The cyber power of marginalized identities: Intersectional strategies of online LGBTQ+ Latinx activism

ABSTRACT

Historically, mainstream LGBTQ+ activism in the United States has excluded the voices of multiple marginalized people, particularly LGBTQ+ people of color and immigrants. Despite increasing scholarly attention to formerly subordinated voices contesting conventional approaches to activism, little is known about how these groups utilize technology to forge influential activist spaces. Through a content analysis of 10 queer Latinx activist websites and 273 distinct webpages, we utilized the concept of expressive activism to demonstrate how these organizations are forging engaging modes of intersectional virtual activism that promote social equity across race, ethnicity, sexuality, gender, and immigration status. First, the websites emphasized the importance of immigrant rights and identities in working toward intersectional social justice. Second, health promotion and disease prevention as social justice appeared as prominent motifs. Third, all the websites promoted the embodiment of social activism through artistic endeavors. Finally, the websites endorsed a strengths-based approach highlighting the importance of advocacy through resilient personal and collective values. Our findings highlight how LGBTQ+ Latinx online organizations can shape more intersectionally-focused discourse surrounding social inequalities. This research can enhance awareness of the social concerns, political aims, and health needs of LGBTQ+ Latinx communities among local, regional, and national service providers and policymakers.

KEYWORDS:

• LGBTQ+
• Latinx
• intersectionality
• digital activism
• content analysis
• websites

Acknowledgments

Dr. Rachel M. Schmitz was supported by funding from National Science Foundation (NSF) ADVANCE grant #1209210.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. We use the term “LGBTQ+/queer Latinx” to be inclusive of the diverse gender and sexual identities of Latinx people and to deconstruct the gender binary of the Spanish language (Katie L. Acosta 2018). Where appropriate, we also use diverse terminology that reflects each website’s individualized language choice when referring to gender, sexuality, and race and ethnicity.

2. The concept of expressive activism (Cornfield et al. 2018) is similar to the concept of discursive activism (Barker-Plummer et al. 2017), in that both involve the use of writing and speaking to raise consciousness about important social issues, but the concept of expressive activism is somewhat broader, encompassing the use of non-verbal expression such as art.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the National Science Foundation [1209210].

Notes on contributors

Rachel M. Schmitz

Rachel M. Schmitz, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor of Sociology at Oklahoma State University. Her research interests include gender and sexuality, the family, LGBTQ youth and young adults, and qualitative methods. She has recently published work in Society and Mental Health, Journal of Research on Adolescence, and Sexuality Research and Social Policy. Her contemporary work elevates the voices and lived experiences of marginalized LGBTQ+ young people and their understandings of health. Currently, Dr. Schmitz is conducting a qualitative interview study that examines Native LGBTQ2S+ young adults’ life experiences with trauma and violence, and how these experiences shape their understandings of their own mental health and well-being. E-mail: [email protected]

Jonathan S. Coley

Jonathan S. Coley, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor of Sociology at Oklahoma State University. His research focuses on social movements, politics, religion, gender and sexuality, and race and ethnicity. His book Gay on God’s Campus: Mobilizing for LGBT Equality at Christian Colleges and Universities was published by the University of North Carolina Press and received the Mid-South Sociological Association’s Stanford M. Lyman Distinguished Book Award in 2018. He is currently working on a new research project on church-state relations with sociologists Gary Adler, Damon Mayrl, and Rebecca Sager. E-mail: [email protected]

Christine Thomas

Christine Thomas is a second-year Ph.D. student at Oklahoma State University. She is interested in Social and Spatial Epidemiology and Mental Health disparities among rural, underserved and hard-to-reach populations. Her Master’s Thesis examines differences in suicidality among rural and nonrural American Indian adolescents. She seeks to develop innovative solutions to complex problems and hopes to make a positive impact in a changing world. E-mail: [email protected]

Anibal Ramirez

Anibal Ramirez is a second-year Masters student in the Department of Writing and Language Studies at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley. E-mail: [email protected]