A note on LGBTQA+ and First People’s representation

First a note on language used in this paper. All of the current terms used for both Indigenous and LGBTQA+ peoples are highly contested and contentious. LGBTQA+ was chosen by the project’s Youth Advisory Group, made up of young (14–25 years), Australian Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander LGBTQA+ people, as the collective term to be used by the project. Terms have changed over time, to some degree emerging out of a long history of resistance to colonial settler values and cultures, including binary, heteronormative, heteropatriarchal and cis-gendered moralities. For Indigenous peoples, given the diversity of cultures and languages, terms used to describe nations, communities, cultures and linguistic groups vary considerably both within country as well as from country to country. In the United States, terminology is mixed, although the term American Indian and Alaska Native (AIAN) is commonly used by Indigenous researchers in the literature reviewed here (Walters, Reference Walters1997; Walters et al. Reference Walters, Simoni and Evans-Campbell2001; Yuan et al. Reference Yuan, Duran, Walters, Pearson and Evans-Campbell2014). The use of ‘Two-Spirit’ as an identity came out of a pan-Indian gathering in Winnipeg, Canada in 1994 that adopted the term in order to overcome centuries of colonial attempts at erasure of non-binary Indigenous cultural identities and the imposition of heteronormative Western values (Hunt, Reference Hunt2016). The term ‘Two-Spirit’ is used by some Indigenous LGBTQA+ peoples in the United States and Canada as a way of re-affirming the interconnectedness of gender and sexuality diversity with traditional Indigenous non-binary worldviews and cultures (Lehavot et al. Reference Lehavot, Walters and Simoni2010).

In this paper, we use ‘Indigenous’ when speaking of Indigenous peoples more globally, however, where possible, will use country appropriate terms (e.g. American Indian, Alaskan Native or Australian Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander). And, where possible, we will use First Nation names where they are identified (e.g. Ojibwe in Canada or Bundjalung in Australia). However, many published papers discuss Indigenous peoples in generic terms, so this was not always possible. This issue also arose with the use of the term LGBTQA+ as a label for gender and sexuality diverse peoples. To overcome inconsistencies in the terms for non-binary, gender and sexuality diverse people, we adopted the terms found in the literature. For example, if authors referred to gay men, lesbians or trans people, then the discussion use these terms, while acknowledging that variances in terminology do not wholly reflect the social, political and cultural nuances and diversities of Indigenous genders and sexualities. We also use the term ‘Two-Spirit’, for example, although it is not accepted by all Indigenous LGBTQA+ people in the United States and Canada. However, it is used by some as a pan-Indian term ‘to connote diverse gender and sexual identities among AIAN and Canadian First Nations people’ (Balsam et al. Reference Balsam, Huang, Fieland, Simoni and Walters2004: 288). In this paper and in our research project, we define young people as being in the age range of 14–25 years. Finally, it must be made clear that this paper does not claim to speak for Indigenous LGBTQA+ young people nor is it necessarily representative of their lived experiences, needs, worldviews and aspirations.

Limitations of contemporary approaches

Based on the authors’ extant knowledge of the topic area, the lead author identified relevant literature on the SEWB of Indigenous LGBTQA+ young people in key social science databases (Informit, JSTOR, ProQuest and Scopus). The search for relevant studies was an exploratory stage in a larger research project investigating the SEWB of Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander LGBTQA+ young people (see Financial Support Statement for more details). The searches aimed to rapidly find literature unknown to the research team and that could potentially inform the subsequent project projectory.

