SOGIE (sexual orientation, gender identity and expression) diverse groups are people with similarities in experiences of shared stigma and discrimination with a higher frequency of adverse health outcomes compared to heterosexuals and/or cisgender people. These findings are similar to studies around the world, highlighting a need for a health equity approach relevant to SOGIE diverse people in conceptualizing, programming, and delivery of health services. Ontario has 34 public health units offering health promotion and disease prevention programming related to healthy “lifestyles”, communicable disease control including education in STIs/AIDS, immunization, healthy growth and development, and selected screening services, among others. Guideline documents from the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care specify that information related to sexual orientation and gender identity should be collected in a timely manner and that programming should consider these unique identities. The Chief Public Health Officer of Canada’s 2021 Report on the State of Public Health in Canada emphasizes the need for upstream action and mobilizing community involvement; the need for qualitative and mixed-methods research approaches; the need for disaggregated and equity-oriented data (including by sexual orientation and gender identity). This project will: 1) explore public health policies, documents, standards, and data related to SOGIE diversity; 2) collect perspectives from SOGIE diverse communities about experiences with public health services; 3) identify experiences of public health representatives about connecting with and including SOGIE communities in their work; and 4) make recommendations about public health practice inclusion of SOGIE diverse communities in Ontario. Findings will be shared with several groups (e.g., SOGIE communities, public health researchers and practitioners) to highlight how Ontario’s public health system addresses SOGIE diverse health needs.

This project is directly related to foundational public health practices as they relate to those who identify as SOGIE (sexual orientation, gender identity and expression) minority populations. This can include a multitude of identities, including, but not limited to: homosexual, bisexual, heterosexual, transsexual, transgender, lesbian, gay, asexual, men who have sex with men, queer, sexual, sexuality, sexual orientation, sexual identity, gender identity, cisgender. Throughout the project, including in our assessments of website/report content, during data collection, and in creation of knowledge products, we will carefully consider and reflect on the complexities of sex (e.g., sex assigned at birth) and gender (e.g., assessing current gender identity and expression) and the relationships these many categories may have with health, access and use of public health services, and lived experiences, among these heterogeneous communities. We acknowledge that SOGIE diverse communities in Ontario are complex, and we will be working as a team to ensure all participants feel included and are able to participate and are included in all aspects of our project. Consideration of sex and gender will be taken into account when exploring our findings and assessing content from websites and reports. We acknowledge that societal forces such as sexism, heterosexism, cissexism, racism, and associated outcomes are often experienced due to perceived sexual orientation and/or gender identities and expressions, and can affect subsets of SOGIE diverse communities differently. While some factors can affect the broader collective health of SOGIE diverse communities, the acknowledgement, assessment, and integration of both biological and social causes and how these may interact and differ among SOGIE people will be considered throughout the project.

Month: Sep   Year: 2022

Month: Aug   Year: 2025

Conducting interviews with members of the LGBTQ+ communities who came out during the HIV/AIDS crisis.

Qualitative interviews.

Month: Apr   Year: 2022

Month: Mar   Year: 2005

The goal of this two-day symposium on May 14 and 15, 2022 at Wilfrid Laurier University is to develop QLT and provide practical tools and skills for advocacy and activism. The event will be focused on building a network of Queer Liberationists by connecting community members, experts, and researchers. This event will advance the following objectives:

1) distill key learning from past and current social movements and contextualize these takeaways within the history of the Queer Liberation movement;
2) assess the requirements for addressing immediate wellness and service needs identified in the PEG study;
3) advance QLT as a framework for the reinvigorated movement; and
4) mobilize the knowledge generated by this event through an applied resource and a network of scholars and community stakeholders.

The symposium features guest speakers with this liberationist perspective, which can benefit all oppressed groups, including representatives of our own community. Participants will learn from practical examples of a former MPP and Gay Liberation activist on how to get our message listened to by policymakers and politicians. Speakers include representatives of contemporary social movements compatible with QLT, thereby integrating and privileging less-heard voices. These include Indigenous community leaders as well as Black Lives Matter (BLM), movements that target not only racism but, by extension, also target systemic class inequities (Black Lives Matter, 2021a). Like our Gay Liberation predecessors, BLM also reconciles a materialist understanding of class premised on identity. Both consider broader political and economic structures that result in oppression while working towards positive social change. Indigenous leaders will share their insights gained from the multivalent assaults of settler colonialism on Indigenous life-ways, lands, and bodies.

