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.

In a 2021 research study, exploring the experiences of lesbian, gay, bisexual, two-spirit, trans, queer, intersex, and the “+” (LGBTQI+) migrants in health care in Canada, participants referred to the term “ally theater” in relation to their encounters with nurses. That is, the participants asserted that some nurses publicly demonstrate performative, or superficial, allyship regarding their identities. Using participants' experiences in health care as a metaphorical theater, this article presents a theoretical exploration of ally theater, and raises questions about professional practice claims of inclusivity and antiracism. The participants felt like deviant performers for not abiding by institutionalized centering of White hetero-cis-normative norms and thereby positioning racialized, LGBTQI+, and migrant as other.

Gender-independent, intersex, non-binary, and transgender (GIaNT) youth have puberty health and sex education needs that are different from cisgender youth. Unfortunately, this population has historically been excluded from curricula pertaining to these issues in schools throughout the U.S. and Canada. While sex education programs are limited for all youth, and navigating puberty can range from exciting to scary for all youth, GIaNT youth are particularly vulnerable to facing negative outcomes by being omitted from such curricula. Because they are not able to access adequate information in schools and in their family/friend networks, a majority of GIaNT youth turn to the internet to seek out resources for education on puberty health and sex education. To this end, our team is in the process of creating an online educational resource (OER) that is age-appropriate and affirming for GIaNT youth to be provided with resources that are personalized to users’ unique needs. This literature review discusses content suggestions for inclusion of comprehensive puberty health and sex education that caters to GIaNT youth and their unique needs.

Both stigma and discrimination, defined as a lack of knowledge of and a sense of discomfort in providing care to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, and + (LGBTQIA+) migrants, was found to manifest in a sample of LGBTQIA+ migrants who received nursing care in a recent study. The study concluded that nurses continue to have a limited understanding of the experiences of LGBTQIA+ migrants in the Canadian context, and that LGBTQIA+ migrants continue to have troubling 'care' experiences with nurses. Miranda Fricker has developed the concept of epistemic injustice drawing on feminist philosophy and social epistemology. Epistemic injustice refers to unfair treatment of a person by judging them as 'not a knower' in a communicative situation. For example, in a few circumstances when LGBTQIA+ migrants were admitted to psychiatric units due to suicide ideations as a direct result of identifying as a LGBTQIA+ migrants, the medical and nursing team responded with 'They are in Canada now. It is safe here!' and 'So, you are [LGBTQIA + ]! What's the big deal?' These unjust statements reflect an epistemic situation in which the hearer is negating what was heard, that is, that the speaker's intersecting identities of LGBTQIA+ and new immigrant has directly led to suicide ideation. The concept of epistemic injustice helps to frame this situation as one where the care provider is not doing justice to the needs of LGBTQIA+ migrants. This article draws on the narrative of an LGBTQIA+ migrant who is not recognised as a credible source of knowledge about their own lives and needs in the context of Canadian nursing care. Epistemic injustice helps to understand how stigma and discrimination is produced in this community by the very nursing profession who ostensibly want to help them.

For decades, hermeneutics has been used as a qualitative research approach to enhance understanding of the experiences of individuals within a particular context. However, after reviewing the literature, it became evident that only a few published articles use intersectionality as an analytical lens along with Gadamerian hermeneutics. This article draws on examples from a 2021 study that explored experiences of LGBTQI+ migrants with healthcare providers. Utilizing the philosophical underpinnings of Gadamerian hermeneutics and the theoretical foundations of intersectionality, the confluences and the tensions between these two approaches is explored. Moreover, suggestions are provided for how intersectionality as an analytical lens can expand understandings and interpretations of research findings using Gadamerian hermeneutics.