Our preliminary searches found that globally information on the SEWB and mental health needs of young Indigenous LGBTQA+ people was virtually non-existent. Hence, the body of literature discussed in this paper has some limitations. This includes the predominance of English language research, the fact that the literature base is small and that it mostly covers concerns related to the settler colonial societies of Australia, Canada and the United States. The literature also only addresses youth in a limited fashion, often not distinguishing between youth and older people’s concerns and experiences. Consequently, the literature demonstrated a lot of similarities with that addressing older Indigenous LGBQA+ people. Studies that do address all three identities often fail to provide analysis across all three identities as they intersect: being Indigenous and LGBTQA+ and young, with many of the studies only dealing with two of these dimensions (Brotman et al. Reference Brotman, Ryan, Jalbert and Rowe2002; Evans-Campbell et al. Reference Evans-Campbell, Walters, Pearson and Campbell2012; Elm et al. Reference Elm, Lewis, Walters and Self2016; D’Amico et al. Reference D’Amico, Dickerson, Brown, Klein, Agniel and Johnson2019; Brown et al. Reference Brown, Dickerson, Klein, Agniel, Johnson and D’Amico2019). Research on the mental health of LGBTQA+ people, for example, includes small Indigenous samples but does not always explore the responses of Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander participants separately from the non-Indigenous ones (Hillier et al. Reference Hillier, Jones, Monagle, Overton, Gahan, Blackman and Mitchell2010; Robinson et al. Reference Robinson, Bansel, Denson, Ovenden and Davies2014; Smith et al. Reference Smith, Jones, Ward, Dixon, Mitchell and Hillier2014; Strauss et al. Reference Strauss, Cook, Winter, Watson, Wright Toussaint and Lin2017).

In addition to a scarcity of scholarship, another problem is that much of the research focuses on poor mental health and tends to ‘pathologise’ Indigenous and LGBTQA+ people. The focus is on individual illness, incapacity, powerlessness and hopelessness and concomitant suicidality, depression, anxiety and alcohol and illicit drug use/abuse. These kinds of analyses place the onus on an individual’s personal characteristics and identity rather than on the social determinants of health related to the impact of colonial settler policies and resultant trauma (Barney, Reference Barney2003; Gómez et al. Reference Gómez, Semenyna, Court and Vasey2017). A young individual who identifies as both LGBTQA+ and Indigenous is seen to be predestined to have poor mental health outcomes; strengths and ability to cope with social determinants are rarely discussed.

The focus on individual pathologies has also slowly shifted as more scholars (led by a substantive number of Indigenous scholars) demonstrate the necessity for a deeper understanding of the contextual factors influencing young, Indigenous and LGBTQA+ SEWB. Not always situated within sociology per se, this interdisciplinary and relatively new body of literature captures not only the individual experiences of Indigenous LGBTQA+ youth but also considers the collective impact of intergenerational historical and contemporary traumas on their collective SEWB (Walters, Reference Walters1997; Walters et al. Reference Walters, Simoni and Evans-Campbell2001; Brotman et al. Reference Brotman, Ryan, Jalbert and Rowe2002; Elm et al. Reference Elm, Lewis, Walters and Self2016; Parker et al. Reference Gómez, Semenyna, Court and Vasey2017). The key premise is that subsequent to the invasion of their territories by non-Indigenous settlers, Indigenous LGBTQA+ peoples have been exposed to settler values based on binary and cisgendered value systems such as heteronormativity and heteropatriarchy (Walters, Reference Walters1997; Brotman et al. Reference Brotman, Ryan, Jalbert and Rowe2002; Bayliss, Reference Bayliss2015; Monaghan, Reference Monaghan and Hodge2015; Elm et al. Reference Elm, Lewis, Walters and Self2016; Parker et al. Reference Gómez, Semenyna, Court and Vasey2017). The resulting colonial legacy of genocide, ethnocide, racism, homophobia, biphobia and transphobia has resulted in a unique history of stigmatization, discrimination and violence against Indigenous peoples with diverse genders and sexualities (Wilson, Reference Wilson1996; Walters, Reference Walters1997; Walters et al. Reference Walters, Simoni and Evans-Campbell2001; Bayliss, Reference Bayliss2015; Monaghan, Reference Monaghan and Hodge2015; Jolivette, Reference Jolivette2018). The ongoing exposure to negative experiences emerging out of colonization has exposed Indigenous LGBTQA+ youth to a unique combination of intersecting risk factors that has impacted on their overall wellbeing.

