Queering COVID: the experience of LGBTQ+ individuals during the COVID-19 pandemic
OA Version
Citation
Abstract
In this thesis, I analyze self-identifying queer individuals’ narratives of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic to understand how this population experienced numerous aspects of COVID-19, such as lockdown measures. I pay particular attention to how my participants adapted to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, including isolation. This study answers three major research questions: 1) how did queer people experience and remember the COVID-19 pandemic? 2) how did COVID-19 narratives differ among queer individuals? and 3) what key factors contributed to these differences? As I will illustrate throughout the subsequent chapters, this research is important because the COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated health disparities among the LGBTQ+ population. I assert that these inequities worsened due to the hegemonic power of cisheteronormativity. This study contributes to existing scholarship because there are notable gaps in literature on this topic. A plethora of research focuses on cisgender and heterosexual individuals while queer people who disproportionately suffered are neglected. Also, little is known about what adaptation strategies were available to and used by the queer population during the pandemic. This information is crucial, because COVID-19 infections continue, while the state of emergency, which facilitated additional resources for many people, has ended.
Based on participant observation, interviews, and narrative analyses, I argue that because of the liminality of the COVID-19 pandemic, there were similarities in COVID-19 narratives, such as a sense of isolation and the use of virtual resources that dissolved geographic boundaries. However, key factors, including time identifying as queer and prior experience with large-scale health crises, particularly HIV/AIDS, affected the content of narratives. Regarding time identifying as queer, the narratives of two participants suggest that some individuals took advantage of the liminal time and space of the pandemic to question their sexual and/or gender identity. This discovery relates to numerous terms, including queerantine. Two of my younger participants alluded to this concept, even though they were not aware of the exact term. The idea of queerantine is also closely associated with existing theoretical terms, including Victor Turner’s anti-structure and Erving Goffman’s front stage/back stage. HIV/AIDS was a salient topic for the three individuals who identified as queer at the time of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, while it was not mentioned by younger LGBTQ+ interlocutors. The three participants who mentioned HIV/AIDS created parallels between the epidemic and the COVID-19 pandemic. These comparisons suggest that some individuals relied on their collective memory of HIV/AIDS to adapt to the difficulties of COVID-19 and prepare for future health crises. After presenting these arguments and patterns, I use the final chapter to summarize the thesis and offer recommendations to improve the health of queer individuals in quotidian and exceptional times.
Description
2024