Gender-based violence (GBV) is often thought of as something that happens between a man and woman who are cisgender and heterosexual, so it is invisibilized or unintelligible that Two Spirit, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans, Queer, and other sexual and gender minorities (2SLGBTQ+) experience generally higher rates of GBV than their cisgender, heterosexual peers.

2SLGBTQ+ young people bear the brunt of this violence, and their experiences tend to go undiscussed in GBV prevention education and unrecognized in frontline services for survivors. This is concerning considering that 70% of trans and non-binary youth report experiencing sexual harassment.

This Issue is intended to provide information to better understand how GBV appears in 2SLGBTQ+ youths’ lives and some of the ways it can be addressed and prevented through an intersectional lens. This Issue will help contextualize how rape culture – a society that legitimizes and normalizes sexual and gendered violence – intersects with systems of domination and oppression, such as settler colonialism, racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, ableism, and classism, to disproportionately impact 2SLGBTQ+ youth who are BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Colour), disabled, and/or working class or poor.

Most importantly, this Issue aims to push against the deficit-based approach that is often used within community advocacy and research in 2SLGBTQ+ communities, seeking to highlight the ways that queer and trans youth are themselves resisting GBV. Lastly, the Issue calls on the need to centre queer and trans joy in efforts to dismantle rape culture and how frontline service providers can reject this “joy deficit” and recognize the wholeness of queer and trans youth.