LGBTQ + people’s lived experience with LGBTQ + serving organizations during the pandemic: A qualitative study

Abstract

Despite LGBTQ + serving organizations being bastions of education, support, and advocacy for LGBTQ + communities, there is a dearth of work on LGBTQ + people’s experiences with them. Through qualitative interviews with U.S. LGBTQ + residents (N = 19), we explore what LGBTQ + people experienced from LGBTQ + serving organizations during the COVID-19 pandemic. Our findings highlight the challenges, barriers, and support that LGBTQ + people encountered, the meaning they received from LGBTQ + serving organizations, and the tensions between caring for self and others. We provide recommendations for how LGBTQ + serving organizations can better meet the needs of diverse LGBTQ + people.

Keywords:

• COVID-19
• LGBTQ+
• LGBTQ + organizations
• support groups
• zoom

Acknowledgements

The authors thank Emily Bramande, Whitney Demond, Amy Lambert, Ashley Olortegui, and Allyson Rivera for their assistance on this project, as well as the participants who took the time to speak with us and share their stories.

Ethical Approval

This study was performed in line with the principles of the Declaration of Helsinki and the Belmont Report. Approval was granted by the Ethics Committee of Salisbury University (6/2/20, IRB #29) and Gallaudet University (6/25/20, IRB #2838).

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

Anonymized data are available upon written request addressed to the first or second author.

Additional information

Funding

Funding for this project was provided by the Fulton School for Liberal Arts Dean’s Office.