Despite progressive moves towards lesbian and gay equality, societal stigmatisation and discrimination persists across Europe. Lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, queer, intersex (LGBTQI) people still experience significant inequalities in wellbeing, with these particularly pronounced for young LGBTQI+ people who are at higher risk of depression, anxiety and suicidality than heterosexual and cisgender youth. These risks have been compounded by numerous crises: for example, the pandemic, growing economic insecurity, and the rise of populist anti-LGBTQ+ / anti-gender political movements. Many young LGBTQI+ people across Europe are growing up in a period of profound turbulence which may prevent them achieving their full potential in adulthood. However,LGBTQI+ youth remain significantly neglected in wellbeing research, despite sustained evidence of their unaddressed needs.

This cross-national European consortium will generate unique, in-depth data on how inequalities in wellbeing are experienced, and how LGBTQI+ youth build networks of resilience and resistance in times of crisis. A key objective is to identify how policy makers can best tackle inequalities in LGBTQI+ wellbeing by learning from the innovative strategies and visions developed by young LGBTQI+ people themselves. It will be the first qualitative study to examine LGBTQI+ youth wellbeing across diverse national contexts: Estonia, Poland, Sweden, Switzerland and the UK. Its focus is on LGBTQI+ youth on the cusp of adulthood (aged 18-24), exploring the challenges they face as they develop their identities and plan for their futures in the face of political, environmental and economic uncertainty.

Creative participatory methods will produce in-depth data about what LGBTQI+ youth think, and feel, about their lives and imagined futures, thus moving away from standardised measures of wellbeing in favour of ‘bottom-up’ understandings. The project will let LGBTQI+ young adults define what wellbeing means to them, and will open-up space for them to construct collective visions for a future in which their wellbeing can be enhanced. This timely and original study of LGBTQI+ youth wellbeing will explore how young adults understand their lives and navigate their futures in an era of multiple forms of crisis and uncertainty. The overarching aim is to explore how LGBTQI+ youth wellbeing can be enhanced via a participatory exploration of LGBTQI+ young adults’ imaginings of ‘better futures’.

KEYWORDS:

creative methods, crisis, inequality, intersectionality, lgbti, youth futures, sexuality.