Unpacking racism during COVID-19: narratives from racialized Canadian gay, bisexual, and queer men

Abstract

Objective Epidemics impact individuals unevenly across race, gender, and sexuality. In addition to being more vulnerable to COVID-19 infection, evidence suggests racialized gender and sexual minorities experienced disproportionate levels of discrimination and stigma during the COVID-19 epidemic. Drawing on Critical Race Theory (CRT), we examined the experiences of gay, bisexual, queer, and other men who have sex with men (GBQM) of colour facing discrimination during COVID-19. Design Engage-COVID-19 is a mixed methods study examining the impact of COVID-19 on GBQM living in Vancouver, Toronto, and Montréal, Canada. We conducted two rounds of qualitative interviews (November 2020 to February 2021, and June to October 2021) with 93 GBQM to explore the evolving impact of COVID-19 on their lives. Transcripts were coded using inductive thematic analysis. Data analysis was conducted using Nvivo software. Results Fifty-nine participants identified as Black, Indigenous, and/or a Person of Colour (BIPOC). These GBQM of colour described multiple experiences of discrimination during COVID-19. Although participants did not report experiences of discrimination based on their sexual identity during COVID-19, we found that experiences of racism affected how they were treated within their sexual networks. Experiences of racism were most often reported by East Asian and Black GBQM. These participants faced racism in public and online spaces, primarily in the form of verbal harassment. Several participants were also harassed because they wore face masks. Verbal abuse against GBQM of colour was largely prompted by racist discourses related to COVID-19. Conclusion Racism remains a pernicious threat to the well-being of GBQM of colour. CRT highlights the importance of assessing how sexualized and gendered discourses about race shape the experiences of GBQM of colour navigating multiple epidemics like COVID-19 and HIV. These pervasive discourses unevenly affect racial and sexual minorities across multiple epidemics, and negatively impact health outcomes for these populations.

‘It’s not as good as the face‐to‐face contact’: A sociomaterialist analysis of the use of virtual care among Canadian gay, bisexual and queer men during the COVID‐19 pandemic

“…Many participants had unmet sexual and mental health needs during the pandemic, exacerbating their poor health outcomes. However, GBQM participants living with HIV did not report disruptions to HIV care access despite the shift to virtual care (Grey et al, 2022;Prabhu et al, 2020). Participants also described that the transition to virtual care presented new challenges around patient-provider relations due to the absence of physical contact and lack of physical examinations, as observed in similar studies (e.g., Dainty et al, 2022;Downing et al, 2021).…”

“…Our analysis draws on data from Engage COVID-19, a mixed-methods study conducted in Canada's three largest cities: Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver. Embedded within the ongoing Engage Cohort Study (Hart et al, 2021), the Engage COVID-19 sub-study examined the impacts of COVID-19 on the physical, sexual, and mental health of urban GBQM in Canada (Daroya et al, 2022;Grey et al, 2023). Data collection for Engage COVID-19 started in September 2020.…”

Mapping out COVID-19, Social Distancing, Pandemic in Juxtaposition with Sexual Desires Practices in a Gay Latino Immigrants Men [GLIM] Study

“…GT [52][53][54][55][56][57][58][59][60], according to Charmaz, is a suitable methodology for researching and exploring issues, topics, and social phenomena that have not been overly studied. For GLIM the semi-structural questions, approved by the University of Toronto's REB, were central around sexualities, desires, and very intimate questions (some questions even asked about sexual preference, such as: if the individual liked being penetrated or preferred to penetrate, or if they preferred a circumcised/uncircumcised penis, and how much empowerment they felt in negotiating sexual health HIV prevention measurements with a White partner, such as using condoms, avoid anal intercourse, among other relatable topics).…”

“…Two aspects were paramount for me. First, gay men experienced the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the "'80s-'90s (not that HIV/AIDS is over in the world, but those interviewed individuals may have belonged to a generation that has missed seeing or knowing stories of people who died at the beginning of the HIV/ AIDS) However, the second aspect is that all the GLIM participants were very foremost aware of HIV/AIDS and knew about the basic sexual health knowledge on how to prevent getting infected, or if they were HIV positive, they had knowledge about how to avoid spreading it out the virus to others [1,8,11,42,54,[61][62][63][64][65][66][67][68][69][70][71][72][73][74][75][76][77].…”

“…Finally, it provoked new thoughts and creativity for individuals to create, manage, and support social "sexual bonding" configured by bubbles, rules, and exceptions. Adding to this equation, gay men, without any moral judgment, have relied during the past decade on technology on the form of sexual apps to meet 'potential sexual partners' , and many times, those "potential sexual partners" are nothing else but strangers [54,73,[86][87][88].…”