Young sexual minority women's definition of community: Toward addressing health disparities in the LGBTQQ community

Abstract

In accord with Healthy People 2020 goals, the elimination of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and questioning (LGBTQQ) health disparities will require community-level strategies to address stigma, discrimination, and prejudice linked to poor health. We explored how young sexual minority women (YSMW) define LGBTQQ community, community connection, community engagement, and community tensions because these concepts have implications for development and evaluation of health disparities interventions. A total of 30 YSMW (aged 18-24 years) from Michigan participated in semistructured, in-depth interviews. Participants varied by sexual identity, residency, and race/ethnicity. We analyzed transcribed interviews using thematic analysis and compared emergent themes across sexual identity, residency, and race/ethnicity. Women described community connection in terms of organizational involvement, participation in LGBTQQ spaces, and collective social identity. Participants noted how community connections were linked to stigma towards the LGBTQQ community. YSMW highlighted how divisive tensions exist within subgroups constituting the LGBTQQ community, hindering opportunities for social advocacy, unified policy priorities, and community-level interventions. The heterogeneity of YSMW's experiences identifying with the LGBTQQ community and engaging within LGBTQQ spaces suggest that researchers should attend to the role of community dynamics when developing health disparities interventions and policies. Efforts to reconcile tensions within the LGBTQQ community may strengthen and advance policymakers' ability to address sexuality-related disparities.

An Exploration of LGBTQ+ Community Members’ Positive Perceptions of LGBTQ+ Culture

“…. it shows how there is a movement within the larger LGBTQ community to pivot towards being more racially accepting.” LGBTQ+ culture is presented as a safe space, inclusive of marginalized sexual and gender diverse individuals with different intersecting identities (i.e., age, race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation; Goltz, 2014; Sexton et al, 2018).…”

“…Further, a participant described how she initially understood her sexual and gender identity from an individual perspective and eventually changed her perspective to think about her identity with the broader LGBTQ+ group or collective. With this, participants’ understanding of LGBTQ+ culture aligned with aspects of collectivism that emphasize a relational and categorical element of identity based on shared experiences and values (Sexton et al, 2018).…”

“…Connectedness to a broader group identity of LGBTQ+ that holds shared qualities, experiences, and values is important in understanding identity and its association with psychological well-being (Frost & Meyer, 2012; Sexton et al, 2018). We observed that the concept of an LGBTQ+ culture appears to be important for marginalized sexual and gender diverse individuals in this study and could have important links to resilience.…”

“…First, participants defined and conceptualized LGBTQ+ culture through physically connecting and engaging with the LGBTQ+ community. Connecting and engaging with a community of shared characteristics, experiences, and values is important for many marginalized sexual and gender diverse individuals (Sexton et al, 2018). Although participants did discuss their interactions with communities of LGBTQ+ people, participants described a connection and sense of belonging that was not bound by a physical location or direct contact with other members.…”

An intersectional approach to understanding LGBTQ+ people of color’s access to LGBTQ+ community resilience.

“…Studies on the protective effects of connecting and belonging with the broader LGBTQ+ community have gained traction over the last decade (Parmenter et al, 2020a; Sarno & Mohr, 2016; Sexton et al, 2018). Evidence suggests that those affiliated and connecting with the broader LGBTQ+ community have access to resilience resources that may mitigate adverse effects of sexual and gender identity-based discrimination (Frost & Meyer, 2012; Puckett et al, 2015).…”