Queer Men Research Articles

"If it didn't hurt so bad, I'd kill myself, but I'll let Ed Buck do it for now": #Justice4Gemmel and Black Queer Narratives in the Age and Afterlife of #MeToo

Abstract: Gemmel Moore, a gay Black man, was found dead in the West Hollywood home of Edward Buck, a gay white LGBT rights activist. Gemmel's death was originally classified as an accident until his family published his journal, which was used to ignite both a criminal investigation and a set of Twitter campaigns, #Justice4Gemmel and #StopEdBuck, that have intersected with the #MeToo movement. In this essay, I analyze how Black queer men narrate their experiences of sexual trauma in relation to Black women, and subsequently how Black women have carved space for Black queer survivors by providing a new language for conceptualizing the racialized gendering of sexual violence. In doing so, I examine how Black queer men's autobiographical narratives function not only as evidence of their sexual injury but also as modes of networked connectivity that position Black queer subjects as integral to anti-sexual violence work and #MeToo activism.

Homemade Pornography and the Proliferation of Queer Pleasure in East Germany

Abstract Like other Eastern Bloc countries, East Germany sought to control even its citizens’ leisure time in the 1960s and 1970s, with the goal of making it useful or at least not subversive to state interests. Certain hobbies, like amateur photography, found support from the state in the form of increased access to equipment and supplies. Other scholarship has shown that sex was a locus of privacy and self-assertion in a society with a high degree of surveillance and state control. Focusing on a previously unanalyzed collection of erotic photographs of men, the article argues, first, that the support for amateur photography makes the state an unwitting participant in the creation and circulation of these illicit images and, second, that the images are an archive of queer men’s self-presentation and critique in a context wherein their existence and affect are transgressive.

Constructing hierarchies of victimhood: Queer male survivors' evaluations of sexual assault survivors

The author employs a critical sexualities approach and draws on feminist theories of sexual assault to examine queer male survivors’ constructions of hierarchies of victimhood. Results, based on in-depth interviews conducted with 60 queer male survivors, reveal that participants most commonly responded to questions concerning hierarchies of victimhood by arguing that sexual assault is taken more seriously when it happens to women than to men. The second most common response involved participants constructing other queer male survivors as blameworthy, invoking a stereotype of a feminized queer man seeking consensual sex. In light of these findings, the author argues for greater attention toward building solidarity among survivors across the lines of gender and sexuality and for further feminist, sex critical interventions that challenge the pathologizing of male femininity and consensual sex.

Biopolitics' new iteration: Gay men, Pre-exposure prophylaxis and the pharmaco-pornographic imagination

This article builds upon Paul Preciado’s conceptualisation of pharmaco-pornographic power to understand the ongoing affects and effects of Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) on queer men’s sexual socialities and subjectivities. Drawing from a new-materialist epistemology, we analyze data from a sexual health pilot study in NYC to trace the techno-sexual health assemblages forming in queer life worlds. Our analysis suggests that these assemblages, entangling PrEP and other pharmacological substances, pornographic imaginaries together with mediatic technologies and public health rationalties, are creating paradoxical desires and practices of intimacy that are both normative and exceed rational health-actor logics and normative understandings of risk. These effects have population-level biopolitical implications.

In and Out in Senegal: Unearthing Queer Roots in Mohamed Mbougar Sarr’s De purs hommes

AbstractMohamed Mbougar Sarr’s 2018 novel De purs hommes fictionalizes recent incidents of homophobia in Senegal to interrogate the relationship between queer men and social dynamics in the country. This article demonstrates that the novel deploys multidirectional critical discourse and oblique narrative tactics to highlight the foundational role in Senegalese culture and society of the fraught dichotomy between private and public life. Bryson contends that the novel unearths these queer roots in order to incorporate all normative identities into queer existence, conceptually blurring the social barriers to LGBTQ+ agency in the country.

