Pride,belonging and community: What does this mean if you are Aboriginal and LGBT+ and living in Western Australia?

Abstract

The lived experience of being LGBT+ and an Aboriginal person was a major focus of the mixed methods Breaking the Silence research project led by Aboriginal LGBT+ researchers. Aboriginal LGBT+ participants were invited to respond to a survey that canvassed how they were included and accepted within their own families, on social media, dating apps and the wider community. The analysis and discussion of the findings from the survey examine the issues of discrimination, racism, homophobia and what belonging to a community means for intersectional identities. The findings show that while participants do experience microaggressions and queer-phobia, they also describe agency and positive experiences. The question is how these instances of resistance and disruption can be enabled to proliferate and (if appropriate) be supported collectively, to enable Aboriginal LGBT+ individuals to experience a sense of pride and belonging to communities at times and in spaces of their own choosing.

Keywords

aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community discrimination gender homophobia LGBT+racism sexuality

Terminology

The term Aboriginal LGBT+ refers to participants who are Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander and who also identify as sexuality and/or gender diverse.

Introduction

The lived experience of being LGBT+ and an Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander person (Aboriginal LGBT+) was a major focus of the ‘Breaking the Silence’ research project, one of the first to explore this issue in Western Australia and Australia more broadly. The importance of engaging meaningfully with this group and working with them in arriving at their own solutions in accessing appropriate health, education and social support services and feeling included in Aboriginal and/or LGBT+ communities (a key objective of this research study) has been well established (Bonson, 2016; Callander et al., 2019; Government of Western Australia, 2019; Whitton et al., 2015; Zeeman et al., 2014). This article discusses the findings from the Community Survey and an Elders Yarning Group in response to questions about how Aboriginal LGBT+ people are acknowledged, accepted and included by their families, communities and a range of health and social support services.

Discrimination, homophobia, racism and intersectional identity/ies

The discrimination, injustices and violence experienced by LGBT+ people, in many aspects of their daily lives, are ongoing issues that are reported widely (Australian Human Rights Commission, 2015; Callander et al., 2015; Carlson, 2020; Cover, 2016). While there have been gains such as the recognition of LGBT+ relationships, marriage equality and changes to family law, the ubiquity of heteronormativity and gender binary ideas in much of health, education and social support service delivery and policy remains a stubbornly resistant obstacle (Donovan and Barnes, 2020; Gahan and Almack, 2020; Hope and Haire, 2019; Rubio, 2020; Uink et al., 2020). Furthermore, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people frequently experience racial discrimination from people outside their community and this has deleterious effects on their health and emotional well-being (Bonson, 2016; Carlson, 2020; Paradies and Cunningham, 2009). This may also include ‘sexual racism’, when people seeking potential sexual or romantic partners are discriminated against because of perceived or actual racial identity (Callendar et al., 2015; Carlson, 2020).

Aboriginal people who are LGBT+ may also experience homophobic discrimination from within the Indigenous community itself (Ross, 2014). This can result not only in verbal and physical violence being experienced by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander LGBT+ people; they may also be criticised for not being authentically Aboriginal (ABC, 2013; Ross, 2014). The result of this can be the construction of double or even multiple identity crises around sexuality and culture. This homophobic discrimination and ignorance may also be experienced by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander LGBTQ+ people from within their own immediate and extended family networks and from a range of health, education and social support services that they use (Bonson, 2016; Ross, 2014; Uink et al., 2020).

For non-Aboriginal LGBT+ people there is an established network of online as well as ‘bricks and mortar’ social support and advocacy services (Living Proud; National LGBTI Alliance).¹ This does not mean, however, that Aboriginal LGBT+ individuals either access these or feel included within the broader LGBT+ movement (Cover, 2016; Whitton et al., 2015). The power relations within the broader LGBT+ movement can result in policies or rights that prioritise gay and lesbian people over trans, gender fluid, non-binary or Indigenous peoples who are LGBT+ (Flores et al., 2015; Ghabrial, 2017; Strauss et al., 2017). Advocacy organisations for LGBT+ people are predominantly concerned with those issues that have been identified by white LGBT+ people, for example marriage equality, and do not on the whole concern themselves with the sovereignty of Aboriginal LGBT+ people or the effects of colonisation (Riggs and Walker 2006; Uink et al., 2020). These research studies show that for Aboriginal LGBT+ people to be visible and heard, it is vital they can advocate for themselves as part of either Aboriginal and/or LGBT+ communities that celebrate their unique needs and diversity.

Belonging to a community

A key question of the research was how participants experienced connections to their Aboriginal community/ies and a sense of inclusion with the broader LGBT+ community. The research team reflected on their own definitions of ‘community’, concluding in a broad sense that this should incorporate participants’ experiences of pride and descriptions about a sense of belonging to either Aboriginal and/or LGBT+ communities.

