Everyday Positive Identity Experiences of Spiritual/Religious LGBTQ+ BIPOC

ABSTRACT

This study examines the everyday positive identity of spiritual/religious lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer (LGBTQ+), Black, Indigenous, People of Color (BIPOC). By enriching our knowledge about the positive developmental processes (e.g., strengths, resilience, protective factors) that multiply marginalized and underrepresented populations employ to navigate their identity, we can better understand the impact and dynamics of systemic oppression on an individual’s expression and development of self. Ten individuals from Canada and the US provided diarized voice entries to a daily prompt in an experience sampling method (ESM). We analyzed voice clip entries collected over a period of two to four weeks and conducted an interpretative phenomenological analysis for local and global expressions of identity that weave real-time processes to generate a broader frame of positive identity mechanisms, contexts, and content. Real-time concrete events prompted participants to reflect on their broader identity conceptualizations across time (past, present, and future) through the experiences of presence and gratitude.

KEYWORDS:

• Real-time processes
• positive psychology
• identity development
• LGBTQ+ psychology
• multicultural psychology
• religious/spiritual psychology

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).