A sailor’s kin: Faith, sexuality, and antislavery, 1840–1856

ABSTRACT An 1856 Black-authored autobiography, The Life of John Thompson, made significant advances in the genre of the American slave narrative. A runaway slave, whaler, folk theologian, and, ultimately, abolitionist author, Thompson expressed sympathy for a queer man trapped in slavery and sold away from the family and friends, almost certainly for purposes of sexual abuse by white men. Moreover, Thompson narrated a religious journey beginning with traditional Christianity and ending in a Christian-inflected form of free thought. These were both new in the slave narrative. However, Thompson expressed animus against Islam as well as against aristocrats, both of whom he understood as enforcing oppression. These were not new in American thought and they kept his text securely in American traditions. Insights from queer theory, kinship studies, oceanic studies, and the history of religion are used to illuminate Thompson’s work.

Sociodemographic and Psychological Predictors of Seeking Health Information Online among GB2M in Ontario: Findings from the #iCruise Project

Objectives The current study examines the experiences of gay, bisexual, two-spirit and other men who have sex with men (GB2M) who use networking applications and their engagements with online sexual health outreach workers disseminating healthcare information through these digital spaces. Methods The iCruise study was a longitudinal mixed-methods study across Ontario, Canada which collected data on online sexual health information seeking behaviors. Results Results offer insight into differences in information seeking behaviors among diverse groups of queer men. Conclusions Implications for the dissemination of health information based on the results of information seeking patterns is discussed as well.

Saving Lives with Pride: Development and Evaluation of Multimedia Resources to Engage Gay, Bisexual, and Queer Men in Canada As Stem Cell Donors

Background: Since 2009, gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men (gbMSM) have been eligible to register as stem cell donors in Canada and donate to patients in need. However, many gbMSM are unaware of their eligibility to be donors. Targeted recruitment of gbMSM could augment efforts to recruit donors from needed demographic groups and support a more inclusive donor registry. Here, we describe the development and evaluation of multimedia to engage gbMSM in Canada as stem cell donors.Methods: Multimedia resources were developed by gbMSM in Canada, in collaboration with recruiters from Stem Cell Club (stemcellclub.ca) and were designed to highlight gbMSM eligibility and educate about the need for donors from diverse ancestries. Resources were reviewed for accuracy by transplantation experts and appeal by focus groups of gbMSM. The resources were published to stemcellclub.ca/savingliveswithpride/ and disseminated to members of the community of practice (CoP) in stem cell donor recruitment in Canada during an e-meeting. We evaluated stakeholder perspective on these multimedia and their impact 1) across social and traditional media; 2) on gbMSM eligible donors' knowledge and attitudes towards donation; and 3) on reducing barriers for gbMSM donation.Results: Multimedia developed included: infographics emphasizing gbMSM eligibility regardless of recent sexual contact (Fig. A); @WhyWeSwab (twitter.com/whyweswab) story arcs featuring a stem cell donor and a stem cell recipient (Fig. B) from the LGBTQ2+ community; TikToks and other short videos (Fig. C), and testimonials (Fig. D) featuring gbMSM advocating for their communities to register as donors; and statements from Transplant Hematologists emphasizing that gbMSM donors will be treated sensitively and with respect (Fig. E).33 CoP members from 6 provinces across Canada, and with a median of 2-years recruitment experience, participated in a survey post-publication. The majority felt the resources would engage gbMSM as donors (84%) and clarify gbMSM eligibility (87%); noted experiencing a lack of awareness from potential registrants on whether gbMSM were eligible to donate stem cells (69%); and felt that a national campaign to recruit gbMSM is needed (97%), would support a more inclusive registry (97%), and would augment recruitment of diverse donors (94%).37 gbMSM eligible stem cell donors (84% gay men and 11% bisexual men; from 13 different ancestral groups; living in 5 provinces across Canada) completed surveys evaluating the impact of these multimedia on their knowledge and attitudes towards donation. After being shown these multimedia, mean scores on a 4 question knowledge test improved from 66% to 93% (p<0.001, Fig. F); mean scores on the Simmons Ambivalence Scale significantly decreased from 38% to 24% (p<0.001, Fig. G); and participants were more willing to register as donors (59% vs 84%, p=0.027) and less likely to believe there are significant barriers to donation for gbMSM (51% vs 11%, p=0.033). Qualitative analysis of feedback from focus groups with these participants identified examples of how the multimedia decreased barriers to donation impacting gbMSM (Fig. H).Multimedia were included in a Pride Month (6/2021) Campaign in Canada, “Saving Lives With Pride”, and were shared on social media by LGBTQ2+ groups including on campuses (e.g. SFU Out On Campus), in the community (e.g. Abbey of the Long Cedar Canoe, JQT Vancouver), and nationally (e.g. Canadian Queer Medical Students Association). They were also profiled and shared by major medical organizations (e.g. Canadian Blood Services blood.ca/en/stories/stem-cell-club-volunteers-aim-save-lives-pride-month-campaign) and by media across Canada including CityNews (ctvnews.ca/health/pride-month-tiktok-drive-encourages-stem-cell-donations-from-gay-bi-men-1.5475113) and CTV News (toronto.citynews.ca/video/2021/06/17/doctors-turn-to-queer-communities-for-stem-cell-donors), who also highlighted the resources and their message as one of the top stories in Canada on 6/18/21 (ctvnews.ca/mobile/5-things/5-things-to-know-for-friday-june-18-2021-1.5475813).Conclusions: We developed an array of high-quality multimedia to support recruitment of gbMSM as potential stem cell donors and reduce barriers to donation. Our work is relevant to recruitment organizations worldwide seeking to develop more inclusive recruitment approaches. [Display omitted] DisclosuresNo relevant conflicts of interest to declare.

