The impact of crises on sexual and gender minorities

The impacts and effects of conflicts, crises, and disasters on sexual and gender minorities are often significantly negative and accompanied by targeting of the group. Most recently, such developments were seen worldwide during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, COVID-19 is just one example of when leaders and societies have resorted to targeting sexual and gender minorities when a crisis occurs. Negative impacts and effects, such as targeting, have followed in the wake of natural disasters, political and economic instability, and armed conflicts. Thus, disruptive events seem to affect societies in a way that opens possibilities for targeting in various ways. These phenomena have previously been studied in isolation, giving rise to some theoretical explanations for the negative impacts and effects for sexual and gender minorities. These structural and strategic explanations often relate to the intersection of authoritarianism, nationalism, and religion with gender ideals and values. However, systematic comparisons across different crises have not been made. This paper will present the recently initiated PhD research project that asks the following research questions: 1) Why do sexual and gender minorities become disproportionately impacted and targeted during conflicts, crises, and disasters? 2) What are the queer experiences and perspectives on the impacts of, and resilience to, conflicts, crises, and disasters? and 3) How do the impacts on sexual and gender minorities compare across conflicts, crises, and disasters? Are there specific effects that consistently emerge regardless of the conflict, crisis, or disaster?