Geographies of becoming: exploring safer spaces for coming out of the closet!

Abstract

LGBTQI issues have become commonly investigated phenomena in research lately, probably due to the rise in the number of queer sexuality people who are “coming out” to open about their true sexual identities. A lot of research today explores LGBTQI population challenges. One critical challenge facing this minority population is their constant movement from one place to the other. Though research on LGBTQI migration is constantly growing, there is still increasing concern that this minority population choose to reveal their true sexual statuses in other geographical spaces while conceal in others. Only few studies endeavor to address the relationship between “coming out” decision and LGBTQI movement from around and/or between spaces. This paper explores how geographical context determines “the coming out of closet” for LGBTQI population. We seek to enquire why the minority populations choose to “come out” in some places and remain closeted in some. How do geographical spaces determine “coming out of closet” by LGBTQI population? How can dialogues be used to explore the relationship between “coming out of closet” and LGBTQI migration?’ community dialogues were used at Qoqolosing community. Diverse populations were represented in terms of church denominations, age, social class, and most importantly gender. Our results demonstrated that quite a noticeable number of LGBTQI population in Lesotho spend their lives moving around, searching for the right space to live their lives openly as queer sexuality persons. These results go beyond previous reports, showing that LGBTQI normally move from villages to towns where there is greater acceptance of LGBTQI people. Our study, thus expand the existing body of research on LGTBQI and migration by stipulating that, this minority populations migrate and relocate specifically to reveal their true sexual statuses. Taken together, the findings of this study revealed a strong correlation between revealing ones true sexual status and the environment one is exposed toFindings underscore the importance of geographical factors for “coming out of closet” for LGBTQI population. The paper suggests further investigation relating to the impact of constant relocation to LGBTQI socio-economic statuses.

Keywords

• Closet
• Diversity
• Gender
• Village
• Migration
• Lesotho