“Building a More Inclusive Blood System in Canada”: A Mixed-Methods Evaluation of a Workshop to Guide Medical Students to Develop as Health Advocates Through Advancing Health Equity in Blood Product Donation for Gay, Bisexual, and Queer Men

Introduction:Competent and socially responsible physicians require a range of abilities other than medical expertise to effectively meet the healthcare needs of the people they serve, including health advocacy skills. The CanMEDS framework for physician competency outlines that, as Health Advocates, physicians work to determine and understand patient and community needs, speak on behalf of others when required, and support the mobilization of resources to effect change. Although recognized as essential for medical trainees to develop, health advocacy is challenging to teach and assess. Here, we describe the development and evaluation of a workshop to support Canadian medical students to develop as health advocates through advancing health equity in blood product donation for gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men (gbMSM) in Canada.Methods:We developed a workshop for a Canadian medical student audience, “Building a more inclusive blood system in Canada”, consisting of an online module followed by a virtual facilitated discussion group. The online module (available at stemcellclub.ca/training) outlined blood and stem cell donation in Canada for gbMSM, starting from the historical policies and the context in which they were first put in place, to today's policies and where future policies may lie (Fig. A). The module also presented content from a national campaign in Canada to engage gbMSM as stem cell donors (stemcellclub.ca/savingliveswithpride). The discussion group supported participants to reflect on donation policies for gbMSM and their consequences, and discuss how medical students can concurrently advocate for gbMSM and patients in need of blood products. A facilitator guide was developed and facilitator training was provided. A pre- and post- test was administered to participants to assess knowledge transfer. Quantitative and qualitative analyses were employed to evaluate participants' perspectives on the impact of the workshop on their development as health advocates.Results:From 10/2020-7/2021, workshops were hosted at 8 medical schools across Canada. 104 medical students from across Canada participated, of whom 65 (63% response rate) completed a pre- and post- workshop survey. 26 (40%) of survey respondents were male, 22 (34%) identified as LGBTQ+ (10 gay, 9 bisexual, 3 other), and 52% were non-Caucasian (from 9 different ancestral groups). 44 (68%) were in the first and 16 (25%) in second years of medical school. Post-workshop, mean scores on a 6-question stem cell donation knowledge test improved from 33% to 79% (p<0.001, Fig B), and 88% felt the workshop prepared them to discuss blood and stem cell donation for gbMSM with others.98% strongly agreed/agreed the workshop supported their development as health advocates (Fig C), including the abilities to: advocate for patients beyond the clinical environment (83%); work with patients (88%) or communities and populations (74%) to address and identify determinants of health that affect them and their access to care; respond to the needs of communities or populations by advocating with them for system-level change (83%); improve clinical practice by applying a process of continuous quality improvement to disease prevention and health promotion activities (79%); and contribute to a process to improve the health of a community or population they will serve (90%). 94% felt that the workshop should be incorporated into medical curricula.39 medical students participated in focus groups to share their perspectives on the workshop. (42% male, 37% LGBTQ+ identified, 76% non-Caucasian; 53% in first year of medical school). Qualitative analysis identified rich examples of participant development as health advocates through their participation in the workshop (Fig D).Conclusion:We present the perspective of a national cohort of medical students in Canada that their participation in a workshop on advancing health equity in blood product donation for gbMSM contributed to their development as health advocates. This workshop is a model for teaching health advocacy to medical students and is relevant to medical educators and curriculum developers. [Display omitted] DisclosuresNo relevant conflicts of interest to declare.

