In the 2022-2023 academic year, nearly one million international students from over 200 countries enrolled in U.S. higher education institutions, marking a 12% increase from the previous year (Martel & Baer, 2022). Despite representing 5.6% of the total U.S. higher education population, asylum-seeking students remained an overlooked demographic, underscoring the challenges faced by marginalized groups within academia (Buchholz, 2023). This research focused on the experience of a Black, Quare, Afro-Caribbean, asylum-seeking doctoral student, employing autoethnographic methods to examine the complex intersections of race, sexuality, and transnational identity. Grounded in Intersectionality Theory (Crenshaw, 1991), Critical Race Theory (Bell, 1995), Quare Theory (Johnson, 2001), Transnational Identity (Esteban-Guitart & Vila, 2015), and Nigrescence (Cross, 1991), the study contextualized the student’s experiences and identity development, highlighting a population often neglected in international higher education research. The study underscored resilience’s pivotal role in navigating academia’s intricate landscape, particularly regarding visa issues, limited work opportunities, and the intersectionality of identities, exemplified by being a Black, Quare, Afro-Caribbean, asylum seeker. Thematic analysis of data—including photos, journal entries, and artifacts revealed key themes of xii Intersectional Identity Struggles in Education, Community and Support Systems, and Internal and External Conflicts. Autoethnography, combined with an intersectional framework, provided a powerful, nuanced approach to exploring these complexities. This research contributed to the discourse on intersectionality in education by amplifying marginalized voices and advocating for systemic transformation. It called for higher education to embrace inclusivity, equity, and empathy, fostering an environment where all individuals could thrive, free from discrimination and marginalization.

According to the Human Rights Campaign (n.d.), the nation’s largest LGBTQIA+ civil rights organization, there are approximately two million people living within the U.S. who identify as transgender. Gender-affirming healthcare encompasses a variety of services, including hormone therapy, surgical interventions such as genital and top surgery, and mental health services. While surgery may or may not be part of an individual’s personal transition roadmap, research indicates that gender-affirming surgery can significantly improve quality of life (Stroumsa, 2014). However, a study by De Brouwer et al. (2021) found that 65% of transgender individuals reported the desire for increased post-operative care including guidance and education regarding “what are you allowed to do and what not” to do following surgery (p. 1925). The transition process can impact a person’s occupational identity, occupational competence, and overall occupational well-being (Bar et al., 2016). Although deficits in occupational performance and satisfaction have been reported within transgender and gender-diverse (TGD) populations (Swenson et al., 2022), occupational therapy services are not typically provided or included within the gender-affirming care model. Occupational therapy services have the potential to decrease deficits experienced by TGD individuals due to the holistic nature of the profession and its focus on client-centered care. you, AFFIRMED is an innovative program that will provide occupational therapy services pre- and post- gender-affirming top surgery through a six-week program delivered virtually for improved access to healthcare services. you, AFFIRMED aims to improve post-surgical outcomes and general well-being for TGD individuals undergoing gender-affirming top surgery through the provision of individualized occupational therapy services. Furthermore, the program intends to increase the representation of occupational therapy within multidisciplinary gender-affirming healthcare services. Finally, the program intends to further improve access to occupational therapy services through telehealth modalities due to deficits in accessing qualified healthcare professionals and challenges with financial coverage of services.

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<p>  </p> <p>LGBTQIA+ young adults face systemic and interpersonal marginalization and minoritization. These experiences occur not only in offline spaces but also in online contexts. However, online contexts also allow for LGBTQIA+ individuals to access social support that extends and bolsters the support they may receive offline. Previous studies tend to examine the relation between stress and support for LGBTQIA+ individuals using cross-sectional methods, despite the emphasis of previous theories such as minority stress theory on the occurrence of stressors on a daily, cumulative basis. The current study investigated how daily online marginalization stress experiences related to online experiences of social support for LGBTQIA+ young adults. Participants included 177 young adults, ages 18-29 and who identify as part of the LGBTQIA+ community. </p> <p><br></p> <p>Participants completed baseline measures of demographics, lifetime experiences of marginalization stress, social media use and attitudes, perception of online social support, self-esteem, and mental health symptoms. Next, participants were prompted twice daily for 21 days to complete a survey about online marginalization stress experiences, general and LGBTQIA+-specific online social support experiences, and positive and negative affect. Finally, participants completed a follow-up survey measuring internalized stigma, community connectedness, self-esteem, and mental health symptoms. </p> <p><br></p> <p>Results suggested that online marginalization stress was related to daily affect but not to follow-up well-being outcomes. Online marginalization stress was also related to online general social support, but not LGBTQIA+-specific online support. General social support online was related to higher positive affect and lower negative affect, and LGBTQIA+-specific online support was related to higher positive affect, but both types of online social support were generally unrelated to follow-up outcomes. Low marginalization stress and low general social support together were associated with higher internalized stigma and lower self-esteem at follow-up. Differences in these effects generally emerged for individuals with marginalized sexual orientations and less so for individuals with marginalized gender identities. The results of the study suggest that daily online marginalization stress experiences are likely related to online social support, and that online social support is beneficial for daily affect. However, online social support may not be particularly beneficial for ameliorating the effects of online marginalization stress on affect or well-being. </p>