The relational and experiential concepts of what ‘community’ is has been discussed by Bessant (2018), who describes community as a ‘being with’. The participants of this current research who were described as ‘community’ participants were, as a community, geographically discrete (Aboriginal LGBT+ people living in Western Australia). The research team’s concept of ‘community’ was not so much a place where a specific population has lived for a long time, or of people who belonged to particular social classes or ethnicity. Rather it was imagined as somewhere where there are diverse ways of understanding and ways of belonging (Lewis, 2020). This suggests a move away from grand narratives about what a community constitutes and instead understands community as the daily life of citizens drawing a sense of similarity and difference to others, what Lewis (2020) describes as ‘micro-distinctions’. The relationality and sociality of ‘community’ is described in one study as providing the ‘meanings-in-common’ that create a ‘community’ that is about social relationships rather than a thing that is ‘found’ or ‘made’, (Studdert and Valerie, 2016, p. 617). These ideas about communities seem the most apt when considering how intersectional identities can engage and interrelate.

With these qualifications in mind, the authors of the current study use the descriptor ‘community’ as being less about being tightly cohesive and bound and more about inclusion, fluidity, expansiveness, questioning and acceptance. The theoretical work of Indigenous scholars and others, that interrogate concepts such as intercultural spaces and intersectionality, have also informed the approaches to this study.

The cultural interface, hybridity and intersectionality

The ‘cultural interface’ is a term that describes a social context within which Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are circumscribed and limited by Western discourse and colonialism. At the same time, through interactions with these discourses, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are also acting as agents negotiating and creating possibilities (Nakata, 2002). Paradies (2006) describes situations where Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people may feel pressured to choose between a sense of identity that falls either side of black/white dichotomies rather than adopting an idea of identity that avoids essentialism and instead embraces hybridity and fluidity.

The increased popularity and use of social media and online dating apps as ways in which people experience a ‘sense of belonging’ to online ‘communities’ is also pertinent to the current study. Nakata’s (2002) interface theory, for example, has been used to analyse the experiences of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people who use dating apps, including Tinder and Grindr. These are sites where represented selves are, according to one study, ‘performed, resisted, marginalised and re-imagined’ (Carlson, 2020, p.14). The author describes how gay Indigenous men need to be vigilant in how they manage their online profiles in the face of both homophobia and racism. This management of representation has also been described as a kind of ‘shape-shifting’ – both online and in face-to-face interactions (Carlson and Frazer, 2018; Davidson and Joinson, 2021; Foster, 2018). Furthermore, Bennett and Gates (2019) highlight that Aboriginal people are just as likely to be ‘intersectional’ not only as LGBTQ+ people but also within culturally diverse communities (and not just white ones).

Davidson and Joinson (2021) describe the individual ‘shape-shifting’ that people use as a tool in the self-management of multiple personalities across diverse professional and personal social media platforms. While it could be argued that this ‘shape-shifting’ work may not always be a negative, that is, perhaps it serves as a way for people to negotiate and even manipulate in certain situations the presentation of their ‘best’ self, it is nevertheless an individual burden. This is particularly the case in contexts where power relations are unequal, where if the ‘wrong’ self is presented, an individual may be open to discrimination, abuse and potentially violence (Carlson, 2020; Foster, 2018).

The importance of relational belonging is also discussed in another study. The ways in which mental health statistics are interpreted has been interrogated by Cover (2016), particularly causal links between being trans or queer and being inherently at risk for suicide. Cover (2016) unpicks this assumption stating that a focus on how Aboriginal LGBT+ people experience a sense of relational belonging and whether they can imagine a secure future for themselves may be more useful. The question then becomes less about perceived individualised pathology and more about creating the social conditions where Aboriginal LGBT+ people feel a sense of relational belonging and are not frustrated in their attempts to aspire (Cover, 2016).

When considering what ‘community’ means for those with intersectional identities such as Aboriginal LGBT+ people, the current study also examines the navigation and negotiation of representation of self/ves. This enables the possibility for reflection and the space to envision how ‘community’ may be experienced in diverse ways by Aboriginal LGBT+ people (Uink et al., 2020). Our aim is to highlight how Aboriginal LGBT+ people in our study experience ‘community’ (or not) and what can be done (including by health, education, social support and LGBT+ advocacy services) to create and enhance opportunities for Aboriginal LGBT+ people to experience a sense of belonging.

The research study

The Chief Investigator of the research study is a cis-gendered Noongar man who is also part of the LGBT+ community. The research team included four Aboriginal people, three of whom are also queer and one non-Indigenous person who does not identify as LGBT+.