Queer Belfast during the First World War: masculinity and same-sex desire in the Irish city

AbstractQueer history is still in its infancy in Ireland, with political approaches and the more recent past, and the gay rights movement particularly, providing the primary focus so far. This article takes a different approach by investigating the everyday experiences, identities and policing of men who had sex with men in the early twentieth century. Using two extraordinary case studies from Belfast during the First World War, I explore different lives ― from youth to adulthood, sexual encounter to arrest, and trial to life afterwards. I argue that queer culture in Belfast shared aspects with other western metropolises, particularly in terms of urban cruising, payment for sex and relationships structured by class. Public responses too, from newspaper to courtroom, were articulated through transnational formulations of respectability and masculinity. At the same time, however, Belfast's queer men were shaped by their movement within a peculiarly Irish network of places, both in and beyond the country's borders. Religious and political structures specific to Ulster also affected how such men fared in the legal system and in their lives following their trials. By detailing both the similarities yet divergences of queer experience in Belfast, I thus aim to raise a new agenda for studying male sexuality in the north of Ireland.

Peril, privilege, and queer comforts: The nocturnal performative geographies of expatriate gay men in Dubai

This article investigates the intersection of expatriate experiences, queer men’s lives, and nocturnal geographies within the transnational Middle Eastern setting of Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE). Although narrowly focused on cisgender men who self-identify as “Western” and “gay,” the study addresses a lack of research about LGBT+ presence among expatriates globally, and poor coverage of queer residents in Gulf cities generally. Using ethnography and in-depth interviews among this segment of men who have come to Dubai to work in relatively privileged professional roles for at least two years, we illuminate the shifting, performative geographies of queer belonging in which these men engage to distinguish spaces that can be embodied in different moments with degrees of comfort and caution. Despite their imperiled position in an officially homophobic territory, these men use their various privileges (economic, social, cultural, and sometimes phenotypic) to counter peril in performing transnational identities that reaffirm their own senses of self (as gay), forge new collectivities (as Western), and distinguish themselves from others deemed suspect (potentially anyone “non-Western”). Findings point to the uneasy dynamics of inclusion/exclusion in this kind of unfixed gay nightlife geography, and the need to study queer expatriates in other world settings, as well as queer lives in Gulf cities more broadly, from a further intersectional perspective: beyond nocturnal geographies, and encompassing the range of queer denizens, not just this relatively privileged subset.