Month: Apr   Year: 2022

Month: Mar   Year: 2024

Poverty among two-spirit, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (2SLGBTQ+) people is under-studied and urgently requires attention given that these populations are disproportionately affected by the pandemic. Our cross-disciplinary team inclusive of community partners will be the first to assess the impact of low income on the health, wellbeing, and socio-economic inclusion of 2SLGBTQ+ people using focus groups, interviews, and a nationally representative survey. This study will rectify 2SLGBTQ+ invisibility in mainstream anti-poverty work and develop a cross-sectoral community-based action plan to reduce 2SLGBTQ+ poverty in Canada.

Goal:
To create evidence-based knowledge on how and why poverty affects 2SLGBTQ+ communities in Canada to inform policy and community-based action to address existing inequities.

Objectives:
1. Documenting the lived experiences of poverty among 2SLGBTQ+ communities and creating a unique nationally representative dataset allowing for an intersectional examination of 2SLGBTQ+ poverty rates, poverty risk, and associated causes and consequences.
2. Meaningful collaboration between community and scholarly partners by including 2SLGBTQ+ people with lived experience of poverty across the research process, for continuous knowledge transfer.
3. Mobilizing knowledge on poverty through a 2SLGBTQ+ lens to inform innovative responses in research, policy, funding, and programming within academia, government, and the community.
4. Developing an informed Action Plan, usable by governmental agencies, NPOs, and private organizations, to address 2SLGBTQ+ poverty in Canada.

2SLGBTQ+ Poverty in Canada: Improving Livelihood and Social Wellbeing is a partnership that will create much needed knowledge about the nature, extent, determinants, and consequences of poverty in 2SLGBTQ+ communities. Through canvassing of lived experiences, collecting national-level survey data, and leveraging multiple analytical tools, we will close gaps in knowledge, policy, funding, and service provision. We will also identify the predictors of poverty risk, allowing for preventive interventions by policymakers and non-profits. This project responds to our partner organizations’ concerns about the under-recognition of 2SLGBTQ+ poverty in Canada. Three main factors have contributed to this under-recognition. First is the erroneous assumption that 2SLGBTQ+ households are generally affluent (Badgett 2003; Wilkinson 2019). Second, a large portion of 2SLGBTQ+ people, especially the most vulnerable, conceal their identity (Camacho et al. 2020; Dilmaghani 2021), causing their invisibility. Third, given the relatively small size of the 2SLGBTQ+ population, extant nationally representative data have either no or a small 2SLGBTQ+ sample, which inadequately reveals the prevalence of poverty (Ferlatte et al. 2017; Dilmaghani 2021). In fact, impoverished 2SLGBTQ+ people are doubly marginalized, disadvantaged in 2SLGBTQ+ spaces by poverty and overlooked among the poor due to their 2SLGBTQ+ identities. These oppressions diminish awareness of their needs and reduce their access to support. Canada urgently needs dedicated scholarship and effective policies to combat poverty in these communities. Our partnership is the first interdisciplinary study of 2SLGBTQ+ poverty in Canada, aimed at filling scholarship gaps, empirically grounding partner organizations’ advocacy efforts, and contributing to effective policy interventions, to protect a growing yet vulnerable population.

Month: Apr   Year: 2022

Month: Mar   Year: 2029

This research project is premised on both the Insight and Connection Programs of SSHRC funding as this study seeks to explore, develop understanding and mobilize knowledge regarding the lived experiences of poverty among 2SLGBTQ+ people in Canada. This research will, for the first time in Canada, comprehensively examine the 2SLGBTQ+ populations in relation to the serious issue of poverty, undertaken by a multi-disciplinary team of academics that will include training and mentorship, and with the integral involvement of anti-poverty and 2SLGBTQ+ non-profit organizations. The knowledge acquired from this research will be mobilized to positively impact 2SLGBTQ+ people affected by poverty and influence research, policy, funding and programming.

Overall Goal
To address knowledge gaps related to poverty within 2SLGBTQ+ communities in Canada.

Objectives
1. To research the lived experiences, precipitants and effects of poverty for 2SLGBTQ+ communities using a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods.
2. To draw from the data the economic, social and health dimensions of poverty and develop an action plan to address them.
3. To mobilize knowledge on poverty through a 2SLGBTQ+ lens to inform innovative responses in research, policy, funding and programming within academia, government and the community.