This exploratory, integrative, mixed methods (focus groups, interviews, and survey) study utilising qualitative and descriptive quantitative research techniques was conducted in two phases. In keeping with the advice provided by the Ethics Committee the first phase of the research was with a range of health, community, social support and education organisational staff.

Focus groups: Four health and social support services and one group made up of participants from three university educational student support services participated in the focus groups (n = 5 focus groups, n = 49 participants). Three of these focus groups were among Aboriginal-specific services (n = 32 participants), with the remaining two groups from non-Aboriginal-specific services.

Interviews: Five participants drawn from the community (n = 2), health sector (n = 2), and an LGBT+ advocacy service (n = 1) completed one-on-one interviews with a member of the research team. There were four individual interviews and one interview with two participants resulting in five research interview participants in all. These were conducted utilising an appropriate culturally sensitive research method informed by ‘Research yarning’ (Bessarab and Ng’Andu, 2010). They were an opportunity for participants to bring up issues that they wanted to discuss about the topic. The interviews were offered as a supplement to focus group participants who had more to say or those who wanted to discuss issues confidentially. The interview and focus group activities were conducted over several months in the first year of the two-year project.

The research activities in this first phase enabled a safe platform from which to develop and distribute the Community Survey in the second phase of the study. This was achieved through the research team seeking advice and guidance from our Aboriginal community controlled health organisation (ACCHO) research partners and workers at all levels of a range of health, education, social support and LGBT+ advocacy services throughout all stages of the research through focus groups, presentations, forums, workshops and webinars.

The research team have well-established ties and networks to both the Aboriginal and LGBT+ communities in Western Australia. This is important and in keeping with an Indigenous research framework that values the ‘relational’ ways for doing research with and for Aboriginal people, and also adopts a ‘decolonising’ approach whereby the concerns and worldviews of Aboriginal people are at the centre of the research (Mertens et al., 2012). Another study has highlighted the importance of encouraging decolonising processes and personal narratives in enabling improved understanding of the health, social and emotional well-being needs of Aboriginal peoples (Geia et al., 2017).

Research directions and ethics

The research was initially approved by the Murdoch University Human Research Ethics Committee (MUHREC) and subsequently by the Edith Cowan University equivalent (ECUHREC). All participants were informed that they could withdraw at any time without consequence to themselves or their families, and that they were entirely free to refuse to answer any or all questions during any of the research activities. Throughout the project, the researchers ensured that participants’ stories and experiences were collected with respect and sensitivity.

The Indigenous Data Sovereignty (IDS; see Kukutai and Taylor, 2016) principles of community ownership and self-determination through research are central to the project design. The researchers were guided by Noongar Elders and senior people and followed protocols required by cultural groups. The researchers also followed the National health medical research council (NHMRC) National Statement on Ethical Conduct in Research involving Humans (2007) and the NHMRC Values and Ethics: Guidelines for Ethical Conduct in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Research (2018).

Research activities with the Aboriginal LGBTQ+ community

This article focuses on findings from Phase 2 of the study, resulting from a survey on lived experiences of the Aboriginal LGBT+ community in Western Australia. The Aboriginal and LGBT+ research team were guided by the advice of previous community forums, advisory committee and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island Health and Community organisational staff that a survey tool was likely to be the most effective method. It was widely agreed that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people regularly use social media and online resources. Following on from the groundwork that was completed in the first phase of the study the second phase of the study canvassed the lived experiences of Aboriginal and or Torres Strait Islander LGBT+ people living in Western Australia. Participants were recruited through the project's research partners, a range of professional networks, as well as a targeted social media campaign. The social media campaign focused on sites (predominantly Facebook and Twitter) that were accessed both by LGBT+ and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. Black Rainbow, one of the few online resources for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island LGBT+ people, was also used. The eligibility for the Community Survey stipulated that all participants were over the age of 18, were Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander and LGBT+ and were currently living in Western Australia. The survey included questions about: how participants described their own sexual and/or gender identities, how they experienced using services, going about their daily lives, working, studying and leisure activities. There was also a series of questions about participants’ experiences with social media and dating apps; a dominant means through which people connect in the 21st century.

The Community Survey included three open-ended questions that enabled participants to reflect on and document their experiences as LGBT+ Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people. Participants were invited to write down their thoughts and views in response to questions asking about:

Experiences of discrimination as Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people and/or people who identified as LGBT+ from the wider community

The extent to which participants felt included and accepted by their Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander community/ies

The positive aspects of being Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander and LGBT+.

