A while back, our clinician Abby Maher made a blog post of LGBTQIA+ friendly spaces in St. Petersburg area. It’s a great resource if you’re looking for physical queer-affirming places, and you can read it here. I wanted to expand that list into the online world.
On Instagram, we can witness individual experiences of others who we may not have access to in our daily lives. We also have LGBTQIA+ individuals who have had conversations about queerness many times over. For example, Alok Menon often uses their Instagram page as a public book report on LGBTQIA+ history. Eric Cervini is a historian who posts queer history on his Instagram. Blair Imani uses her Instagram to educate the public on a variety of social issues. She does so by platforming other people to speak with her on her page, highlighting their expertise and encouraging intersectionality in the process.
YouTube is a great place for longer content, which leads to LGBTQIA+ individuals making brilliant video essays and reaction videos. ContraPoints is a trans YouTuber who makes gorgeous videos which function both as education think pieces and stunningly filmed art projects. Philosophy Tube makes her philosophy degree public for all, doing so while making a public gender transition. Kat Blaque has been leading LGBTQIA+ discourse on YouTube since 2005.
Lastly, Reddit is a great community hub with lively LGBTQIA+ communities. A few of my favorites are r/gaybros and r/NonBinary. Reddit is especially community-based, though, so everyone’s experience needs to be personally curated to get the most out of it. I listed more communities below to get you started.
Please take care of yourself as you take this deep dive! Although I took care to provide links to people and communities that I trust, they won’t all be a good fit for everyone. If a person or community isn’t jiving for you, exit out, unfollow, and unsubscribe. With that said, I hope that this can be the beginning of expanding your online LGBTQIA+ circle.
LGBTQIA+ Instagrams:
Trans YouTubers:
LGBTQIA+ Reddit:
Contemporary Statistics:
Jacob Lundy is a Mental Health Student Intern at Cypress Wellness Center. He began pursuing a Bachelor in Psychology from Southern Illinois University Edwardsville and deeply fell in love with therapy when he finally went to therapy himself in his senior year. He has ten years of teaching experience including music, special education, and ESL. He also has three years of experience working as a personal service worker, showing comfort to autistic individuals. He's now pursuing a Master in Clinical Mental Health Counseling at Adams State University.
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