“If You Can Just Break the Stigma Around It”: LGBTQI+ Migrants’ Experiences of Stigma and Mental Health

Abstract

Migrants, that is people who experience forced displacement or move based on being lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, two-spirit, queer, and intersex (LGBTQI+), experience increased trauma and stigma when compared to heterosexual and cisgender people. The aim of this paper is to highlight LGBTQI+ migrants’ experiences of health and social care encounters in Canada. Gadamerian hermeneutics and an intersectionality lens was used to understand LGBTQI+ migrants’ experiences. A total of 16 semi-structured individual interviews were conducted with LGBTQI+ migrants. Themes of stigma and discrimination were identified as (1) “I never went back”: Stigma as an exclusionary experience, (2) “Is [your country of birth] really that bad”: Fear, safety, and cultural stigma, and (3) “The circle … is not going to fix my life”: LGBTQI+ migrants’ call for affirming care. Results suggest that health and social care practices are stigmatizing and discriminatory which negatively impacts LGBTQI+ migrant mental health. Salient practices for promoting mental health included affirming LGBTQI+ identities and orientations through health and social care practices that are culturally safe as well as trauma and violence informed.