Young LGBTI+ adults across Europe are mapping their own paths to well-being in the face of rising anti-LGBTQ+ politics and economic instability. This matters because, despite legal progress in some countries, LGBTI+ youth remain far more likely than their heterosexual peers to experience depression, anxiety, and suicidal thoughts—and existing research has largely ignored how they navigate these pressures. The project will be the first qualitative study to compare the experiences of 18-to-24-year-olds across five diverse European nations: Estonia, Poland, Sweden, Switzerland, and the UK. Using creative participatory methods, the researchers will let young LGBTI+ people define well-being on their own terms and document the networks of resilience and resistance they build during crises. If successful, the findings could reshape how policymakers across Europe design mental health and social support systems—not by imposing top-down solutions, but by learning from the strategies young LGBTI+ people already use to protect their futures. The consortium includes academics, NGOs, and policy partners, increasing the chance that insights reach the people who design youth services and anti-discrimination policies.
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Despite progressive moves towards lesbian and gay equality, societal stigmatisation and discrimination persists across Europe. Lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans & intersex (LGBTI) people still experience significant inequalities in well-being, with these particularly pronounced for young LGBTI+ people who are at higher risk of depression, anxiety and suicidality than heterosexual youth. These risks have been compounded by numerous crises: for example, the pandemic, growing economic insecurity, and the rise of populist anti-LGBT / anti-gender political movements. Many young LGBTI+ people across Europe are growing up in a period of profound turbulence which may prevent them achieving their full potential in adulthood. Yet LGBTI+ youth remain significantly neglected in well-being research, despite sustained evidence of their unaddressed needs. This pan-European consortium of academics, policy makers and NGOs, will generate unique, in-depth data on how inequalities in well-being are experienced, and how LGBTI+ youth build networks of resilience and resistance in times of crisis. It will be the first qualitative study to examine LGBTI+ youth well-being across diverse national contexts: Estonia, Poland, Sweden, Switzerland and the UK. Its focus is on LGBTI+ youth on the cusp of adulthood (aged 18-24), exploring the challenges they face as they develop their identities and plan for their futures in the face of political and economic uncertainty. Creative participatory methods will produce in-depth data about what LGBTI+ youth think, and feel, about their lives and imagined futures. The project will let LGBTI+ young adults define what well-being means to them, and will open-up space for them to construct collective visions for a future in which their well-being can be enhanced. A key objective is to identify how policy makers can best tackle inequalities in LGBTI+ well-being by learning from the innovative strategies and visions developed by young LGBTI+ people themselves.
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