These three reflective (qualitatively descriptive) questions provided responses directly informing the analysis and discussion about how Aboriginal LGBT+ individuals belong to a community or communities. Although the research team expected to find evidence about racism, discrimination and homophobia, we also wanted to know how Aboriginal LGBT+ people navigated complex spaces as individuals and members of intersecting communities.

The survey was hosted online through Qualtrics. Study information was provided at the start of the survey and participants indicated their informed consent by clicking ‘yes’ to continuing to the survey questions. The survey was confidential and participants could not be individually identified. Participants provided the post code where they lived and were asked only to complete the survey if they were both Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander and LGBT+. The survey was open to responses from November to December 2019 and after data-cleaning, 63 valid responses were received.

Analysis of the Community Survey

Survey data were subject to descriptive analysis (percentages, mean, standard deviation) to assess overall responses. This was particularly in relation to the questions about social media and dating apps use. The responses to the three questions that asked for descriptive commentary were analysed through reading and re-reading by the lead researchers, who identified key and sub-themes which were compiled into a matrix. These results were then compared and contrasted within a conceptual framework informed by the literature on intercultural spaces and intersectional identities (Carlson, 2020; Crenshaw, 1989; Nakata, 2002; Paradies et al., 2015). Although somewhat limited due to Covid-19 restrictions, the results of the survey were presented to the study's research community participants (through an online webinar) and to the research partners at a one-day workshop. The findings were also discussed with an Elders Yarning Group, the Aboriginal Advisory Group and other community organisations. This process enabled the research team to check their interpretations and validate key findings.

Results of the Community Survey

The Aboriginal LGBT+ community participants responded to an open-ended text-box to report their sexual orientation. Of the 63 valid responses received in the current study, 20.6% of participants identified as lesbian only and nearly 16% as Gay only. Nearly 20% of participants selected multiple LGBT+ identity labels, suggesting that one label may not be adequate in describing an individual's complex sexual orientations and gender identity/ies. One participant described themselves as ‘intersex’ in response to the question about their sexuality.

Just over 44% of participants who responded to the question about how best to describe their current gender stated ‘woman’ and 28.6% described this as ‘man’. Other participants (15%) selected more than one category, illustrating the diversity of gender descriptors within the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander LGBT+ community. Less than 2% identified as ‘sister-girl’ or ‘trans’. Of those who said ‘other,’ descriptions included: bi-gender, not having a sex, pan-gender and cis male.

These findings demonstrate the fluidity within and between categories of gender and sexuality, and that for some people none of the descriptors ‘fit’ and that they would prefer not to be identified under any of the categories presented in the survey.

The participants were also a relatively young cohort – with 63.5% between the ages of 18 and 30 years old. According to the Census of Population and Housing (ABS, 2014) nearly 63% of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people living in Western Australia live in major metropolitan or regional urban areas. Participants’ metro versus regional status was calculated by the researchers using participants’ post code. Of the participants in this study, 85.7% were from Perth Metro, while 14.3% of participants were from rural areas outside of Perth Metro. Over half of survey participants responded to at least one of the three qualitative questions embedded in the survey.

Elders Yarning Group

A dominant theme resulting from the focus group and interview research activities with organisational and community participants has been the idea that community Elders would have a negative view of those who are part of the LGBT+ community. We presented this and other findings about the ways in which Aboriginal LGBT+ people experience discrimination and exclusion from community to 18 Elders across two meetings in May 2021. The Elders came from a range of communities in Western Australia, but were mostly from Noongar country. The meetings were facilitated so that Elders could respond through discussion and were relatively unstructured.

A key message from the Elders was the importance of education of communities, families and service providers, and including Aboriginal LGBT+ people as ‘moort’ (family). They were deeply interested in learning more to advocate for greater LGBT+ inclusion in their families and communities and were broadly supportive of Aboriginal LGBT+ people (Hill et al., 2021a, 2021b). The discussion from this consultative activity with the Elders contrasted with the common view articulated by other research participants about Elder support (or perceived lack of) and was an important additional perspective contributing to the overall analysis and discussion of the key themes about discrimination and community.

Discrimination and community

The experience of discrimination may result in individuals experiencing social isolation and feelings of exclusion and ‘not belonging’ to a diversity of groups or communities. Much of the media and literature focuses on major discriminatory events that are experienced by people from diverse racial or ethnics backgrounds and/or people who identify as LGBT+ (Daraganova, 2017; Dudgeon et al., 2015; Paradies et al., 2015; Strauss et al., 2017; Sue et al., 2019; Waling et al., 2019). A growing body of research explores the mental health and other health effects for people experiencing discrimination in the form of ‘microaggressions’. These ‘microaggressions’ may be characterised as daily and brief occurrences (including jokes or comments about racial or sexual identity characteristics) which nonetheless may result in anxiety and other mental health and health consequences to those who are subjected to them over time (Balsam et al., 2011; Nordmarken, 2014; Sue et al., 2019). These forms of discrimination were reported by the participants of the current study with homophobia, queer-phobia and racism, in the form of microaggressions commonly identified.

