Covid-19 and the LGBTQ community

March 18, 2020 10:55 AM

There is increasing evidence that the larger LGBTQ community, like a lot of marginalized communities is at higher risk of developing complications from Covid-19. Both from the virus itself, and the usual bigotry on display at the doctor's office. More then that, the closing of college campuses, while vitally important to stop the spread of the virus, is forcing some LGBTQ students to go back home to unsupporting or violent parents. This is extra imperling for the many LGBTQ students who are homeless, and depend on campus services.

Some ideas on how to help.

posted by Homo neanderthalensis (8 comments total)

In the meantime, while the country is in crisis an Arizona Lawmaker in the House of Reps admitted that he voted against the Coronavirus stimulus bill because it included language that supported domestic partnership. And in Idaho, while the local government dithers on a response to the pandemic, they found the time to pass a bill that would ban trans and intersex girls from competing in school athletics.
posted by Homo neanderthalensis at 10:58 AM on March 18, 2020 [11 favorites]

Just from people I know personally, can count at least a dozen displaced LGBTQ students who are going "home" from college to unsupportive, oppressive, and/or abusive parents. They rely on being at college to be human and live their lives, and now that's gone.

I only wish I could help them out somehow, but my university is pushing hard to get students out of their dorms.
posted by zekesonxx at 2:11 PM on March 18, 2020 [7 favorites]

One aspect of this situation that has me upset is how lackadaisical the dating apps are being. I got a single Scruff alert saying that Covid-19 is spread by coughing and contaminated surfaces, but it didn't say that hooking up achieves the same end. And, man alive, if people aren't still Scruffing like there's no tomorrow. I asked Scruff's help team about this, and what planning they've done to improve their outreach, but I haven't heard back. I changed my profile to say that I hope we're all staying home and that I'm an epidemiologist if people have questions. So far, though, I've gotten a couple of friendly responses about that but mostly the kind of comments ("you're being sex-negative") that honestly blow my mind. It's a strange situation we're in.
posted by late afternoon dreaming hotel at 2:20 PM on March 18, 2020 [12 favorites]

"you're being sex-negative"

It seems to me that that's the correct position to have in the context of a global pandemic. Don't get all up in someone else's bodily fluids, especially with strangers.
posted by axiom at 2:30 PM on March 18, 2020 [15 favorites]

One aspect of this situation that has me upset is how lackadaisical the dating apps are being.

Huh, the new app Lex (which targets a different part of the LGBTQ world than Scruff--it's arguably a descendent of the personals section in lesbian newsletters from decades ago) is amusingly and heartwarmingly almost entirely full of ads referencing quarantine/isolation and pivoting to flirting via text/offering mutual aid/etc. I even flagged an ad inviting people to a small social gathering and it got deleted. Interesting to look at the contrast.
posted by needs more cowbell at 2:46 PM on March 18, 2020 [16 favorites]

Huh, that's fascinating. I... would not have predicted that the apps for gay/bi/queer men would be quite that blase.

I made the decision to drag my (mostly female + nb) ace meetup to online-only this past weekend, and I was actually startled at how difficult it was to persuade people that yes, we need to socially isolate, which means you stay home. No, we do not move meetups to people's houses. You stay in your own house. Yes, even if you feel fine. So far, all of the offline social stuff has remained cancelled, and about forty percent of us have been shoving everyone else into physical isolation and replacing the community stuff with our Discord server and activities. People are listening now, at least.

The upside is that the meetup Discord is becoming a pretty solid mutual aid network, and those people currently fretting with time on their hands have a network to direct them into doing something useful with it, even if that useful thing is "play D&D with each other to stay sane" or "trade tips about home construction projects." There's not a lot of money among my crowd, but I should see if we can eventually broaden this mutual aid network to other Austin queers in town.
posted by sciatrix at 3:00 PM on March 18, 2020 [13 favorites]

I’ve been disappointed in our local (Portland OR) queer community’s response. Lots of the groups I’m a part of are still planning meetups, there was one person on a Facebook group that invited a bunch of people to make potions or something similarly woo, I ended up blocking everyone who replied and tearing up in anger.

And when things are cancelled a lot of replies are negative about it. It’s really disheartening.

Relatedly, fat folks are having a really hard time right now. Healthcare is already difficult for us due to stigma, add in people like Joe Rogan (I’ve heard) blaming fat people for buying up all the food and hoping we lose weight as a result of hoarding — it’s hit my local lesbian/queer community hard, since we skew fatter than the straight population. I am grateful to see a lot of plans for online hangouts from folks like Dawn Serra. (She’s a fat, queer sex educator, if anyone is interested, she just sent out a mailing list with online resources and I can share if you don’t want to sign up for her list.) Be kind to those you would normally scapegoat for using healthcare resources, please. Remember that we are real people just like you.

Thanks for this post, HN. My heart hurts so much right now and I haven’t clicked your last link yet but I know when I do I will find ways to feel less hopeless. Usually I find a lot of hope in queer community and I’d like to get back to that.
posted by the thorn bushes have roses at 4:28 PM on March 18, 2020 [15 favorites]

As Hospitals Prepare for COVID-19, Life-Saving Trans Surgeries Are Delayed

A friend of mine had surgery ten days ago and I was thinking how lucky she was that it hadn't been scheduled even a week later.
posted by Strutter Cane - United Planets Stilt Patrol at 1:51 AM on March 20, 2020 [2 favorites]