Sex in the Time of Coronavirus: Queer Men Negotiating Biosexual Citizenship During the COVID-19 Pandemic

ABSTRACT Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, representations of irresponsible gay men partying with little regard for viral transmission have circulated across social media; a construction of gay men that has a history that long precedes the coronavirus conjuncture. In this article, we draw on in-depth qualitative interviews with 43 queer men in London and Edinburgh, to investigate experiences of sexual and intimate practices during COVID-19 and use the concept of ‘biosexual citizenship’ (2018) to analyse the ethical frameworks these men used to navigate them. We argue that rather than being ‘good’ or ‘bad’ biosexual citizens, queer men have developed an array of ethically reflexive strategies in order to negotiate the difficult terrain they have had to face when trying to pursue their cultures of sex and intimacy during the pandemic. In so doing, they appear to enact biosexual citizenship through diverse sexual practices that both inevitably include and challenge both hegemonic imperatives of responsibility and well-being, as well as well-worn media representations of reckless, hedonistic gay men.

Playing with Gender: Trans Men’s Experiences Playing with Masculine Characters, Roles, and Identities in Online Video Games

Previous research illustrates the many ways that video games are constructed for cisgender, heterosexual, and white men. However, I argue that video games may serve as a valuable site of gender discovery and play for transgender men. Due to the disembodied anonymity of online interaction in video games, players are generally assumed to be cis heterosexual men until proven otherwise. Using 2725 survey responses and 20 interviews with queer men who play video games, I analyze how cis queer men and trans men experience gender in online gaming differently. Focusing on a subsample of 214 surveys and eight interviews with trans men, I illustrate how trans men play with gender through default characters, player-created characters, and gendered roles and gameplay. Trans men prefer to play as male characters and in masculinized roles, allowing them to play with their present gender, imagine their future gender, and rectify their gendered socialization past.

Walking to the Pier and Back

This article narrativizes a walking go-along interview I, a cis white queer man, completed with JS, a Black trans young woman, while walking to the Christopher Street Pier in the West Village of New York City. The narrative form of this piece works to think against white- and cis-normative senses of time-keeping and place-making by illuminating how our bodies and social positions were perceived in relationship to each other and the environs of the go-along. While the Pier has long been an important public and community space for trans and queer Black and Latinx communities, especially young people, it has concurrently faced waves of gentrification that have made this place inhospitable to these communities. Giving an account of this walking interview through this contested area attends to JS’s experience and perception of place, community, history, and safety, including the ways it aligns and is in tension with my own and others’ experiences and perceptions of the Pier and its surroundings.

Ecstatic queer nature: Flowers, seeds and everyday joys in paintings by Jonathan Lyndon Chase

This article demonstrates how Jonathan Lyndon Chase utilizes a range of abstract images of flowers, seeds and even a cowboy aesthetic to reimagine the relationship between nature and queer men of colour in the contemporary United States. Chase uses flowers and seeds as multifaceted symbols, carefully shaped, to evoke the fragile and yet revitalizing joys of a messy human growth. These allusions to growth, plant and human, offer a specific challenge to falsely naturalized, too curtailed conceptions of gender, sexuality and race in America.

Sexual and Gender Minority Young Adult Coping Disparities During the COVID-19 Pandemic

PurposeThe COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated several existing health disparities in the U.S. Sexual and gender minority (SGM) health disparities may also be widening during the pandemic, though few studies have assessed this question. This study examined SGM young adult disparities in health-related behaviors to cope with isolation during the pandemic. MethodsRespondents from a prospective cohort of Southern California young adults (N = 2,298) reported whether they engaged in various strategies (e.g., substance use, diet, exercise, relaxation) to cope with isolation during the pandemic (each: yes/no). Differences in coping were assessed across five SGM subgroups: heterosexual men and women, lesbian, gay, bisexual, pansexual, queer (LGBQ) men and women, transgender/nonbinary (TNB) respondents. Negative binomial regressions estimated sexual/gender identity differences in the number of positive or negative behaviors endorsed, adjusting for sociodemographic characteristics and prepandemic health behaviors. Differences were also tested across individual coping behaviors. ResultsHeterosexual women (IRR = 1.11 [1.01–1.21]), LGBQ men (IRR = 1.31 [1.12–1.54]), LGBQ women (IRR = 1.33 [1.19–1.49]), and TNB respondents (IRR = 1.29 [1.03–1.61]) engaged in more negative coping behaviors than heterosexual men. LGBQ men (IRR = 1.19 [1.02–1.39]) and LGBQ women (IRR = 1.20 [1.08–1.34]) also reported more negative coping behaviors versus heterosexual women. Generally, LGBQ men reported the highest prevalence of substance use, while LGBQ women and TNB reported the highest prevalence of adverse eating behaviors and self-harm. ConclusionsSGM young adults may be disproportionately, adversely impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Tailored public health and clinical interventions are needed to decrease pandemic-related SGM health disparities.