In response to the first reflective question about how (if at all) participants (n = 42) experienced discrimination as Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander and/or LGBT+ people (n = 18) 42% of participants stated it was as Aboriginal people that they experienced the most discrimination. This was more so for Aboriginal people who were, according to their own assessment, visibly recognisable as Indigenous:

More as an Aboriginal person, it is easier to hide my sexual identity, or just not talk about it! It's harder to hide my skin. (Survey participant, Breaking the Silence Community Survey)

Ten of the participants described their experience of being discriminated against because they were both Aboriginal and LGBT+. The ways in which participants experienced this discrimination depended on who they were with and the extent to which they shared the multiple aspects of their identities. One participant, for example, experienced discrimination as an Aboriginal person from the wider community and discrimination as a person who identified as LGBT+ from within their own family:

It depends on who I’m with and where I am. On the whole from the wider public it's because I’m Aboriginal, from my family it's because I’m a lesbian. (Participant, Breaking the Silence Community Survey).

For one participant, experiences of discrimination were multi-factorial and layered, and contributed to a sense of feeling ‘invisible’ and ‘isolated’, despite the participant's successes and accomplishments otherwise. Discrimination was experienced by this participant from the wider non-Aboriginal community, the non-Aboriginal LGBT+ community as well as Aboriginal community/ies. The quote also shows that an important source of strength for this participant was the support they experienced from their own ‘clan’ and family. An extract from their response provides some insight into this:

Discrimination exists in both groups. I feel my personal identity is precarious in both groups and at times I am persona non grata or invisible. There are high levels of rejection and non-acceptance in the LGBTQ+ community; particularly with online dating sites and being different to the norm. At times the rejection had the effect of making me feel invisible, ugly and incomplete when I am successful and accomplished in other aspects of my personal and professional life. I’ve often felt isolated and wondered what is wrong with me. And there are levels of rejection and lateral violence from the Indigenous community in regards to challenging one's other identities – that I/we are not good enough to be one of the mob mostly from other nations or cultural groups that are not my own. I am accepted by my own clan and family. Their support is such a great source of confidence and strength … (Participant, Breaking the Silence Community Survey)

The feeling of ‘invisibility’ was also experienced by other participants who had identified being discriminated against because of ‘both’ identities, with several stating the need to hide either their Aboriginal and/or LGBT+ identity to avoid discrimination. This was particularly true for those participants who described themselves as ‘looking white’ or ‘white-passing’ – resulting in the description of themselves as being ‘invisible’:

As bi-sexual and white-passing, my experience is less about discrimination and more about invisibility. I feel like I have to constantly declare and prove my identity, and sometimes I don't want to because I expect discrimination if I do. (Participant, Breaking the Silence Community Survey)

For another participant, the experience of being discriminated against had changed over their life-time. They describe how they had experienced discrimination as a multi-racial person when younger, but as a person who was too complex for others to categorise (in terms of either race or gender) when they were older:

I think when I was growing up it was due to being Aboriginal, especially being multi-racial (three cultural backgrounds). As an adult I think it's because I’m not identifiable as any one race. Also, I think people can be intimidated by my personal fashion sense, ‘tomboy’ ‘butch’ and my lack of feminine traits. (Participant, Breaking the Silence Community Survey)

Of the participants who responded to the question about discrimination, four stated they had been discriminated against by other Aboriginal people because they identified as LGBT+:

I’ve only been bullied in high school for being a queer black person by other black people. (Participant, Breaking the Silence Community Survey).

For other participants (n = 4) their experience of discrimination was described as complex because if they were able to ‘pass’ as white they would be more likely to experience marginalisation because of their gender or sexuality as opposed to their Aboriginality.

This is complex. More so as an LGBT+ person, as I can ‘pass’ being white. Though this is exclusionary in itself. (Participant, Breaking the Silence Community Survey).

While for another participant being an Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander person and identifying as LGBT+ would contribute to more discrimination than if they were a non-Aboriginal person who was LGBT+:

I think being one of the LGBTQs and Indigenous makes people want to hurt me more than if I was a white fella and just a gay. (Participant, Breaking the Silence Community Survey)

Of the remaining participants who responded to the question about discrimination, only three stated they experienced no discrimination, one was unsure, and one participant described ‘invisibility’.

