </p>
<p>As an expert in sexuality and gender, I’m finding much to consider in the reactions to Smith’s work. Having previously presented as a gay man, Smith had already been subject to homophobia. However, they are now one of the only publicly non-binary celebrities, leading to accusations that they are manipulating their identity for further fame.</p>
<p>This is a continuation of the <a href="https://firstmonday.org/ojs/index.php/fm/article/view/10601">transphobic discrimination</a> non-binary people often experience, which attempts to portray any deviation from the gender binary as foolish and misguided.</p>
<p>For non-binary people, whose mental health is often worse than their <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15532739.2019.1630346">cis counterparts</a> (that is, individuals whose gender aligns with their sex at birth), wellbeing might be <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15532739.2018.1505576">improved</a> by representation. The negative reactions to Smith’s work could contravene the positive impact of their public display of queer joy.</p>
<h2>The impact of fat and femmephobia</h2>
<p><a href="https://bristoluniversitypressdigital.com/display/book/9781447367420/ch004.xml">Fatphobia</a> (the social disgust and structural discrimination that fat people experience) further colours reactions to Smith’s work. </p>
<p>Smith does not have a figure conventionally associated with pop stardom. While it would be far from true to call them “fat”, they have experienced significant fatphobia in the calls for them to cover up and show modesty.</p>
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<p>The body positivity social movement has <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1740144519303894">made some progress</a> in diversifying the range of body types we see, such as in social media posts tagged with #bodypositivity which show varied representations of body types. <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13548506.2020.1734219">Evidence suggests</a> that media exposure to different body types alone can encourage kindness towards diverse body types. However, the uptake of positive depictions of fatness has been <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/hpja.21">slower in print</a> and <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/21604851.2019.1547572">patchier in television media.</a></p>
<p><a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10508-020-01641-x">Femmephobia</a> (anti-femininity experienced through social and structural discrimination) underscores the types of trans and fatphobia Smith is receiving.</p>
<p>Smith has gradually been shifting over their career from wearing <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xeugznpGKPA">masculine suits </a> to sexy black dresses and corsets. Femme and fatphobia underpins reactions to their body, their gender expression and – ultimately – the willingness to take Smith seriously as an artist.</p>
<p>The public rejections of queer, femme or fat joy found in the backlash to Sam Smith’s video don’t just impact the singer. They have consequences for anyone who sees a glimmer of themselves in Smith’s art. For non-binary, trans, femme or fat people, the conservative repudiations of Smith have the potential to cause harm and pain.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/199437/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Rosie Nelson does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>In their new video, Sam Smith celebrates their sexuality unapologetically like many other mass market pop stars. So why the backlash? An expert explains.Rosie Nelson, Lecturer in Gender, University of BristolLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.