Month: Feb   Year: 2021

Month: Mar   Year: 2022

This multi-modal research study examines men who engage in sex with other men (MSM) in Toronto and the use of methamphetamines in direct relation to sexplay, a practice known in North America as “PNP” (party and play). The project title acknowledges, on the one hand, the kinds of durational sex practices which often accompany meth use and, on the other, the vinyl long play record (or “LP”) which carries importance as a tool that accompanies sexual play.

PNPLP is materializing through three interventions that are intended to break the silence surrounding social-sexual meth use: written, video, and audio. Employed is sensory ethnographic research that explores the world of social-sexual pleasure seeking and experience that include meth use. Deployed is exploratory arts-based research regarding such spaces, inclusive of sound as part of data and outputs in relation to video, also known as A/r/tography, a qualitative method. This research is putting the following three methods to work:

i) Content (queer sexuality studies space theories), field research (participant observation, participant comprehension).
ii) Employing language, images, materials, situations, space and time via art, research, and education.
iii) Semi-structured qualitative interviews.

Month: Dec   Year: 2020

Month: Jul   Year: 2022

Two-spirit, lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, and queer (2SLGBTQ+) people experience both health
disparities and economic inequities relative to their heterosexual and cisgender (non-trans) peers.
Although poverty is widely understood to be a critically important determinant of health, few studies
have investigated the relationships between poverty and health in 2SLGBTQ+ populations, or the
possible social and structural relationships that sustain these inequities. Our project will address this
research gap, and in doing so will build an emerging multidisciplinary network, the Canadian Coalition
Against 2SLGBTQ+ Poverty (CCA2P). The research team is led by representatives from 2SLGBTQ+
community organizations and academic researchers from Canadian universities, and includes
community advocates and research trainees. Project activities will aim to a) support coalition-building
between academics, organizations and community members working on issues of 2SLGBTQ+ rights
and poverty, working to build a national multisectoral partnership; b) collaborate on communitydriven
research that examines 2SLGBTQ+ peoples’ experiences accessing social assistance in Ontario,
a community-identified research priority; c) meaningfully engage 2SLGBTQ+ people who identify as
having lived experience of poverty throughout research and coalition-building activities; and d)
collaborate on a funding proposal, informed by our preliminary data, to support national research and
partnership-building on this topic. By enabling a more fulsome understanding of 2SLGBTQ+ poverty
from diverse stakeholders, these partnership activities ultimately aim to address the economic and
associated health inequities currently experienced by 2SLGBTQ+ people in Canada.

Two-spirit, lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, and queer (2SLGBTQ+) populations in Canada experience
significantly worse health outcomes, relative to heterosexual and cis (non-trans) populations (Bauer &
Scheim, 2015; Brennan et al., 2010; Steele et al., 2009). Increasingly, scholars are recognizing that
poverty (broadly defined using indicators such as the low income cut-off) is a cause of poor health in
marginalized populations (Berkman et al., 2014), and scholars of 2SLGBTQ+ health note that
socioeconomic factors contribute to poor health outcomes for sexual and gender minority people as
well (Bostwick et al., 2014; Ross et al., 2016; Robinson 2017; Robinson et al., 2016). Despite
agreement that the relationship between poverty and poor health in 2SLGBTQ+ populations is worth
examining, few studies empirically substantiate this link, or reveal how it operates (Thomeer, 2015).

Experiences with social assistance (SA) have been identified as a possible link between poverty and
health in marginalized populations (Lightman et al., 2009; Smith-Carrier, 2017). In an Ontario study,
SA recipients were more likely than non-SA recipients in all income categories to report high stress,
along with 37 out of 39 poor health outcomes (Lightman et al., 2009). The authors suggest that
adverse physical and mental health among SA recipients is due to the stress this population
experiences in SA systems, which often stigmatize recipients and are under-resourced (Lightman et
al., 2009). SA recipients marginalized on the basis of their sexual orientation, gender, race, disability,
and other differences, may be more likely to experience stigma and discrimination and, by extension,
stress and poor health outcomes, as a result of their encounters with SA systems (Smith-Carrier,
2017).

In spite of associations between poverty and poor health in 2SLGBTQ+ populations (Bauer &
Scheim, 2015; Brennan et al., 2010; Steele et al., 2009), and the likely role of stressors associated with
accessing SA (Lightman et al., 2009; Smith-Carrier, 2017), no studies of 2SLGBTQ+ populations’
experiences with SA have been conducted. As a result of this research gap, the issues of 2SLGBTQ+
people in poverty, and the concerns of sexual and gender minority SA recipients in particular, are
often not considered in policy development and practice. Although not all 2SLGBTQ+ people living in
poverty will access SA, this subset of our community may be particularly vulnerable to adverse health
outcomes, given the stressors associated with poverty and accessing SA (Lightman et al., 2009).