Aboriginal communities and sex and gender orientation inclusion

Breaking the Silence survey participants were asked to comment on the extent to which they felt included and accepted within their Aboriginal community/ies. Of the 52 participants who responded to the question, 28% (n = 15) stated they did not feel they were included and accepted by their Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander community/ies, while 15% (n = 8) stated that they did. Of the other participants, 19% (n = 10) stated either yes, or no, but then qualified these answers with comments such as ‘most of the time’, or that it depended on whether they were with their own families, in their own community, or that they did not disclose their sexual and/or gender identity to older people and those with strong religious views. Two participants stated that the issue of being an LGBT+ person was never discussed, two were unsure, while one participant stated that their light skin colour was more of an issue for them than their sexuality.

For other participants, LGBT+ identity was acknowledged and accepted by their own families and Aboriginal community but not by others:

The stigma is starting to be old-fashioned in my community. But if my family go on country then it is hidden. It's not something I can change so I get on with my life. (Participant, Breaking the Silence Community Survey)

I feel like my sexuality is more accepted by younger people in the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities, particularly from cousins. Older generations are also more accepting but have more traditional views on sexuality. (Participant, Breaking the Silence Community Survey)

Of the participants who stated they did not feel their LGBT+ identity was viewed positively by their community and who provided reasons (n = 9), the influence of beliefs about Aboriginal culture, religious influences and people being older were associated with more negative views:

I still adopt a don't ask don't tell approach with extended relatives in my home community. Torres Strait Islanders are fervent believers and generally being LGBTQ+ is at odds with their religious and cultural beliefs. (Participant, Breaking the Silence Community Survey)

One participant detailed the diverse communities that they interacted with including online and local communities.

There is a very large Aboriginal presence online that is very positive. I feel that local communities are very different and very hidden most of the time. People who are out and usually shamed into moving away by family who don't understand. (Participant, Breaking the Silence Community Survey).

The influence of religion and colonialism in countries such as Australia (that still purport to be predominantly influenced by Christian values) is evident in the findings of this current research. With the historical antecedents of Christianity (and Missions), along with the removal of children from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families, the pervasiveness of ‘hetero-patriarchal’ families and what an ‘ideal’ family should look like has historically not included Aboriginal people who are also LGBT+ (Bayliss, 2015; Crowley and Rasmussen 2010; Prehn and Ezzy, 2020). For a few participants in the current study this perspective was qualified, with some explaining that views on the topic were softening and that they felt more accepted as LGBT+ people by their Aboriginal community/ies:

I do have a feeling my sexual orientation is greatly accepted by my Aboriginal community around the country, except for those who are religious and don't accept it.

… there is more education now and people are becoming more accepting.

(Participants, Breaking the Silence Community Survey)

Social media and dating apps

Social media and dating apps are used as a means of reaching out, connecting and being sociable with other people. While there are many positive aspects to communicating in this way, there may also be negative aspects such as users experiencing homophobia, racism and microaggressions (Carlson, 2020; Carlson and Frazer 2018).

A specific question asked in the survey was whether participants used social media such as Facebook, Twitter and/or dating apps, and if they always shared that they were Aboriginal and/or a Torres Strait Islander. Just over half of participants (52.4% or n = 33) did use social media and/or dating apps. Twenty-one participants provided the following reasons for not disclosing that they were an Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander person when using social media and/or dating apps. The most common reasons provided by participants (n = 6) included: fear of rejection, judgement, racial stereotyping, discrimination such as perception that they were on welfare, or participants (n = 8) said they looked ‘white’ and did not want to respond to comments about how they ‘did not look Aboriginal’ or other negative comments about their physical appearance. These findings reflect those reported by Carlson (2020), who discusses the ubiquity of racial profiling and sexual racism that occurs online and particularly on dating apps.

Of the social media and dating apps provided as options on the survey those most commonly used by participants were: Facebook, Tinder, Twitter and Grindr. Among those who used commonly identified social media sites or dating apps (Facebook, Grindr, Tinder and Twitter) more than half of participants reported they felt welcomed and included as Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander and LGBT+ people. Participants felt most welcomed and included on Facebook (64.1% or n = 38), Grindr (57.1% or n = 12), Tinder (56.5% or n = 13) and Twitter (54.5% or n = 12). The results show that while participants felt most welcomed on Facebook over a third did not, while for dating apps, well over 40% did not feel welcomed or included as Aboriginal LGBT+ people. They also show that sharing either Aboriginal and/or LGBT+ identity/ies was contingent on particular contexts and reflects the findings from the literature about the ‘shape-shifting’ of constant management of self-representations that occurs on these platforms (Carlson, 2020; Davidson and Joinson, 2021; Foster, 2018).

