Investigaytors 2019 Projects

Over Spring and Summer 2019, a group of Edmonton queer and trans folk met weekly to learn about community-based research and queer and trans health. At the end of their training, participants developed their own research questions and conducted their own data analysis using Alberta Sex Now data. Throughout this post, you’ll find the results of their analysis in the form of research posters and brief interviews.

If you like what you see and want to get involved, Investigaytors is kicking off a brand new cycle at the end of May 2020. Investigaytors is a data-driven journey into the basics of community-based research. This 6-month program is designed to teach you all about queer and trans health and give you hands-on research experience – enabling you to answer those burning questions in your heart and become actively-involved researchers in Edmonton’s queer community. No previous experience required. Learn more by checking out the Facebook event or sign up today at the following link.

[Note: In light of COVID-19, the health and safety of our participants, staff, and invited speakers is our main priority. Investigaytors will be run virtually through video conferencing, with additional check-ins between participants and program staff.] 

Inequities in the Mental Health Concerns of Alberta’s SGM community

Investigaytor: Garrett Gooch

What topic did you research?

I researched mental health in Edmonton’s queer and trans community.

What made you interested in this topic?

I’m passionate about mental health and wanted to see how these issues were experienced in the queer community.

What did you discover through your research?

I discovered that a significant portion of the community is suffering from depression and anxiety, just over a quarter of Edmonton’s survey respondents. In particular, I discovered that trans and non-binary folks have unique mental health needs and are well-versed in such issues, both as recipients of services and as peer support resources .

What implications does this have for our community?

The results shed light on some of the unique mental health needs of subgroups within Edmontons queer and trans population, which I hope will lead to greater access to appropriate services and incorporation of trans and non-binary in program planning.

Based on what you learned, what would you like to explore further/next?

I would like to continue to explore some these differences in the mental health needs of subgroups within Edmonton’s community. After learning how to analyze the Sex Now survey data, it would be nice to take into account more variables and further our understanding of our community’s needs.

t4t? Recent sex with trans individuals as a metric of trans inclusion in Alberta’s gbMSM community?

Investigaytor: Jonah Elke

What topic did you research?

My studied looked at which demographic variables (e.g. gender identity, sexual orientation, financial stability, education, race, hiv status, etc.) predicted having had sex with a trans or non-binary person in the past six months. 

What made you interested in this topic?

When I was considering joining Investigaytors, I realized I had a lot of anxiety about interacting with cis gay men. This was primarily due to rude comments cis gay men had made to me over the years, mostly sexualizing me and my (trans) body even when the context in which we were meeting was not sexual. Most of the comments framed my body as though it was superficially attractive but that my genitals were disgusting to them. I was curious about whether experiencing marginalization made people more likely to sleep with trans people and about whether we can think about sexual relationships as being a marker of trans inclusion in our communities.

What did you discover through your research?

I discovered that trans people, bisexual/pansexual/queer (but not gay) people, gay men who had had sex with a woman in the last six months, and men who had seen sex workers in the last 6 months were more likely to have had sex with a trans person in the last six months. Gay men and men with higher education levels were less likely to have had sex with a trans person recently. This last result was driven by an interesting, though tangential finding: that non-monosexual guys (guys who were bisexual, pansexual, or queer but did not indentify as gay) were more likely than gay guys to have lower education levels. Race, immigration status, and financial stability were not related to sexual relationships with trans people. 

What implications does this have for our community?

I think these findings suggest that if having sex with trans people is an indicator of trans inclusion then the cis gay men’s community has some work to do, with gay men being 9 times less likely to have had sex with a trans person recently when compared to non-monosexual guys. I was surprised to see that, besides bisexuality and transness, experiencing other kinds of marginalization was not associated with having had sex with a trans person recently. Maybe this means we aren’t drawing on folks’ empathy when we’re educating about trans inclusion, and efforts could be made to draw linkages between, say, the experience of being marginalized due to racialization and the experience of being marginalized due to transgender status. 

