“Stuck in, Can’t Come Out”: Physical Distancing and YouTube Spaces for LGBTQ Adolescents’ Wellbeing

Abstract

The pandemic has led to physical distancing measures put in place to minimize the spread of COVID-19, leading schools and community centers to close their physical locations. For many lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) individuals living with their family, their home can be considered harmful and unsupportive due to their family’s rejection towards LGBTQ identity. LGBTQ YouTubers can be a unique avenue to understand how they can use their social media presence to act as an online supportive system that parallel traditional offline supportive systems during the pandemic where offline supportive spaces are limited. The purpose of the study is to analyze online video platforms (ie. YouTube) and whether LGBTQ YouTubers can act as support systems for their LGBTQ community during the pandemic through video content creation. Four LGBTQ YouTubers that have created videos related to the COVID-19 outbreak were chosen and their video comments (NVideo1 = 147; NVideo2 = 195; NVideo3 = 238; NVideo4 = 79) were analyzed through content analysis. Results revealed the following categories: 1) Community support and engagement between the community and the YouTuber, 2) diverse coping strategies as a result of COVID-19, 3) community’s emotional experiences surrounding COVID-19, 4) community members’ use of diverse support types, 5) YouTuber authenticity and relatability to community, and 6) intersectional identity (e.g., disability, ethnicity) experiences. Emerging themes suggest LGBTQ YouTubers can be informal online social support systems that can parallel the physical connections and support lost due to COVID-19.