The role of settler colonialism

Gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender (hereafter collectively referred to as Two-Spirit) people often have specific cultural roles tied to their Indigenous communities. Over the past several centuries, however, colonization including the Indian boarding school movement had particularly pernicious cultural impacts on contemporary AIAN Two-Spirit populations and succeeded in undermining traditional roles and cultural acceptance (Evans-Campbell et al. Reference Evans-Campbell, Walters, Pearson and Campbell2012: 422).

Emerging out of broader processes of global colonization, settler colonialism is quite specific and applies to a relatively small set of former colonies. One of its distinguishing features is the attempted replacement and forced displacement of Indigenous populations by exogenous settler populations under the mandate of an external colonial power (Veracini, Reference Veracini2010). Once established, settler colonies replicated aspects of the social, political, economic and cultural systems from the original colonial metropole transposing them into the newly colonized environment and imposing them onto local Indigenous peoples (Veracini, Reference Veracini2010). These forms of governance favored the exogenous settler over the original First Nations Peoples. Over time, the demographic balance shifted more and more toward settler communities as each settler state attempted to systematically eliminate Indigenous peoples and cultures, in an attempt to annul preexisting ownership or custodianship of lands and waters (Veracini, Reference Veracini2010; Monaghan, Reference Monaghan and Hodge2015).

The role of colonization is critical to understanding consequential historical and contemporary traumas impacting the lives of Indigenous LGBTQA+ people (Balsam et al. Reference Balsam, Huang, Fieland, Simoni and Walters2004; Lehavot et al. Reference Lehavot, Walters and Simoni2010; Ristock et al. Reference Ristock, Zoccole and Passante2010a, Reference Ristock, Zoccole and Passante2010b; Passante, Reference Passante2012; Scheim et al. Reference Scheim, Jackson, James, Sharp Dopler, Pyne and Bauer2013; Yuan et al. Reference Yuan, Duran, Walters, Pearson and Evans-Campbell2014; NCTE, 2015; The Healing Foundation, 2015). Colonization is highly significant for Indigenous LGBTQA+ people in general as historically Christian settler states such as the United States and Australia were ‘antithetical to positive attitudes toward homosexuality’ (Walters, Reference Walters1997: 49). This is reflected in settler state policies and legislation such as the widespread criminalization of homosexuality in countries within the British empire (Han and Maloney, Reference Jolivette2018). Here, heterosexist Christian values of what was considered to be ‘acceptable’ sexual behavior, gendered identities and family life were actualized through legislation and rigorously enforced during the 19th and most of the 20th centuries (Han and Maloney, Reference Jolivette2018).

Colonial settler processes, policies and mechanisms aimed to control, assimilate or even eradicate Indigenous LGBTQA+ populations. Two interconnected colonial mechanisms highlighted in the literature of particular significance for all Indigenous LGBTQA+ peoples were Christianity and the forced removal of Indigenous children (Balsam, Reference Dahl2004; Lehavot et al. Reference Lehavot, Walters and Simoni2010; Passante, Reference Passante2012; Scheim et al. Reference Scheim, Jackson, James, Sharp Dopler, Pyne and Bauer2013; Yuan et al. Reference Yuan, Duran, Walters, Pearson and Evans-Campbell2014; The Healing Foundation, 2015). Christianity and the role of reserves, missions and missionaries were particularly significant in the history of Indigenous LGBTQA+ people living in settler states post-invasion. In the United States and Canada, for example, the existence of LGBTQA+ or Two-Spirit peoples challenged Christianity’s heteropatriarchal values based on the ideal family with rigid, binary gender and sexuality formations (Balsam, Reference Dahl2004; Scheim et al. Reference Scheim, Jackson, James, Sharp Dopler, Pyne and Bauer2013). In some cases, the threat posed by Indigenous LGBTQA+ peoples led to them being specifically targeted by missionaries and government agencies: ‘Evidence also suggests that gender-diverse and Two-Spirit people were particular targets of violence in Canada’s history of colonization, due to the challenge they posed to European Christian worldviews’ (Scheim et al. Reference Scheim, Jackson, James, Sharp Dopler, Pyne and Bauer2013: 109).