The best things about being Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander and LGBT+

Of the participants who responded to a question about what they thought were the best things about being Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander and identifying as LGBT+, 76% (n = 33) of participants provided a range of reasons why this was so. These included: a sense of uniqueness and pride and how being Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander disrupted the usual understandings of what being LGBT+ means. Several participants described being instrumental in changing family views and the views of wider society about Aboriginal and LGBT+ issues; while others were positive about supporting young Aboriginal people who were coming to terms with an LGBT+ identity:

Changing views of others that I meet about what it is to be Aboriginal. For example, a lot of people assume we are all one community, and all think alike. They meet me and ask questions a lot of the time and are surprised to learn that there are a lot of different Aboriginal cultures and communities.

I personally think the best thing is that Aboriginal culture is very family and community based. So, when we find other people from the LGBTQ+ community we bring that with us and create an accepting and welcoming family of our own.

The great online community. And also, that I can support youth who may also identify as LGBTQ+ to feel safe, supported and loved. (Participants, Breaking the Silence Community Survey)

Several other participants were either unsure about what was the best thing about being Aboriginal and LGBT+ or disagreed that there was anything positive about it. This was for one participant because they had not ‘come out’ to their family:

I don't see anything positive about it at the moment because I’m not fully out to my family though I want to be. I also don't want to let them down especially my grandparents. (Participant, Breaking the Silence Community Survey)

The influence of Aboriginal culture for these participants reflected similar themes to the other reflective questions in the sense in that it could be viewed as both a positive contribution (pride, uniqueness, alternative to Western and colonialist mindset) and a negative (outdated views on sex and gender roles).

For another participant, while there was an experience of pride and agency, this was qualified with an acknowledgement about the high rates of suicide for LGBT+ and Aboriginal peoples.

Our ability to walk in different worlds. I was going to say, ‘our resilience’ but the high rates of suicide among LGBTQ+ and Indigenous peoples would suggest otherwise. (Participant, Breaking the Silence Community Survey)

Discussion

The findings in the current study show there is potential for thinking in a more positive way about the interactions and experiences of the participants in the current study. For example, the skills and strategies used to represent selves in diverse contexts do not always need to be viewed negatively. While social media platforms may be sites where racist (including sexually racist) and colonialist discourse proliferates, they may also be tools for presenting more fluid ideas about Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander cultures and knowledge (Carlson, 2020). For example, presenting selves that are not tied to more outdated or religious ideas about what Aboriginal culture (or family) is. Potentially, social media and dating platforms could be instrumental in the exposure of the ‘hidden’ queer, black histories buried under decades of colonialist and religious traditions in Australia (Bayliss, 2015; Scrimshaw, 2018). This would make it possible to build on the work that has already begun particularly in literary, media and social media spaces.

Emerging narratives such as The Boy from the Mish (Lonesborough, 2021) or the creative work of people like Steven Oliver (Widders-Hunt, 2020), or TV series such as Sistergirls or Redfern Now (ABC1, 2011; ABC, 2012) encourage a visibility of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander LGBT+ bodies that has, for the most part, been lacking from Australia's popular consciousness. More of this work is critical in enabling Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander LGBT+ people to see themselves represented and be provided with opportunities to challenge, disrupt and carve out spaces for themselves in Aboriginal and/or LGBT+ communities.

The careful ‘boundary work’ that was performed by the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander LGBT+ participants online in the current study, where represented selves may be ‘out’ as LGBT+ and/or as Aboriginal at different times and across diverse platforms, may also be useful in other contexts (Matamoroz-Fernandez, 2017). Provided with the necessary funding, mainstream LGBT+ and Aboriginal-led organisations could enable Aboriginal and Torres Strait LGBT+ social media users to develop and design their own content and online communities. Carlson and Frazer (2018) suggest it is important that Aboriginal social media users are supported to express how they want to resist and defy the digital panopticon where they are surveilled by non-Aboriginal audiences.

Aboriginal LGBT+ people are best placed to understand what is at stake about being ‘out’, whether as Aboriginal and/or LGBT+ individuals. The necessity and their ability to shape-shift and manage their strategic outness as individuals provide clues for organisations and governments about how to envision what new online (and bricks and mortar) communities that are safer and more inclusive might look like. Prioritising an Aboriginal LGBT+ perspective can serve to displace the individual burden of shape-shifting to rather apply in a collective sense to organisational cultures. This can contribute to how these organisations can themselves shape-shift to be fluid and responsive enough that Aboriginal LGBT+ individuals ‘fit’ as complex, intersectional identities.

