A research synthesis by Alex Chartrand and Stefanie Duguay, Concordia University
Photo by Eddy Lee
Description: A person sitting in a bus wearing a face mask, using their cell phone.
As early findings about the social impacts of COVID-19 have become available, Alex Chartrand – a PhD student and research assistant in the DIGS Lab – has been working to understand the pandemic’s effects on LGBTQ+ spaces and communities. Below is the HTML version of a research synthesis that he and Stefanie put together to bring this information into wider discussions. We hope that individuals, community organizations, and other stakeholders find this useful when considering how we can foster continued networks of care and resilience. We also wish to enable greater recognition of how digital technologies can play a role in both threatening and supporting these aims. Some practical tips and tools follow the research synthesis, aiming to provide immediate actions for reflecting on technology use and fortifying social connections.
This information is available as an easy-to-share resource in the following PDF formats. Please feel free to download and share with your networks:
Research Synthesis
In mid-March 2020, the lockdown measures set in place to manage the scale of the COVID-19 pandemic in Québec brought the province to a halt. Several months later, still in the midst of these measures, it is more important than ever to think about how LGBTQ+ lives have been affected and to identify ways to alleviate these issues. This brief overview aims to show the role of LGBTQ+ spaces and the impacts of their current inaccessibility. It also offers ways to engage in social spaces using digital tools. The current material is informed by a review of the recent academic literature on the topic.
The role of queer spaces
Expression
Have you thought about how your expression may shift depending on the physical space you are in? Would you say you act the same at home as out with friends? What is the role of spaces in enabling certain aspects of your personality to be more visible? These questions point to the importance of dedicated spaces for LGBTQ+ people to express their gender and sexual identities, particularly for youth who are still living with family members. These spaces can include:
Classrooms and college campuses
LGBTQ+ leisure spaces such as bars and clubs
Pride events
Community gatherings
During the pandemic, difficulty accessing these spaces poses challenges that might not have been noticed before. It is also important to think about how some aspects of LGBTQ+ expression rely on proximity and social contacts provided by these spaces, which are now limited due to inaccessibility.
Socialization
LGBTQ+ spaces also fulfill an important role in socialization. They break isolation for people who might not otherwise have the means to engage in the LGBTQ+ communities. They allow you to meet with your chosen family, people you feel more comfortable expressing yourself with. They also put you in touch with LGBTQ+ initiatives and organizing. Finally, they are an important vector for the promotion of queer cultures.
Protection
LGBTQ+ spaces offer protection within contexts where many individuals do not fully feel comfortable or safe, such as in large urban areas, even when they are open to LGBTQ+ expression.[1] LGBTQ+ people can face forms of harassment, discrimination, and microaggressions. Consequently, LGBTQ+ spaces offer a safe environment for many. Also, LGBTQ+ businesses and organizations can provide income and financial security to people who might be otherwise marginalized in society.
Digitally mediated queer spaces
LGBTQ+ people have long used many forms of digital technology for finding partners, socializing, forming communities, and conducting activism. [2] From early chat rooms to today’s social media platforms and apps, these technologies help with meeting others with similar interests and aims. While connecting digitally often leads to meeting and gathering in person, some of these connections remain mostly digital. In a pandemic context, there has been a clear shift:
Meeting in person is no longer reliably feasible or safe, especially in groups;
Connecting digitally takes a central role in sexual, romantic, social, and activist activities.
LGBTQ+ communities’ responses
In the face of the restrictions imposed through COVID-19 prevention measures, LGBTQ+ communities actively sought ways to maintain queer sociabilities, mainly using digital platforms, by organizing events such as:
Virtual drag performances
Online dance parties
Crowdfunding for people and organizations in need of financial support
Support groups
Virtual Pride celebrations[3]
Scholars such as Ben Trott have noticed that LGBTQ+ communities’ online organizing was underpinned by an ethics of care.[4] An ethics of care, as defined by Joan C. Tronto, implies paying attention to others’ needs, taking responsibility towards these needs, giving care to those who need it and also being responsive to the attention that you receive in the process.[5] LGBTQ+ people use digital tools as a way to maintain crucial networks of care for people and proactively act for the wellbeing of their communities facing hardships related to the pandemic. The notion of ethics of care is also seen as alleviating anxiety and is hopefully a feature of LGBTQ+ online social life that will remain.[6]
Socializing online has played an important role in the resilience of queer communities. Scholars assert that message exchanges through apps have allowed for expressions of survival during the pandemic. These resilient social practices also highlight the importance of new kinds of kinship that are often found in LGBTQ+ communities, ones that are not tied to family structures.[7]
The use of online spaces also decreases the pressure of social distancing, particularly for individuals who live alone. Digital tools, for instance, offer new affordances to explore one’s sexuality while respecting social-distancing measures.[8]
Finally, LGBTQ+ communities’ socialization online seems to have brought a clear acknowledgement of the importance of physical queer leisure spaces, fueling the will to protect and revitalize these spaces when it becomes possible to once again meet in them.
