In a time of unparalleled visibility for the LGBTQ2+ community, contrasted with significant resistance, revealing one’s sexual identity can be a profoundly mixed experience, according to new research., led by sociologists Dr. Amin Ghaziani and Andy Holmes, delved into the personal accounts of 52 adults from Vancouver, discussing their coming-out experiences from the past five years.
Despite political progress on both sides of the border, there’s been a lot of troubling backlash. In Vancouver, violent anti-trans hate crimes have been on the rise for a few years. And in the U.S., state legislatures introduced 525 anti-LGBTQ2+ bills just this year. Pride celebrations can make things more confusing. Another respondent, Silky, describes why it’s hard to come out this time of year. “I don’t feel like I belong because I’m dating a man,” she told us. Although Silky lives in Davie Village, where “Pride is literally happening all around my house,” she hears “gay people in the crowd” who say things like, “I hate all these straight couples at Pride.”