The opportunity for responding appropriately to the needs of Aboriginal LGBT+ individuals and enabling a ‘sense of belonging’ needs to be shifted in other ways too. The view that ‘lateral violence’ is inevitable may contribute to a kind of policy paralysis and prevent the range of both Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal services from responding effectively to the needs of Aboriginal LGBT+ individuals (Clark and Augoustinous, 2015). Shifting this assumption can encourage organisations to make much more concerted efforts to acknowledge, address and (if necessary) confront individual staff members’ racist and/or homophobic attitudes. The research findings show that the design and implementation of this education should directly inform service models and policies that are developed in close collaboration and consultation with Elders, Aboriginal peak bodies and Aboriginal LGBT+ individuals and their families.

The uniqueness of Aboriginal family, culture, connections and community was highlighted by participants (and this view was later emphasised by Elders) when they were considering what was positive about being Aboriginal and LGBT+. Neufeld and Schmitt (2019) maintain that while superordinate identities such as ‘LGBT+’ and ‘Aboriginal peoples’ are important psychological resources for oppressed groups, and have the potential to increase social action and collective power, they can also create challenges and even threats for sub-groups. That is, they can result in the homogenising of differences, where anything that is different may be viewed as threatening to the interests of the collective. The positive aspects described by some of the Aboriginal LGBT+ participants in the current study, however, such as the support of their own families and communities, do provide potential for ways of strengthening Aboriginal LGBT+ peoples’ sense of belonging. The participants in this current study also provided examples of their willingness to act as mentors to others through the sharing of their experiences and guiding others through their journeys in seeking belonging (particularly on social media platforms). These are people who could be invited and supported (particularly financially) by organisations to inform the development of appropriate policies and service models that more adequately respond to the needs of Aboriginal LGBT+ people.

Several participants also described how attitudes towards Aboriginal LGBT+ communities were changing, particularly among younger Aboriginal people. In this current study there is also emerging support from some community Elders. There may be potential for organisations and governments, in respectful collaboration with Aboriginal peak bodies and Aboriginal LGBT+ individuals, to develop strategies for developing resources and education that support and more widely reflect these changing attitudes and how they are practised in social relationships. As Studdert and Valerie (2016) discuss, re-thinking of community as being about social relationships rather than a ‘thing’ that is ‘lost’, ‘found’ or made enables numerous and ongoing opportunities for individuals to belong.

Building on these ideas, Aboriginal LGBT+ communities might rather look like ‘constructed spaces of interesting social interactions, processes and co-presences’ (Bessant, 2018, p. 65). These ‘interesting social interactions’ could also allow space for disagreement and misunderstandings from the wider community towards Aboriginal LGBT+ people to be aired and discussed in safe, respectful and supported ways through Aboriginal-led and managed organisations or programs. Importantly, it must be stressed that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander LGBT+ communities are proactively constructing these spaces for themselves and forcing existing, predominantly white spaces, to be more inclusive (Hill, 2021a, 2021b). Therefore, there is clear potential here for health, education, social support and LGBT+ advocacy services to be guided by Aboriginal LGBT+ people and supportive community Elders to start developing respectful cultural protocols that enable safe and supported discussion. Furthermore, for Aboriginal-managed and led services (particularly peak bodies), there is a major opportunity for leadership that provides safe and supported spaces and ways of working with diverse Aboriginal and/or LGBT+ people that empower and enable them to articulate what inclusion and ‘community’ means for them.

The findings from this current research have highlighted both opportunities and barriers to Aboriginal LGBT+ individuals’ sense of pride and/or belonging to either Aboriginal and/or LGBT+ communities. While the barriers of racism, homophobia, queer-phobia and microaggressions are significant and should not be understated, there is also promise and potential in the responses. The question is how these instances of resistance and disruption can be enabled to proliferate and (if appropriate) be supported collectively, to enable Aboriginal LGBT+ individuals to experience a sense of pride and belonging to communities at times and in spaces of their own choosing.

Footnotes

Declaration of conflicting interests

The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Funding

The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This work was supported by the Healthway (grant number 31972).

ORCID iD

Jennifer Dodd

Notes

Author biographies

Braden Hill (BEd), (BA) Pro Vice Chancellor (Equity and Indigenous) Head of Centre Kurongkurl Katitjin Edith Cowan University.

Jennifer Dodd (BA Soc Sci (Hons), PhD, Kurongkurl Katitjin Aboriginal Centre, Edith Cowan University, Perth WA 6150.

Bep Uink (BPsy(Hons), MAppPsy(Clinical), PhD, Kulbardi Aboriginal Centre, Murdoch University, Perth WA 6150.

Dameyon Bonson GCert (Suicidology), Platymoose Solutions, Darwin NT.

Sian Bennett BA(Hons), BSc, Grad. Dip (Women's studies). Kurongkurl Katitjin Aboriginal Centre, Edith Cowan University, Perth WA 6150.

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