LGBTI+ youth well-being across Europe: Imagined futures in turbulent times

Despite progressive moves towards lesbian and gay equality, societal stigmatisation and discrimination persists across Europe.

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans & intersex (LGBTI) people still experience significant inequalities in well-being, with these particularly pronounced for young LGBTI+ people who are at higher risk of depression, anxiety and suicidality than heterosexual youth.

These risks have been compounded by numerous crises: for example, the pandemic, growing economic insecurity, and the rise of populist anti-LGBT / anti-gender political movements.

Many young LGBTI+ people across Europe are growing up in a period of profound turbulence which may prevent them achieving their full potential in adulthood.

Yet LGBTI+ youth remain significantly neglected in well-being research, despite sustained evidence of their unaddressed needs.

This pan-European consortium of academics, policy makers and NGOs, will generate unique, in-depth data on how inequalities in well-being are experienced, and how LGBTI+ youth build networks of resilience and resistance in times of crisis.

It will be the first qualitative study to examine LGBTI+ youth well-being across diverse national contexts: Estonia, Poland, Sweden, Switzerland and the UK.

Its focus is on LGBTI+ youth on the cusp of adulthood (aged 18-24), exploring the challenges they face as they develop their identities and plan for their futures in the face of political and economic uncertainty.

Creative participatory methods will produce in-depth data about what LGBTI+ youth think, and feel, about their lives and imagined futures.

The project will let LGBTI+ young adults define what well-being means to them, and will open-up space for them to construct collective visions for a future in which their well-being can be enhanced.

A key objective is to identify how policy makers can best tackle inequalities in LGBTI+ well-being by learning from the innovative strategies and visions developed by young LGBTI+ people themselves.