Queer Survivor Collective Futures

Previous research has demonstrated the scale of LGBTQI+ inequities and harms such as domestic and sexual violence, hate crime, criminalisation, homelessness, addiction, mental health and suicide. In constructing who is a ‘worthy’ victim, public and popular stories, law and order frames, victim services and institutions tend to privilege white cis-heteronormative positions (Donovan and Hester, 2014; Moran and Skeggs, 2004, Moran, 2014; Patterson, 2016). Coupled with regular revelations about cultures of misogyny, homophobia and racism in statutory services (e.g., Casey, 2023) a deep and persistent lack of trust in protective services persists within queer communities. The lens of ‘institutional betrayal’ (Smith and Freyd, 2014), highlights a crucial dynamic in which queer survivors are further harmed by the institutions, cultures and services they are reliant on for care, safety and justice. 

This challenge aims to think outside and beyond existing narratives, institutions and services for ways to meaningfully address and reduce harms experienced by queer survivors. To address this impasse, it will use co-creative transformative methods to generate collective knowledge with queer survivors whose own experiences of violence and adversity have occurred within and/or have been made worse by an institution or service. Building on traditional social research methods, trauma-informed and arts-based storytelling approaches will be used to (i) examine needs (ii) critique institutions, and (iii) imagine more caring, just and healing collective futures. The creative outputs produced will act as resources for healing and avenues to transform and extend existing services.