Issues with our increasing use of digital media
Online spaces have been particularly helpful for sustaining queer infrastructures, but some complications arise with the use of digital platforms:
The pandemic’s effects are not evenly distributed and not everyone has the same access to technology to facilitate social and community connections. Our increasing interdependence on online tools might also reinforce existing forms of inequality.[9] These changes in our digital cultures could outlast the current pandemic and contribute to online exclusion and discrimination in the future.[10]
During the pandemic, there has been increasing awareness of the role platforms and their algorithms play in filtering and moderating user content. This can result in certain voices being amplified over others. For example, it can lead to the over-amplification of heterosexual, cisgender, male, white, and able-bodied people’s viewpoints over marginalized voices. Certain groups can also use social media to spread incorrect information or extreme beliefs, overshadowing scientific experts who may receive less engagement on platforms.[11]
Social media content can reinforce certain stereotypes. For instance, Melanie Kennedy has analyzed how the use of TikTok during the pandemic has reinforced feminine gender stereotypes, which erase people who do not fit these standards. For LGBTQ+ people who refuse these stereotypes, it can be increasingly difficult to use these platforms as a means of expression.[12]
While digital tools have long been used interdependently with interaction in physical spaces, they tend to function as a replacement for these spaces during the pandemic. However, digital spaces cannot fully reproduce key functions of queer physical spaces, which are fundamental to public visibility and queer solidarity in the face of enduring heteronormativity.[13]
Questions and futures
Emerging research about LGBTQ+ people, communities, and the pandemic raises the following questions:
How are we going to interact across queer spaces after the pandemic?
How will the dynamics in these spaces change and how can we adapt?
How can we preserve digital and physical queer spaces, and advocate for their importance after the pandemic?
This research reflects that people are taking notice of how COVID-19 affects queer spaces and lives. Through collaboration among researchers, community organizations and LGBTQ+ people, we can foster all kinds of spaces – digital and physical, when possible – for expression, socialization, and protection. We offer this research synthesis as well as the following information about digital tools and tips as a step in this direction.
Digital tools for social distancing
Emerging research reflects the impacts of COVID-19 on LGBTQ+ communities and spaces as well as the importance of digital technologies for maintaining connections between people. In light of this, we are providing the following tips on using digital tools to alleviate the pressure of social distancing. We aim to highlight how different tools offer various actions and constraints while being useful for reaching out to different audiences.
One-on-one connections
While Zoom has taken the spotlight, a range of videoconference and messaging apps can connect you to others in direct and personal ways. Here are some alternatives:
Jitsi: an accessible application that can be used from web browsers and that prioritizes security and privacy settings;
Signal: an end-to-end encryption app ideal for one-on-one chats via text or phone;
FaceTime/Google Hangouts/Microsoft Teams: these are similar options to Zoom that offer different features for diversifying your experience;
Apps like Grindr, Lex, Her, Scruff, and more: while often considered as dating and hook-up apps, these technologies can be used for a range of casual, romantic, or friendship connections. Several apps have also been hosting virtual community events.
Extra tip: Phone calls may feel more personal, remove the pressure of having to be on camera, and be more accessible for those with limited internet connectivity.
Groups
With larger groups, videoconferences can become harder to manage. It may be worth exploring new tools like Mozilla Hubs, where you can create private rooms to hang out with people.
If you are feeling nostalgic, there are also text-based options, such as Internet Relay Chat, an independent tool where you can create a group for asynchronous and synchronous discussions. Text-based communication tools are also more accessible for people who might not have the means to use videoconference technologies or do not feel comfortable having video conversations in their current environment.