Settler states in collaboration with Christian churches also played a central role in the state sanctioned forced removal of children from their families and communities in Australia, Canada and the United States. The boarding school movement in Canada and the United States was central to colonial state strategies aimed at eliminating Indigenous populations and their cultures. Boarding schools ‘were often a metaphor for colonialism because of the removal of children from their parents and suppression of AI/AN culture. The boarding school movement was related to historical trauma defined as massive group trauma that contributes to cumulative emotional and psychological distress across the lifespan and multiple generations’ (Yuan et al. Reference Yuan, Duran, Walters, Pearson and Evans-Campbell2014: 10471). In the United States and Canada, deliberate ethnocide took place through boarding schools with First Nations Peoples not allowed to speak their own language, practice their spirituality or culture, be open about their sexuality or express traditional diverse, fluid gender identities (Lehavot et al. Reference Lehavot, Walters and Simoni2010; Evans-Campbell et al. Reference Evans-Campbell, Walters, Pearson and Campbell2012; Scheim et al. Reference Scheim, Jackson, James, Sharp Dopler, Pyne and Bauer2013; Yuan et al. Reference Yuan, Duran, Walters, Pearson and Evans-Campbell2014).

In a similar vein, Australian state agencies and Christian churches targeted and forcibly removed Australian Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander children from their families and communities in the interests of the state project of ‘assimilation’ (AHRC, 1997). The resulting trauma had long-lasting, severe impacts on Australian Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander LGBTQA+ peoples: ‘Discrimination for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander sexuality and gender diverse populations is layered on existing cultural trauma arising from the range of negative effects of colonization throughout history, including dislocation from lands, genocide and violence, programs of assimilation and in particular, and the Stolen Generations – the repeated forcible removal of children’ (The Healing Foundation, 2015: 16).

Homo/bi/transphobia, racism and discrimination

The ‘ongoing cumulative impact of colonization’ has created unique environments for Indigenous LGBTQA+ people that has exacerbated poor mental health outcomes (Balsam et al. Reference Balsam, Huang, Fieland, Simoni and Walters2004: 289). Indigenous LGBTQA+ young people face structural discrimination and marginalization based on their age, gender and/or sexuality and Indigeneity. Indigenous LGBTQA+ young people living in Indigenous communities have experienced violence, discrimination and fear once their gender diversity and/or sexual preferences became known. At this point, some communities start to deny, suppress, marginalize, discriminate and commit acts of violence against them (Balsam et al. Reference Balsam, Huang, Fieland, Simoni and Walters2004; Ristock et al. Reference Ristock, Zoccole and Passante2010a, Reference Ristock, Zoccole and Passante2010b; Passante, Reference Passante2012; Scheim et al. Reference Scheim, Jackson, James, Sharp Dopler, Pyne and Bauer2013).

Colonization and conversion to Christianity are considered key factors in determining Indigenous community attitudes to gender and sexuality diverse peoples (Balsam et al. Reference Balsam, Huang, Fieland, Simoni and Walters2004; Ristock et al. Reference Ristock, Zoccole and Passante2010a, Reference Ristock, Zoccole and Passante2010b; Passante, Reference Passante2012; Scheim et al. Reference Scheim, Jackson, James, Sharp Dopler, Pyne and Bauer2013). The role of Christianity and its binary, heterosexist values are key influences on the ways in which some communities dealt with their Two-Spirit members with ‘an almost wholesale acceptance of Christian teachings resulting in the erasure of positive Two-Spirit histories and traditions’ (Passante, Reference Passante2012: 166). As a young Métis Two-Spirit respondent from Winnipeg who lived in an Indigenous community that accepted and valued Two-Spirt people put it:

Many Indigenous LGBTQA+ youth find they could not live safely in Indigenous communities because of homophobia, biphobia or transphobia related violence or stigmatization; they often migrate to large cities and lose connections to country (lands and waters), family and community (Balsam et al. Reference Balsam, Huang, Fieland, Simoni and Walters2004; Ristock et al. Reference Ristock, Zoccole and Passante2010a, Reference Ristock, Zoccole and Passante2010b; Passante, Reference Passante2012). Some young people lose their connection to country, culture and spirituality exposing them to the full impact of racism, discrimination and colonialism from non-Indigenous mainstream and non-Indigenous LGBTQA+ communities (Balsam et al. Reference Balsam, Huang, Fieland, Simoni and Walters2004; Ristock et al. Reference Ristock, Zoccole and Passante2010a, Reference Ristock, Zoccole and Passante2010b; Passante, Reference Passante2012). Where this is the case, Indigenous LGBTQA+ young people then have to choose between gender/sexuality and culture/community: ‘Confronted with racism within lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender communities and homophobia in Native communities, Two-Spirits are often forced to choose between honouring their ethnic identity or their sexual/gender identity, creating unique stressors and health risk factors for this group’ (Balsam et al. Reference Balsam, Huang, Fieland, Simoni and Walters2004: 288). However, there are more drawbacks to city life such as the disconnect when encountering the attitudes and behaviors of non-Indigenous people and navigating non-Indigenous services:

The negative experiences emerging out of structural racism and discrimination against Indigenous LGBTQA+ young people include high levels of unemployment (NCTE, 2015), homelessness (Ristock et al. 2010; NCTE, 2012, 2015; Passante, Reference Passante2012; Scheim et al. Reference Scheim, Jackson, James, Sharp Dopler, Pyne and Bauer2013; The Healing Foundation, 2015), low incomes and poverty (Ristock et al. 2010; Passante, Reference Passante2012; Scheim et al. Reference Scheim, Jackson, James, Sharp Dopler, Pyne and Bauer2013; NCTE, 2015), food insecurity (Scheim et al. Reference Scheim, Jackson, James, Sharp Dopler, Pyne and Bauer2013) and incarceration (Ristock et al. 2010; Passante, Reference Passante2012; Scheim et al. Reference Scheim, Jackson, James, Sharp Dopler, Pyne and Bauer2013: 111; NCTE, 2015; The Healing Foundation, 2015). The National Center for Transgender Equality (2015) found that nearly one-quarter of AIAN trans respondents in their study were unemployed, close to five times the non-Indigenous US cisgendered average. Scheim and colleagues (Reference Scheim, Jackson, James, Sharp Dopler, Pyne and Bauer2013:113) found that one-third of Canadian First Nations, Métis and Inuit gender diverse participants were homeless or ‘unstably housed’ (living in a motel, boarding house or drug rehabilitation center; couch-surfing or squatting; not making housing costs). Another 29% had experienced food insecurity within the last year because of poverty and low incomes (Scheim et al. Reference Scheim, Jackson, James, Sharp Dopler, Pyne and Bauer2013).

Trauma and violence

The imposition of this kind of structural violence against Indigenous LGBTQA+ people has resulted in long-term intergenerational and contemporary traumas (Fieland et al. Reference Fieland, Walters, Simoni, Meyer and Northridge2007). Understanding Indigenous LGBTQA+ young peoples’ wellbeing necessitates an understanding of historical and contemporary events that have significantly impacted families and communities. Stories of violence, discrimination, marginalization, forced relocation off lands and away from waters, genocide and ethnocide have been passed down from one generation to the next (Balsam et al. Reference Balsam, Huang, Fieland, Simoni and Walters2004; Lehavot et al. Reference Lehavot, Walters and Simoni2010; Ristock et al. Reference Ristock, Zoccole and Passante2010a, Reference Ristock, Zoccole and Passante2010b; Passante, Reference Passante2012; Scheim et al. Reference Scheim, Jackson, James, Sharp Dopler, Pyne and Bauer2013; NCTE, 2015; The Healing Foundation, 2015). In addition, Indigenous LGBTQA+ youth experience in common with their heterosexual counterparts contemporary traumas as land rights are expunged and lands and waterways are destroyed or polluted. The impact is individual and collective, across generations with stories and life histories passed down from parents, aunts, uncles, grandparents, great-grandparents and other relatives (Balsam et al. Reference Balsam, Huang, Fieland, Simoni and Walters2004; NCTE, 2015; The Healing Foundation, 2015). However, Indigenous LGBTQA+ people also have their own unique stories as described by an Australian Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander woman:

