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LGBTQIA+ People and COVID-19

For some LGBTQIA+ students, being away from VCU’s campus during the pandemic may mean being separated from your supportive community. Here are some tips to help.

Resources

Stay Connected within the LGBTQIA+ community

VCU Queer Virtual Coffee Hour by OMSA

Transgender Law Center is hosting virtual community gatherings

Your Holiday Mom During Social Distancing

Queer Your Queue: Check Out These Livestreamed Performances and Events

Trevor Project's Youth Counselors at the National Center for Transgender Equality are available to young LGBTQ people through online chat, text, or phone

Fun Resources

20 Queer Comics to Sink Into in Quarantine

10 LGBTQ+ Films and Movies to Stream this April

55 of the best queer books of 2019

82 queer TV shows to stream on Netflix

Netflix Party (Google Chrome extension to watch Netflix shows at the same time as other people, virtually)

TwoSeven (watch other streaming things, together, virtually!)

Self-Care Resources

Queering The Path: Journal Prompts to help inspire Folx to work through any anxious feelings they may be experiencing during this time.

Getting emotionally organized during a crisis

Grounding, meditation, and mindfulness techniques from Calm (free)

Be an advocate for global LGBTQ+ community

Other Helpful Resources

Resources gathered by American Psychological Association of Graduate Students Committee on Sexual Orientation and Gender Diversity, LGBTQ+ Mentorship Program:

COVID-19: A Black, Queer, Feminist Grounding and Call for Self and Community Care

The Coronavirus (COVID-19): What Trans People Need to Know (includes instructions on binding safely)

Ithaca College's LGBTQ+ People and COVID-19

How Queer People are Getting Off While Staying In

20 Ways to Financially Support the Queer Community During Coronavirus

LGBTQ+ Funding Resources Through COVID-19

Local and National Support Resources

The lives of LGBTQ+ people, especially those with multiplicatively targeted identities, are at risk during COVID-19. Many sectors that are heavily impacted by the pandemic, like food service or gig industries, employ LGBTQ+ people.

LGBTQ+ people also face significant economic disparities compared to their peers. Including being poorer, on average, and being less likely to have health insurance coverage, they more often lack the resources they need to stay afloat during times of crisis.

The National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs also recently reported that they are already seeing how the pandemic is severely impacting survivors of violence and making many vulnerable to increased violence and discrimination in their own homes. Many of their clients are sheltering in place with the very person who is causing them harm, whether it is an intimate partner, a roommate, or a family member.

The Department of Gender, Sexuality and Women’s Studies at Virginia Commonwealth University has compiled a list of national, regional, and local safety and harm reduction resources. These resources include information on reporting violence, seeking shelter, navigating the healthcare system, alternatives to carceral-legal interactions (e.g., restorative/transformative justice), and immigration/DACA updates.

Richmond Local LGBTQ+ Direct Support Services

National LGBTQ+ Direct Support Services

National Toolkits and Resource Lists