“Ach for It”: Anthony Leigh, Autonomy, and Queer Pleasures in the Restoration Playhouse

Anthony Leigh (d. 1692) built his career as a Restoration comedic actor by playing a combination of queer, lascivious, old, and/or disabled men to audiences’ great delight. In this essay, I key in on two plays that frame Leigh’s career: Thomas Durfey’s The Fond Husband (1677) and Thomas Southerne’s Sir Anthony Love (1690). In The Fond Husband, a younger Leigh plays a “superannuated,” almost blind and almost deaf Old Fumble who, in the first act, kisses a man because he cannot navigate the heterosexual erotic economy of the play (as over-determined by able-bodiedness). Over a decade later, in Sir Anthony Love, Leigh plays an aging, queer Abbé who is so earnestly erotically invested in Love’s masculinity (unaware that Love is a woman in drag) that he attempts to seduce Love with dancing. I bring the beginning and end of Leigh’s stage life together to argue that Leigh’s body, performing queerly, asks audiences to confront the limits of pleasure in sustaining fantasies of the abled, autonomous heterosexual self. Using these two Restoration comedies that bookend Leigh’s career, I trace pleasures and queer structures of feeling experienced in the Restoration playhouse. While Durfey and Southerne’s plays-as-texts seek to discipline unruly, disabled queer bodies by making Fumble and the Abbé the punchline, Leigh’s performances open up alternative opportunities for queer pleasure. Pleasure becomes queer in its ability to undo orderings and fantasies based on autonomy (that nasty little myth). In his Apology, Colley Cibber reveals the ways that Leigh’s queerly performing body engages the bodies of audience members. In reflecting on the reading versus spectating experience, Cibber remarks, “The easy Reader might, perhaps, have been pleas’d with the Author without discomposing a Feature; but the Spectator must have heartily held his sides, or the Actor would have heartily made them ache for it” (89). Spectatorship is not a passive role, but rather a carnal interplay with the actor, and this interplay has immediate, bodily implications. Audiences laugh. They ache. They touch. Whereas the reader of a play in private can maintain composure, audiences in the theatre are contrarily discomposed, non-autonomous, and holding onto their sides. Leigh’s ability as a comedian energizes the text and produces pleasure on an immediate, corporeal level for audiences. And that pleasure is generated through stage business built on touching, feeling, and seducing male-presenting characters. Spectatorship may, in fact, be a queer experience as Leigh’s queerly performing body exposes the limits of autonomy.

The Limits of Labelling: Incidental Sex Work Among Gay, Bisexual, and Queer Young Men on Social Media