To address this gap, the coalition will:

1. generate a preliminary evidence base by examining the experience of 2SLGBTQ+ people who access
SA across the life course in Ontario;
2. strengthen an emerging partnership among stakeholders currently addressing 2SLGBTQ+ poverty in
Ontario and across Canada, and build new connections within this area;
3. meaningfully engage 2SLGBTQ+ people who self-identify as having lived experience of poverty
throughout the research and coalition-building activities; and
4. collaborate on a funding proposal, informed by our preliminary data, to support future work
exploring the impact of poverty (defined broadly) on the health of 2SLGBTQ+ people in Ontario, and
in future stages of this work, Canada-wide.

These objectives respond to community needs articulated at a foundational agenda-setting
meeting of the Canadian Coalition Against 2SLGBTQ+ Poverty (CCA2P). CCA2P is a diverse and growing
group of community, academic, and service provider stakeholders committed to highlighting, reducing, and eliminating economic disparities associated with sexual orientation, gender identity,
and gender expression in Canada (Ross & Khanna for CCA2P, 2017). The proposed project would
represent CCA2P’s first research activities in support of this commitment.

Month: Apr   Year: 2020

Month: Mar   Year: 2022

The goal of this project is to build knowledge and understanding regarding the labour market experiences of sexual minorities experiencing economic insecurity. We are meeting this goal by asking “What are the stories of economic insecurity and work among sexual minorities?” TNG works to support those facing economic insecurity to find employment. Sexual minorities are overrepresented among those in poverty, face income inequities, and are discriminated against in the labour market, resulting in working conditions characterized by precarity. Previous research describes the economic disparities of sexual minorities and describes their experiences of discrimination in the workplace. However, to date, no research has been done on this topic, leading to a knowledge gap and a lack of best practices to support sexual minorities navigating the labour market. This project advances previous research by characterizing the labour market experiences of those employed by precarious working conditions. This project assists TNG to better understand the needs and experiences of the sexual minority populations they work with.

This project explores the labour market experiences of sexual minority men precariously employed in Toronto to better inform policy and social services that support employment outcomes. The project explores the pathways that lead to economic insecurity and precarious employment among sexual minority men and use men’s stories to propose and inform interventions, policies and programs that will create positive material change for this population. In Ontario, labour market disparities and workplace discrimination of marginalized groups continues despite legal protections around equitable hiring practices and workplace discrimination (e.g., The Employment Equity Act, Ontario Human Rights Act, OPS Inclusion and Diversity Blueprint, Fight for Labour Rights movements) (1,2). Employment and social services offered through The Neighbourhood Group (TNG) support a variety of populations experiencing vulnerability and marginalization. Sexual and gender minorities are overrepresented among those in positions requiring employment and social supports, though little research has characterized the employment supports needed and the life experiences that have resulted in sexual and gender minorities arriving at employment agencies. Due to the economic instability Ontario is currently facing, there is need now more than ever to support those who are unemployed, underemployed, or working in other precarious conditions.

Month: Dec   Year: 2020

Month: Nov   Year: 2021

This study looks at male-to-male sexual activity in the subaltern world of male sexual spaces. The importance of such spaces is examined regarding opportunities, safety, etiquette, status, safer sex practices, negotiation and navigation of sexual expression through sexual activity and time-limited communal engagement for sexual pleasure and affirmation, and how all of this contrast normative societal expectations.

Through hard copy and online content analysis and observations in the subaltern world of gay male sexual spaces such as bathhouses, circuit clubs, sex clubs and dark rooms, examined is a self-monitored subculture that creates its own tribal rituals at various odds with societal norms. By deviating from and resisting such norms, this tribe demonstrates how it maintains a core drive of their liberated sexuality outside of mainstreamed sexual governance.

Month: Apr   Year: 2018

Month: Mar   Year: 2022

Envisioning Global LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender) Human Rights is an international research project that fosters links between Canada and the Global South and will document and analyze i) criminalization of LGBT people, ii) flight from violence and persecution, iii) resistance to criminalization, and iv) the interaction between International Treaty Body Human Rights Mechanisms and LGBT rights initiatives.