The stresses placed on Indigenous families can be seen in reports from young Indigenous LGBTQA+ people regarding childhood maltreatment. Indigenous LGBTQA+ youth reportedly experience higher and more frequent instances of childhood physical maltreatment by parents or adult caregivers (Barney, Reference Barney2003; Balsam et al. Reference Balsam, Huang, Fieland, Simoni and Walters2004: 295; Lehavot et al. Reference Lehavot, Walters and Simoni2010; Yuan et al. Reference Yuan, Duran, Walters, Pearson and Evans-Campbell2014; NCTE, 2015; The Healing Foundation, 2015). They also report higher levels of sexual assault than their heterosexual and/or cisgender Indigenous peers (Lehavot et al. Reference Lehavot, Walters and Simoni2010: 60; Scheim et al. Reference Scheim, Jackson, James, Sharp Dopler, Pyne and Bauer2013; Yuan et al. Reference Yuan, Duran, Walters, Pearson and Evans-Campbell2014; NCTE, 2015). Why this is the case is the cause for speculation, with one group of authors hypothesizing that high levels of childhood maltreatment were possibly due to the fact that ‘adults who are already predisposed to violence may target a child who appears gender-nonconforming or otherwise socially different’ (Balsam et al. Reference Balsam, Huang, Fieland, Simoni and Walters2004: 297). Yuan et al. speculate that intersecting identities place young Indigenous LGBTQA+ people more in harm’s way as it exposes them to the possibility of victimization by different perpetrators threatened by different aspects of their ‘dual or triple oppressed statuses’ (Yuan et al. Reference Yuan, Duran, Walters, Pearson and Evans-Campbell2014: 10470).

Abuse and maltreatment of young Indigenous LGBTQA+ people are experienced right up to and into adulthood. This is the start of a lifetime of experiencing higher rates of violence, abuse, sexual and physical assault (Barney, Reference Barney2003; Balsam et al. Reference Balsam, Huang, Fieland, Simoni and Walters2004; Lehavot et al. Reference Lehavot, Walters and Simoni2010; Scheim et al. Reference Scheim, Jackson, James, Sharp Dopler, Pyne and Bauer2013; Yuan et al. Reference Yuan, Duran, Walters, Pearson and Evans-Campbell2014; NCTE, 2015; The Healing Foundation, 2015). One study of young gay male Indigenous adolescents also found that ‘Gay adolescents were much more likely to have experienced both physical and sexual abuse than heterosexual adolescents. Thirteen percent of gay adolescents had been sexually abused, as compared to 2.4% for heterosexual adolescents. Seventeen percent of gay adolescents had been physically abused as compared to 7.5% for heterosexual adolescents’ (Barney, Reference Barney2003: 147).

Resistance and resilience

Despite the inequities of colonization, Indigenous LGBTQA+ people also demonstrate strength and resilience, especially when they are supported and respected within their respective Indigenous and/or LGBTQA+ communities. Indigenous communities have changed and adapted in line with broader societal changes in attitudes creating safer, more positive spaces for Indigenous LGBTQA+ people especially in urban centers (Brotman et al. Reference Brotman, Ryan, Jalbert and Rowe2002). Positive traditions related to Two-Spirit peoples existed, and still do exist, in AIAN nations in the United States and Canada and, to a lesser extent, Australia (Barney, Reference Barney2003; Balsam et al. Reference Balsam, Huang, Fieland, Simoni and Walters2004; Ristock et al. Reference Ristock, Zoccole and Passante2010a, Reference Ristock, Zoccole and Passante2010b; Passante, Reference Passante2012; Scheim et al. Reference Scheim, Jackson, James, Sharp Dopler, Pyne and Bauer2013; Yuan et al. Reference Yuan, Duran, Walters, Pearson and Evans-Campbell2014; Bayliss, Reference Bayliss2015). Recognition and acceptance within their communities allows Indigenous LGBTQA+ people access to cultural and spiritual capital such as traditional healing practices, community ceremonies, rituals and community gatherings (Balsam et al. Reference Balsam, Huang, Fieland, Simoni and Walters2004; Willging et al. Reference Willging, Salvador and Kano2006; Passante, Reference Passante2012; Scheim et al. Reference Scheim, Jackson, James, Sharp Dopler, Pyne and Bauer2013; NCTE, 2015; The Healing Foundation, 2015). The importance of regaining or even creating new traditions that value and respect LGBTQA+ people as community members and leaders is important for positive wellbeing: ‘I really felt like I needed to reclaim something I lost because they [his parents] lost it….and you just get, you just have a sense of pride and that feeling is something that I cherish more so than anything else’ (quoted in Passante, Reference Passante2012: 129). Integration and acceptance in the non-Indigenous LGBTQA+ communities are also important for wellbeing: Indigenous LGBTQA+ people in all countries reported being able to find a sense of belonging and connection within some LGBTQA+ communities:

Discussion: settler colonialism and SEWB

So, what does the literature tell us about the wellbeing of Indigenous LGBTQA+ young people? First of all, we need to acknowledge the very real and continuing negative impacts of colonization on Indigenous LGBTQA+ young people’s wellbeing shared with their adult Indigenous peers (Balsam et al. Reference Balsam, Huang, Fieland, Simoni and Walters2004; Willging et al. Reference Willging, Salvador and Kano2006; Lehavot et al. Reference Lehavot, Walters and Simoni2010; Ristock et al. Reference Ristock, Zoccole and Passante2010a, Reference Ristock, Zoccole and Passante2010b; Passante, Reference Passante2012; Scheim et al. Reference Scheim, Jackson, James, Sharp Dopler, Pyne and Bauer2013; Yuan et al. Reference Yuan, Duran, Walters, Pearson and Evans-Campbell2014; NCTE, 2015; The Healing Foundation, 2015). Colonization has led to a series of experiences that cross generations with stories passed down from grandparents, uncles, aunts and other relatives. Young, Indigenous LGBTQA+ peoples share a history with their heterosexual peers of genocide, forced relocation from lands and waters, attempts to erase culture and language and the forced removal from families and communities (Balsam et al. Reference Balsam, Huang, Fieland, Simoni and Walters2004; Ristock et al. Reference Ristock, Zoccole and Passante2010a, Reference Ristock, Zoccole and Passante2010b; Passante, Reference Passante2012; Yuan et al. Reference Yuan, Duran, Walters, Pearson and Evans-Campbell2014).

In addition to this shared history, we need to recognize that Indigenous LGBTQA+ young people also share a unique history of being targeted by Christian settler states because of their gender and sexuality diversity. It is difficult to estimate the extent to which pre-invasion Indigenous cultures valued and respected their gender and sexuality diverse members and the degree to which gender and sexuality diverse people’s roles and responsibilities were extinguished by colonization. However, there is enough evidence to state that historical and contemporary attempts to impose binary, heteronormative, cisgender and heteropatriarchal values have had significant negative impacts on cultures that in many instances accepted gender and sexuality diversity. This has led to contemporary trauma and distress related to coming out to family and friends only to be rejected by communities that adopted settler state Christian values and consequential poor mental health outcomes, including post-traumatic reactions, depression, suicidality, alcohol abuse, substance use and psychological distress (Balsam et al. Reference Balsam, Huang, Fieland, Simoni and Walters2004; Willging et al. Reference Willging, Salvador and Kano2006; Lehavot et al. Reference Lehavot, Walters and Simoni2010; Ristock et al. Reference Ristock, Zoccole and Passante2010a, Reference Ristock, Zoccole and Passante2010b; Passante, Reference Passante2012; Scheim et al. Reference Scheim, Jackson, James, Sharp Dopler, Pyne and Bauer2013; Yuan et al. Reference Yuan, Duran, Walters, Pearson and Evans-Campbell2014; NCTE, 2015; The Healing Foundation, 2015).