IntroductionThe term incidental sex work refers to forms of casual, occasional, unsolicited commercial sex, arranged between gay, bisexual, and queer men on social media platforms such as Grindr. This paper explores the limits of labelling sexual identities, and how definitions of “sex” and “work” have become increasingly unstable in the digital age.MethodsThis study used mixed methods, with the primary mode of data collection being qualitative interviews with young gay, bisexual, and queer men conducted between May 2015 and April 2016. The interviews incorporated a nine-point sexuality scale and photo-elicitation procedures to prompt further discussions. Through the participant recruitment process, the study also generated an informal survey of 1473 Grindr users aged 18 to 28, finding that 14.6% had been paid for sex, most of whom (8.2%) had done so “incidentally.”ResultsThe 50 interview participants discussed being paid for sex 358 times. This paper focuses on their narratives of labelling, identity politics, sexual normativity, and social stigma. All participants distanced themselves from labels such as “prostitute,” “rent boy,” or “sex worker” given that their behaviours were not seen as “regular” or “professional” enough, alongside seeking to avoid association with stigmatising stereotypes of sex work. These results are compared with the participants’ experiences of coming out as gay, bisexual, and queer.DiscussionThese narratives are interpreted using queer theory to understand those whose behaviours and identities do not conform to normative (legal, medical, social) discourses of sex work. The implications of this hidden population for campaigners, policymakers, and healthcare practitioners are discussed, contributing to ongoing debates around harm reduction and social policy.

Experienced Homophobia and Suicide Among Young Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer Men in Singapore: Exploring the Mediating Role of Depression Severity, Self-Esteem, and Outness in the Pink Carpet Y Cohort Study.

Purpose: No prior study has been published on suicide-related behaviors among gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (GBTQ) men in Singapore, where sexual relations between men are criminalized. This study explores the association and mediational pathways between experienced homophobia and suicidal ideation or suicide attempts among young GBTQ men in Singapore.Methods: Results of this study were derived from baseline data of the Pink Carpet Y Cohort Study, Singapore's first prospective cohort study among young GBTQ men. The sample comprised 570 young GBTQ men 18 to 25 years of age who were HIV negative or unsure of their HIV status. Statistical analyses were conducted through descriptive statistics, multivariable logistic regression, and structural equation modeling techniques.Results: Of 570 participants, 58.9% (n = 308) reported ever contemplating suicide, whereas 14.2% (n = 76) had ever attempted suicide. Controlling for key demographic variables, multivariable logistic regression revealed that experienced homophobia and depression severity were positively associated with a history of suicidal ideation, whereas depression severity and outness were positively associated with a history of suicide attempts. Mediation analyses revealed that depression severity and self-esteem partially accounted for the relationship between experienced homophobia and suicidal ideation, whereas depression severity and outness partially accounted for the relationship with suicide attempts.Conclusions: The prevalence of suicidal ideation and past suicide attempts was found to be high in a sample of young GBTQ men in Singapore. Interventions to address experienced homophobia and discrimination among young GBTQ men are needed urgently in Singapore.

Minority statuses and mental health outcomes among young gay, bisexual and queer men in Singapore

Minority gay, bisexual and queer (GBQ) men face not only stigma from the general population based on their sexual orientation, but stigma as well based on their race, body type and their gender identity. Results of this study were derived from baseline data of the Pink Carpet Y Cohort Study in Singapore comprising a sample of 570 GBQ men aged 18 to 25 years old. Controlling for key demographic variables, being non-Chinese was associated with depression severity (aPR = 1.21, 95%CI [1.01,1.45]), experienced homophobia (aPR = 1.13, 95%CI [1.05,1.22]) and a past suicide attempt (aPR = 1.77, 95%CI [1.08,2.92]); being non-cisgender male was associated with depression severity (aPR = 1.27, 95%CI [1.05,1.55]) and experienced homophobia (aPR = 1.20, 95%CI [1.09,1.32]); reporting a BMI of 25 or more was associated with depression severity (aPR = 1.20, 95%CI [1.00,1.44]). Reporting one minority status was associated with depression severity (aPR = 1.23, 95%CI [1.05,1.45]) experienced homophobia (aPR = 1.08, 95%CI [1.01,1.15]), and a past suicide attempt (aPR = 1.61, 95%CI [1.01,2.56]), while reporting at least two minority statuses was associated with depression severity (aPR = 1.47, 95%CI [1.17,1.83]), experienced homophobia (aPR = 1.26, 95%CI [1.14,1.40]), and past suicide ideation (aPR = 1.28, 95%CI [1.01,1.62]), compared to participants in the general sample. Interventions are needed to buffer the effects of stigma in this vulnerable group of individuals.