Based on what you learned, what would you like to explore further/next?

I’m particularly curious in the finding that bisexual men were less educated than gay men in Alberta. I am interested in looking at the ways non-monosexual queer guys are marginalized within the men’s queer community and whether that has impact on their physical, mental, and social health. 

Does U=U impact sexual health behaviour?

Investigaytor: Finn St Dennis

What topic did you research?

I looked at what impacts knowledge of U=U (Undetectable=Untransmittable) might be having on sexual behaviour, especially the sexual behaviour of folks who are HIV negative.

What made you interested in this topic?

The U=U campaign has been really prominent in our community, and I wanted to get a sense of what impacts it might be having. U=U has a lot of potential to reduce stigma surrounding HIV, and it’s also really significant in terms of Treatment as Prevention strategies. But I’ve heard folks saying that it hasn’t actually done much in terms of reducing stigma, so I was curious what the numbers might show us.

What did you discover through your research?

I discovered that there does appear to be a relationship between U=U knowledge and certain sexual behaviours. The two that really stood out to me were that folks who knew U=U were significantly more likely to have had sex with a man of an opposite HIV status in the last six months, and to have had sex with someone who was undetectable. 

What implications does this have for our community?

This is just a little snapshot of the potential impacts of U=U, but it does seem to suggest that the campaign might be having some sort of measurable impact. Which is really cool! 

Based on what you learned, what would you like to explore further/next?

There’s some work around U=U starting to happen at the national level, looking at similar questions about sexual behaviour of HIV-negative folks, but also asking questions about what impacts U=U might be having on pos guys’ mental health, and considering if all members of our community have had equal access to U=U knowledge. It’s super interesting work that I’m excited to be a part of, and am really looking forward to having an even deeper understanding of how U=U might be playing out in our everyday lives. 

The Relationship Between Marginalization and Community Satisfaction in among Queer Albertans

Investigaytors: Shane Scott & Clayton Hitchcock

What topic did you research?

We looked at the connection between identity (gender, age, race) and levels of satisfaction with connection to community.

What made you interested in this topic?

We initially began our research considering the ways in which a connection to community might be related to things like sexual health literacy and knowledge of U=U,  and this led us to then consider if members of the GBTQ+ community are satisfied with their community connections in the first place. As we thought through this seemingly basic topic, it then began raising additional important questions about who may perceive community differently or have different experiences within the community, which led us to disaggregate the data based on some axis of identity (racialized identity, age, gender identity). 

What did you discover through your research?

Overall, we found that respondents who may be further marginalized than the majority of respondents tend to have different levels of satisfaction with the community when compared to average respondents. 

Respondents who identified as BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color) had a significantly lower level of satisfaction with the LGBTQ2S+ community - while 58% of white respondents were satisfied with the community, only 47% of BIPOC respondents felt the same. When looking at BIPOC respondents by age, those respondents born pre-aids crisis noted having a higher level of satisfaction to the community (63% satisfied) when compared to those born after the aids-crisis (46% satisfied). 

One interesting finding was that respondents who identified as trans expressed similar levels of satisfaction with their connection to community as all respondents. This contradicted our hypothesis that trans community members would have a higher level of dissatisfaction.

What implications does this have for our community?

This research is especially relevant in the Edmonton context as our LBTQ2S+ community wrestles with feelings of exclusion among some community members, as well as broader community understandings of what Pride means for Edmonton. What is apparent is that a segment of the community - our BIPOC community members - are not satisfied with their own connections to the community, and it appears to be especially true among younger community members.  

Based on what you learned, what would you like to explore further/next?

There is a need to further contextualize how respondents perceive “community” and specifically what factors affect satisfaction relative to that understanding. There is also an opportunity to not just understand what people think community is, but to provide a venue for them to define it themselves and for community organizations to respond accordingly to increase satisfaction. 

Like what you see and want to get involved?

Investigaytors is kicking off a brand new cycle at the end of May 2020.

Learn more by checking out the Facebook event or sign up today at the following link.