LGBTQIA+ People Access to Social Services during the Pandemic in Turkey

Abstract

LGBTQIA+ people are often subjected to prejudice, discrimination, and violence in many societies. This sets a barrier for LGBTQIA+ people access to social services. This study was conducted to investigate LGBTQIA+ people access to social services during the COVID-19 pandemic. Study findings using convenience sampling and exploration design with participants who identify themselves as LGBTQIA+ (N = 856) show that vast majority of LGBTQIA+ people living in Turkey faced serious problems with accessing social services like housing, social assistance, psycho-social support, and post-violence support mechanisms. Future studies which will investigate experiences of LGBTQIA+ people access to social services will help to make the needs and the problems of the LGBTQIA+ community visible and once awareness is made efforts can be made that contribute to the solution.

Keywords:

• Social services
• pandemic
• COVID-19
• sexual orientation
• gender identity
• LGBTQIA+ issues in social services

Acknowledgments

The authors thank Billur Kaya and Oğuzhan Latif Nuh for providing helpful feedback in the development of this manuscript.

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Data Availability Statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author, upon reasonable request.