Envisioning will examine locations where challenges to criminalization of sexual minorities are underway and research and document the complex processes underlying these cultures of resistance. While criminalization is at the core of our study, the oppression that LGBT people face includes broader forms of stigmatization, hatred and marginalization. Envisioning will research and document conditions affecting LGBT people, working with grassroots human rights, HIV/AIDS and LGBT groups that work to advance the rights of sexual minorities. Envisioning brings together an international, interdisciplinary alliance of community partners, filmmakers, academic and community-based researchers and students to undertake a project of applied research, participatory video and documentary, skills exchange, capacity enhancement and knowledge mobilization.

Month: Apr   Year: 2011

Month: Mar   Year: 2016

Envisioning Global LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender) Human Rights is an international research project that fosters links between Canada and the Global South and will document and analyze i) criminalization of LGBT people, ii) flight from violence and persecution, iii) resistance to criminalization, and iv) the interaction between International Treaty Body Human Rights Mechanisms and LGBT rights initiatives.

Envisioning will examine locations where challenges to criminalization of sexual minorities are underway and research and document the complex processes underlying these cultures of resistance. While criminalization is at the core of our study, the oppression that LGBT people face includes broader forms of stigmatization, hatred and marginalization. Envisioning will research and document conditions affecting LGBT people, working with grassroots human rights, HIV/AIDS and LGBT groups that work to advance the rights of sexual minorities. Envisioning brings together an international, interdisciplinary alliance of community partners, filmmakers, academic and community-based researchers and students to undertake a project of applied research, participatory video and documentary, skills exchange, capacity enhancement and knowledge mobilization.

Month: Apr   Year: 2010

Month: Mar   Year: 2011

A community-based research study with social justice group Queer Ontario involving academics, activists and artists, exploring the principles and tenets of the gay liberation movement of the late 1960s/70s and their utility today. With further funding this project has been internationalized looking at the historical gay liberation movements of Australia, Canada, Germany, the United Kingdom and the United States as well as queer mobilizations in non-Western regions of the world.

The study seeks to theorize a progressive, sex positive, radical approach drawing from gay liberation and using its ethos to bridge the complexity of today's LGBT movement towards the development of queer liberation theory. This will include content analysis of historical gay liberation movements in Australia, Canada, Germany, the United Kingdom and the United States and data gathering via questionnaires and interviews internationally.

Month: Oct   Year: 2010

Month: Mar   Year: 2022

This study reviewed public health policy and recognition of LGBTs at the federal and provincial (Ontario) levels of government.

This study was conducted using content analysis of existing federal Canadian and provincial Ontario health and social service policies and semi-structured interviews with policy makers at both levels of government to examine illness prevention strategies for LGBTs in Ontario and generally in Canada.

Month: Apr   Year: 2010

Month: Mar   Year: 2011

Ontario Rainbow Health Resource Centre: A Proposal for Educational and Capacity Building Services to Improve the Health and Wellness of Sexual and Gender Minority Communities in Ontario.

Month: Nov   Year: 2008

Month: Nov   Year: 2011

A study of the degree of recognition and legitimization of LGBT populations in UN policy.

This study investigates the reasons for the unevenness of gender and sexually diverse populations gaining recognition and legitimization within the formal structures and agencies of the United Nations (UN).

A study of how advocacy activities by charities and nonprofit organizations are regulated by the Canadian federal government.

Month: Apr   Year: 2006

Month: Mar   Year: 2010

A series of research studies and development projects to address the health and wellbeing of LGBTs across Canada.

Collaborator as Chair of Clearing House/Newsletter/Networking (CNN) in developing a cluster of researchers across Canada who undertake research with gender and sexually diverse populations continuing the SSHRC project below. Consisting of four projects, this large study will conduct an extensive qualitative study of content-valid experiences of discrimination with multiple racial/ethnic minority groups who also self-identify as gay, lesbian or bisexual (affiliate researcher); conduct secondary analysis of the team’s available cumulative database in order to examine intersections between sexual orientation and sex/gender; examine the prevalence of health indicators, risk factors, and social milieu variables of Canadian sexual minorities using secondary analysis of the Canadian Community Health Survey (CCHS) database .

Month: Apr   Year: 2006

Month: Mar   Year: 2011

A research project to create research clusters across Canada that would address the health and wellbing of LGBTQ populations.

Month: Apr   Year: 2005

Month: Mar   Year: 2006

A project to create community-based health and wellness programs for LGBTQ populations in Ontario.

Month: Apr   Year: 2004

Month: Mar   Year: 2006