Connections with a broader community
Social media can be a helpful way to connect with a community and maintain social ties. These include options besides well-known platforms like Facebook and Twitter, such as WT.Social, an ad-free social network that does not rely on algorithmic technologies, or setting up a Discord channel to find those with similar interests. Social media can be a quick and easy way to break isolation, but connecting deeply with others might be a challenge. We often accumulate overlapping social media audiences, such as family, friends, and colleagues. Consider how you can find or create queer spaces in light of this, e.g. joining specific groups, creating new accounts, and trying new platforms.
It is helpful to think about what your needs are and then look into what type of interactions would meet them. Based on this, you can decide which platform is worth using. It matters to diversify the social media you use because they all have limitations. In the context of the current pandemic, reflecting upon this can help you feel more in control and less like you’re scrolling on automatic.
Privacy
In the current situation, as our interdependency on digital tools increases, it matters to think about online privacy.
For example, it might be worth taking time to configure platform and software privacy settings, using a password manager, and taking notice if your communication or other data is being recorded or stored. These resources can help:
Transparent Lives – Protecting your Online Privacy
Extra tools
With increasing time spent online, it is necessary to be able to identify false information and to protect yourself. Here are a few resources to consider:
> Mozilla Foundation’s projects
> The Media Manipulation Casebook
Sources
[1] Trott, B. (2020). ‘‘Queer Berlin and the Covid-19 crisis: a politics of contact and ethics of care’’. Interface: A journal for and about social movements, 12(1), 88-108.
[2] Gray, M.L. (2009). Out in the Country: Youth, Media, and Queer Visibility in Rural America. New York University Press.
[3] Anderson, A.R., & Knee E. (2020). ‘‘Queer isolation or Queering Isolation? Reflecting upon the Ramifications of COVID-19 on the Future of Queer Leisure Spaces’’. Leisure Sciences.
[4] Trott, B. (2020). ‘‘Queer Berlin and the Covid-19 crisis: a politics of contact and ethics of care’’. Interface: A journal for and about social movements, 12(1), 88-108.
[5] Tronto, J.C. (1993). Moral Boundaries: A Political Argument for an Ethic of Care. Routledge.
[6] Taylor, L. (2020). ‘‘The price of certainty: How the politics of pandemic data demand an ethics of care’’. Big Data & Society, July-December (2020), 1-7.
[7] Browne, K., Banerjea N., & Bakshi L. (2020). ‘‘Survival and liveability in #COVIDtimes: Queer women’s transnational witnessing of COVID-19’’. Dialogue in Human Geography, 10(2), 128-131.
[8] Lehmiller, J.J., Garcia J.R., Gesselman A.N., & Mark K.P. (2020). ‘‘Less Sex, but More Sexual Diversity: Changes in Sexual Behavior during the COVID-19 Coronavirus Pandemic’’. Leisure Sciences.
[9] Beaunoyer, E., Dupéré S., & Guitton, M.J. (2020). ‘‘COVID-19 and digital inequalities: Reciprocal impacts and mitigation strategies’’. Computers in Human Behavior, 111, 1-9.
[10] Nguyen, M. H., Gruber J., Fuchs J., Marler W., Hunsaker A., & Hargittai, E. (2020). ‘‘Changes in Digital Communication During the COVID-19 Global Pandemic: Implications for Digital Inequality and Future Research’’. Social Media + Society, July-September (2020), 1-6.
[11] Marchal, N., & Au, H. (2020). ‘‘‘Coronavirus EXPLAINED’: YouTube, COVID-19, and the Socio-Technical Mediation of Expertise’’. Social Media + Society, July-September (2020), 1-4; Harsin, J. (2020). ‘‘Toxic White masculinity, post-truth politics and the COVID-19 infodemic’’. European Journal of Cultural Studies, 23(6), 1060-1068.
[12] Kennedy, M. (2020). ‘‘‘If the rise of the TikTok dance and e-girl aesthetic has taught us anything, it’s that teenage girls rule the internet right now’: TikTok celebrity, girls and the Coronavirus crisis’’. European Journal of Cultural Studies, 23(6), 1069-1076.
[13] Anderson, A.R., & Knee, E. (2020). ‘‘Queer isolation or Queering Isolation? Reflecting upon the Ramifications of COVID-19 on the Future of Queer Leisure Spaces’’. Leisure Sciences.
This synthesis draws on research supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council.