With this project I want to know how the earlier sex education has affected queer peoples experiences with sex and start a discussion of the new sexual education curriculum and if the changes to the curriculum were too late or not. My goal is to get the new generation of queer people to not forget to keep fighting for the rights that we got and to show everyone outside of the queer community the exclusivity that we have faced for years within a topic not a lot of people are talking about. To do this I interviewed queer people to get their insights and experiences from their sex education and tell their stories of exclusivity through photographic zine.

Inqueeries of Space is an artistic research project that explores queering as a practice to create intersectionally inclusive and safer spaces. Queering is both the research object and method. The project examines how spaces can be queered, by means of focusing on public spaces in Kalmar. Experimental practices of queering conducted the research process, like queer city walks, visual alterations of space, or using space in non-normative ways. Queering is investigated as a change agent that dismantles, resists, and disturbs discriminative structures of heteropatriarchy within spaces. Queer aesthetics are being discussed as something non-universal that challenges norms within design, often including transgressiveness and maximalism. The project brings out the need for queer spaces and demonstrates how queering bears the duality of both disturbing norms and celebrating marginalized experiences. The complexity of queerness, inclusion, safety, and visibility is highlighted instead of promoting simplified solutions.

[pt] Esta dissertação analisará a (re)produção das formas de controles de corpos e sexualidades em diferentes espaços e tempos. Tal análise é possível através do entendimento, desenvolvido em trabalhos anteriores, de que o pensamento moldado pela Inquisição e a caça às bruxas na Idade Média foi reproduzido durante a construção do Brasil enquanto sociedade. No trabalho presente, será somada a tal entendimento a hipótese de que o pensamento medieval continua permeando o imaginário social da sociedade brasileira na atualidade. Para tal, serão analisadas práticas de esterilização involuntárias de mulheres negras no Brasil a partir da década de 1980; assim como, discursos e práticas violentas contra a comunidade LGBTQIA+ (Lésbicas, Gays, Bissexuais, Travestis/Transexuais/Transgêneros, Queers, Intersexuais, Agêneros/Assexuais/Arromânticos e outras possibilidades de orientação sexual e identificação de gênero) perpetrados por grupos contra a ideologia de gênero, representados aqui em grande parte por membros do governo Bolsonaro. Com base em correntes teóricas feministas, principalmente dos feminismos negro e decolonial, serão ressaltados os efeitos das posicionalidades de gênero, sexualidade e raça dos sujeitos alvos de violência. / [en] This dissertation will analyze the (re)production of forms of control of bodies and sexualities in different spaces and times. Such an analysis is possible through the understanding, developed in previous works, that the thought shaped by the Inquisition and the witch hunt in the Middle Ages was reproduced during the construction of Brazil as a society. In the present work, it will be added to this understanding the hypothesis that the medieval thought continues to permeate the social imaginary of Brazilian society today. To this end, involuntary sterilization practices of black women in Brazil from the 1980s will be analyzed; as well as, violent speeches and practices against the LGBTQIA+ (Lesbians, Gays, Bisexuals, Trans/Transsexual/Transgender, Queer, Intersex, Asexuals/Aromantics and other possibilities of sexual orientation and gender identification) community perpetrated by groups against the gender ideology, represented here largely by members of the Bolsonaro government. Based on feminist theoretical currents, mainly black and decolonial feminisms, the effects of the gender, sexuality and race positions of the subjects targeted by violence will be highlighted.

