Policing youth and queerness: the experiences and perceptions of young LGBTQ+ people from regional Victoria

ABSTRACT

Historically, police and the criminal justice system more broadly played a role in the policing of queer identity and the construction of queer communities as ‘deviant’. Emerging queer criminological scholarship has documented the extent to which this historical context (at least within the Global North) continues to shape interactions between police and LGBTQ+ communities, with these relationships sometimes marked by distrust and hostility, though positive changes are also evident. However, the majority of research to date has focused on the experiences of adult members of queer communities living in urban locations. As such, this project sought to examine the experiences of young queer people living in regional Victoria. Drawing on focus groups with young LGBTQ+ people, this paper examines participants’ perceptions of and experiences engaging with police. Participants’ views and experiences were diverse, with some continuing to harbour distrust for police, though positive experiences were also discussed. Some participants encountered harassment and discrimination from police perceived to be on account of both their youth and identity as LGBTQ+, suggesting the need to take an intersectional approach to understanding relations between police and queer youth and in continuing to improve relations between police and young queer people.

KEY WORDS:

• LGBTQ+
• police legitimacy
• policing
• queer criminology
• regional
• youth

Disclosure statement

This research was initiated and funded by Victoria Police. The author was involved in this project through her previous role at La Trobe University, with this institution commissioned to undertake the project.

Notes

1 I use the terms LGBTQ+, queer, and same-sex attracted, sex and gender diverse (SSASGD) interchangeably in this paper as umbrella terms to refer to individuals whose gender identity and/or sexuality departs from the cisgender, heterosexual ‘norm’. Different terminology is used when referring to individual participants in order to reflect the language they used to describe themselves.

2 However, this comment is not intended to erase or downplay the very significant levels of inequality, discrimination, hostility and violence still faced by many within the queer communities, nor the difference in lived experiences for particular groups within these communities.

3 The ‘T word’ refers to the transphobic slur ‘tranny’.

Additional information

Funding

Funding for this project was received from Victoria Police.