I was told by another Christian that gay people should not identify themselves as gay – that it shouldn’t be part of their identity. Of course that would diminish gay people’s control over how they are portrayed and understood in public discourse. By contrast, when LGBTQ+ people engage confidently with those who are neither familiar with nor sympathetic toward the realities of their lives, a healthy discomfort can develop which may enable people to learn and change their views toward them.
It’s therefore essential that LGBTQ+ people are visible online.
Since the early days of online networks, visibility has created space for LGBTQ+ people to connect, learn and be their authentic selves. This goes back at least as far as people discussing sexuality and gender online in the early 1980s. These pioneering discussions meant that queer people joining online discussions in later years had spaces carved out for them which enabled them to connect with others, learn and feel accepted. This is still the case. Isolated LGBTQ+ people take tentative steps to affirming themselves via online forums and social media.
But connecting online entails vulnerability, even though some anonymity may be possible, as the structure of online social networks means people with opposing views, often strongly held, are connected with one another. And, for people who also have religious identities, in many churches and other contexts they may feel their faith, sexuality and/or gender are in juxtaposition. Therefore LGBTQ+ people benefit from integrating into a community that affirms and values their lives, resolving the internal tensions they may feel around faith and their sexuality and/or gender.
But incivility and anger all too often dominate LGBTQ+ discussions online.
In part, this is due to online networks connecting disparate groups who may otherwise not connect, and because some people perceive that online spaces afford the free speech of a public square. People may then feel emboldened or authorised to share harmful views on others who they perceive should not have the same rights as them.
So how can we sculpt online spaces to support healthy interactions and avoid harms while accommodating disagreement? I aim to contribute to this discussion through my research by applying machine learning and close analysis to historical research datasets of online interactions. It’s clear that the structure and size of social networks, and behavioural norms embedded in them, influence people’s experiences in profound ways.
Tim Kinnear 