[pt] Considerando os processos de normalização de performances de gênero e sexualidade no contexto familiar, o presente trabalho se debruça sobre as histórias de vida de pessoas que se identificam como LGBTQIA+ acerca de suas experiências com seus familiares. Inserido nas investigações atuais da Linguística Aplicada, a partir da Análise de Narrativa – a qual tem buscado compreender, dentre outras coisas, os processos de produção de vulnerabilidade e subalternidade em práticas sociais e discursivas – buscase compreender os processos de construção identitária, performances, bem como os respectivos discursos que lhes dão suporte. Em um viés metodológico de pesquisa qualitativa e interpretativa, foram gerados dados em situação de entrevista com homens e mulheres cujas performances correspondem ao espectro de sexualidades supracitado. Destas, optou-se por analisar as narrativas de três participantxs. Para isso, foram mobilizadas discussões e ferramental teórico-analítico próprio à Análise de Narrativa, às análises sobre estigma de Goffman (1963) e à Linguística Queer. A análise se dá a partir da divisão laminar em três partes. Na primeira lâmina, busca-se mostrar como identidades são indexadas em relações de sequencialidade na produção de causalidade e por avaliações de modo a produzir a família como uma instituição repressora. Na segunda, pautado no trabalho de face, busca-se mostrar como ocorre a negociação do estigma na interação. Por fim, busca-se mostrar quais sistemas de coerência atuam na construção dessas histórias. A partir disso foi possível compreender como performances identitárias não alinhadas a ideias cis-heteronormativas desencadeiam processos de controle, regulação e repressão. / [en] Taking into account the processes of normalization of experiences of gender and sexuality in the family context, the present work focuses on the life stories of people who identify themselves as LGBTQIA+ regarding their life experiences with their family. As part in the contemporary researches of Applied Linguistics – which has been intending to understand the processes of production of vulnerability and subalternity in discursive and social practices – the processes of identity construction (performance) in these narratives as well as the respective discourses that support it are investigated. In a qualitative and interpretative research methodological bias, data were generated through interview with men and women whose performances correspond to the above-mentioned spectrum of sexualities; for the analysis it was chosen the narratives of three participants. For this, it was mobilized discussions and tools proper to the Narrative Analysis, Intercultural Sociolinguistics and Queer Linguistics. The analysis follows the laminar division in three parts. In the first, it is intent to demonstrate how identities are indexed through sequential relations in the production of causality and through evaluations in order to produce the family as a repressive institution. In the second, based on the face work, we seek to show how a stigma negotiation occurs in the interaction. Finally, based on lexical choices and evaluative sequences, it is intent to show how the Discourse of Repression is indexed in the narratives. From this, it was possible to understand how identity performances not coherent with cis-heternormative values triggered process of control, regulation and repression.

[pt] Nesta dissertação, tenho por objetivo analisar, refletir e gerar entendimentos acerca das vivências de pessoas LGBTQIA+, sublinhando suas experiências em ambientes institucionais como: escola, família e igreja. A partir da Análise de Narrativas (Linde, 1993; Moita Lopes, 2001; Bastos, 2005; Bamberg, 2006; Georgakopoulou, 2006; Bastos; Biar, 2015; Biar; Orton; Bastos, 2021) irei direcionar o meu olhar para as possíveis situações de micro violências e estigmatização vividas por indivíduos por conta de suas orientações sexuais; observando, na construção narrativa, como isto afeta e/ou afetou suas trajetórias e identidades. Esta pesquisa está situada no campo da Linguística Aplicada Contemporânea (Moita Lopes et al., 2006; 2013), com interfaces com a Linguística Queer (Borba, 2014; 2015; 2019), a qual entende que o uso da linguagem está relacionado às práticas sociais e a como construímos e entendemos quem somos e a nossa sexualidade. Além disso, também recorro à Teoria Queer (Butler, 2003 [1990], Foucault, 2020 [1976]; Sedgwick, 1985; 2007 [1990]; Milani; Woff, 2015; Miskolci, 2020; Louro, 2007; 2020). O paradigma qualitativo (Denzin; Lincoln, 2006) orienta a metodologia do estudo, o qual será desenvolvido a partir dos dados gerados em entrevistas conversacionais (Mishler, 1986) realizadas com pessoas da comunidade LGBTQIA+. Ao final desta pesquisa, algumas das possíveis reflexões geradas nos levam a entender como as práticas homofóbicas são normalizadas nos discursos como forma de brincadeira e regulamentação dos corpos, gerando desconforto e até mesmo um sentimento de solidão em especial por conta da falta de amparo em ambientes institucionais. / [en] In this dissertation, I aim to analyze, reflect and generate understanding about the experiences of LGBTQIA+ people, emphasizing their experiences in institutional environments such as school, family, and church. Based on Narrative Analysis (Linde, 1993; Moita Lopes, 2001; Bastos, 2005; Bamberg, 2006; Georgakopoulou, 2006; Bastos; Biar, 2015; Biar; Orton; Bastos, 2021) I will direct my gaze to the possible situations of micro-violence and stigmatization experienced by individuals because of their sexual orientations; observing, in the narrative construction, how this affects and/or affected their trajectories and identities. This research is situated in the field of Contemporary Applied Linguistics (Moita Lopes et al., 2006; 2013), with interfaces with Queer Linguistics (Borba, 2014; 2015; 2019), which understands that the use of language is related to social practices and how we construct and understand who we are and our sexuality. In addition, I also draw on Queer Theory ((Butler, 2003 [1990], Foucault, 2020 [1976]; Sedgwick, 1985; 2007 [1990]; Milani; Woff, 2015; Miskolci, 2020; Louro, 2007; 2020; Miskolci, 2020;). The qualitative paradigm (Denzin; Lincoln, 2006) guides the study s methodology, which will be developed from the data generated in conversational interviews (Mishler, 1986) conducted with people from the LGBTQIA+ community. At the end of this research, some possible reflections lead us to understand how homophobic practices are normalized in discourses as a form of jokes and regulation of bodies, generating discomfort and even a feeling of loneliness, mainly because of the lack of support in institutional environments.