Mental Health at the Margins: The Role of Intersectionality in 2SLGBTQIA+ Wellbeing
- Celeste Francis-Gomesz
- Jun 14
- 3 min read
When we talk about mental health in the queer community, we often focus on identity: being gay, bisexual, trans, non-binary, or anywhere on the 2SLGBTQIA+ spectrum. But identity is never one-dimensional, that’s where it starts to get complex. And that complexity is not a complication - it's your reality, and it matters deeply in therapy.
This is where intersectionality becomes essential in understanding and supporting queer mental health.
What Is Intersectionality?
Coined by scholar Kimberlé Crenshaw, intersectionality describes how different aspects of a person's identity - race, gender, sexuality, class, ability, and more - interact to shape individual experiences, especially with regard to systems of oppression and privilege.
Intersectionality helps therapists recognize that mental health concerns don’t exist in a vacuum - they are deeply influenced by systemic inequality and layered trauma. A queer Black woman’s experience of depression is not the same as that of a white gay man. A non-binary person with a disability might face barriers to healthcare that others don’t even consider. Their risks, resilience, and needs in therapy will not be the same.
How Intersecting Identities Shape Queer Mental Health
Here are just a few ways intersecting identities show up in queer mental health:
Race and Queer Identity
For queer people of colour (QPOC), racism and queerphobia often converge to create layered experiences of marginalization. They may experience:
Exclusion within white-dominated 2SLGBTQIA+ spaces.
Cultural stigma within their racial or ethnic communities where queerness may be
misunderstood, shamed, or silenced.
Heightened exposure to trauma, such as racial profiling and discrimination based on their sexual or gender identity.
Gender Identity and Socioeconomic Status
Trans and non-binary individuals, especially those from low-income backgrounds, face systemic barriers that put their mental health at risk:
Unemployment and underemployment, due to workplace discrimination or lack of legal protection.
Housing insecurity, particularly for trans youth who are more likely to be kicked out of their homes or denied access to shelters.
Limited access to gender-affirming care, which is essential to psychological well-being, but often unaffordable or inaccessible in their area.
Disability and Queerness
Queer individuals with physical, intellectual, or psychiatric disabilities navigate multiple stigmas:
Desexualization or fetishization: leading to erasure of their identity or objectification.
Healthcare discrimination: where both their queerness and disability are pathologized or dismissed.
Social isolation: as accessible and inclusive queer spaces are still too rare.
Religious Background and Queer Identity
For many queer individuals, growing up in conservative or religious environments can result in:
Internalized queerphobia: guilt, or shame associated with their identity.
Spiritual trauma: including being exiled from faith communities or forced into conversion therapy.
Identity conflict: where reconciling their spiritual beliefs and queer identity feels impossible.
These are only a few examples but a powerful reminder that each person’s story is made up of different parts. A queer person’s mental health is shaped not just by their identity, but by how the world treats that identity in relation to all their others.
As therapists, allies, and community members, our responsibility is to hold space for this complexity with empathy, humility, and a willingness to challenge the systems that cause harm.
What This Means for Therapy
As a therapist, it’s important to not only be 2SLGBTQIA+ affirming but also intersectionality-informed. That means:
Asking, not assuming. Each client brings a unique story shaped by multiple identities. Honour that by being curious, humble, and open.
Holding space for complexity. Some clients experience conflicting feelings around identity, especially if they’ve been marginalized in multiple ways. Therapy should be a space where that complexity is respected and embraced.
You Deserve to Be Seen Fully
The path to healing starts when we feel safe enough to show up as our whole selves.
That includes the joyful, painful, and powerful parts of who we are.
If you’re a queer person struggling with mental health, know this: your experience matters. Your identity is valid in all its layers. You are not too much. You are not alone.
In Pride Month, and every month, let us remember that true 2SLGBTQIA+ affirmation includes all the identities we carry.
Are you ready to begin your journey towards self-acceptance? Therapy can be a great place to start.