It also needs to be acknowledged that the message is not all negative as Indigenous LGBTQA+ young people also resist and negotiate colonialism, developing strategies that enable them to overcome some of the worst aspects of living in settler societies that discriminate against and marginalize them based on their age, Indigeneity, genders and sexualities. The literature demonstrates the importance of approaches that emphasize collective wellbeing such as connections to culture and community. These factors have been shown to provide strength and support during times of stress or hardship. Although there are a diversity of different responses to resisting colonial attempts at erasure, Indigenous LGBTQA+ people continue to be respected community members. They have specific statuses, roles and responsibilities in the community including participating and leading community activities, meetings and rituals.

This paper’s findings are potentially of interest to other Indigenous LGBTQA+ peoples and Indigenous LGBTQA+ youth worldwide. A good example would be the Irish Travellers, an Indigenous ethnic minority from Ireland (McCalman, 2015; Quirke et al. Reference Quirke, Heinen, Daly and Kelleher2018; Barclay, 2020). Irish Traveller experiences are different from other colonized Indigenous populations in that ‘they have not been constructed as racially “Other”’ as have Indigenous populations in Australia, the United States or Canada (Hayes, Reference Hayes2006: 135). However, there are still commonalities: British colonial settler values, policies and practices, for example, are still explicitly or implicitly being applied to Irish Travellers post-independence (Hayes, Reference Hayes2006). Consequently, Travellers suffer from high rates of depression, anxiety and poor SEWB outcomes (AITHS, Reference Hillier, Jones, Monagle, Overton, Gahan, Blackman and Mitchell2010; McGorrian et al. Reference McGorrian, Hamid, Fitzpatrick, Daly and Malone2013; Malone et al. Reference Malone, McGuinness, Cleary, Jefferies, Owens and Kelleher2017; Tobin et al. Reference Tobin, Lambert and McCarthy2018). And like Indigenous peoples in Australia, Canada and the United States, there is an increasing recognition of the need for a more nuanced, strengths-based approach to Traveller wellbeing that takes into consideration broader structural factors, such as racism, discrimination and disadvantage (AITHS, Reference Hillier, Jones, Monagle, Overton, Gahan, Blackman and Mitchell2010; McGorrian et al. Reference McGorrian, Hamid, Fitzpatrick, Daly and Malone2013; Tobin et al. Reference Tobin, Lambert and McCarthy2018). Despite this, Irish Travellers also have an enormous cultural, social and spiritual capital that enable them to help overcome some of the worst aspects of living as a marginalized minority (Malone et al. Reference Jolivette2018). Similar to Australia (Bayliss, Reference Bayliss2015; BlaQ, 2020), there is little known about Traveller LGBTQA+ people and young Traveller LGBTQA+ people. Traveller LGBTQA+ advocacy campaigns are a relatively recent phenomenon that have, in part, emerged out of Traveller and LGBTQA+ rights campaigns (Pavee Point, 2020; Traveller Times, 2020). The need for a strengths-based approach that emphasizes the capacity and capabilities of young, Indigenous LGBTQA+ peoples underwritten by strong community support and cultural identities (Malone, Reference Gómez, Semenyna, Court and Vasey2017; Pavee Point, 2020; Travellers Times, 2020).

The lack of research on this topic worldwide also points out some strong caveats to any discussion on the SEWB of young, Indigenous LGBTQA people. The evidence base is very limited in countries such as Australia where comprehensive research into pre-invasion cultural and community values on gender and sexuality diverse peoples has not been undertaken and very little is definitively known. The United States and Canada both have had extensive research projects albeit most of them focused on adults. Understanding cultural, spiritual and social values is important given that the extant literature demonstrates the importance of culture and community for the wellbeing of Indigenous LGBTQA+ peoples. Positive traditions for gender and sexuality diverse peoples such as ‘Two-Spirit’ in Canada and the United States means that Indigenous LGBTQA+ young people can be open, visible and respected community members and play important roles in cultural life. How this plays out for young Indigenous LGBTQA+ peoples’ needs to be understood in more depth and more broadly in order to further strengthen and support resilience and resistance to the negative aspects of hostile settler societies. There is a clear and evident need for more Indigenous-led research that applies Indigenous research principles.