Lesbian Visibility Day: In Conversation with Dr. Shelley Craig
April 26th is Lesbian Visibility Day! Today we celebrate the history and diversity of lesbians and lesbian communities across the world, and to shine a light on the contributions that lesbians have made within the LGBTQ+ community and beyond.
That’s why we sat down with INQYR’s Principal Investigator, Dr. Shelley Craig (she/her) to talk about her journey as queer woman in research, the founding of INQYR, and LGBTQ+ youth mental health.
Photo: Dr. Shelley Craig
Tell me about your journey in coming to this work. What led you to be where you are today?
Growing up as one of two queer kids in a religious household, I recognized early on that I both had the ability to and liked to create spaces where people feel connected, comfortable, and like they fit in. I didn’t have many safe spaces myself, so I tried to create that for my sister as a young person. When I got older, I found social work as a path to create more safe spaces. I started to run small, community-based organizations for queer young people to explore their authentic and full selves. I created different queer organizations and programs over my career, and realized there was a gap in research around understanding the strengths of queer youth. I got my PhD because I wanted to learn how to do the research and tell the stories that need to be told, to help queer youth create spaces.
INQYR came about while I was learning more about the opportunities that social media was giving queer youth. Researchers in different countries and from different disciplines would reach out to me to understand how queer youth were using technology, so I created INQYR to bridge academia across these disciplines, to create a different dialogue.
Ultimately, INQYR is the culmination of understanding what was missing from my own childhood and adolescence, along with learning from the queer youth I work with, and turning it all into research that is helpful for youth.
What does the word “lesbian” mean to you, and is this a word you use to describe yourself?
Lesbian is a word I use to describe myself! But as I was growing up, there were limited words to define my experience. I embrace the lesbian identity, but I also recognize that there might be slightly different language I might use in the future to describe my experiences. I try to evolve as much as the young people I work with!
Historically, a lot of queer research focused on gay cis men, around HIV and sexual health. I’m grateful to them for moving things forward, but we now have more opportunities to highlight the work of lesbians, of gender diverse folks, and more. We can use our positionality to increase the awareness of different experiences.
What excites you most about your work at INQYR? Any specific projects you're most excited about?
What’s exciting about INQYR are the communities that we’ve built. Through the International Student Training Network, we’ve created a cadre of emerging and early established researchers and academics who have each other as a community—so that they’re not the only ones, like I was!
I’m very excited about our International Youth Advisory Board (IYAB). These are young people—in many cases, teenagers—who are learning about research but are essentially teaching us about the research that’s needed. They are so enthusiastic. There’s a spirit of reciprocity built into the IYAB—it’s incredible.
We’ve also cultivated a cross-cultural environment between our Spanish- and English-speaking teams. We don’t always see multilingual approaches to research, so having those connections is invaluable.
Who are some of your queer role models, or queer people who have helped shape your values?
I actually haven’t really had a lot of older queer role models. The first representation that I remember was Ellen DeGeneres—I had her haircut! That was helpful, but I didn’t know any queer folks growing up, nor did I know any “out” queer folks in my university spaces. There were academics whose work was impactful on my research—for example, Ilan Meyer, Lisa Bowleg, and Kimberlé Crenshaw. But for the most part, I didn’t have role models in the traditional sense.
When I was getting my PhD, I connected with queer colleagues and queer students at other universities, who I see as my role models. Though they might not be “role models” in the traditional sense, I’ve learned a lot from them.
What impacts do you hope your research will have on LGBTQ+ youth mental health?
I’m grateful to already be seeing some impacts of the research. Through my AFFIRM intervention, I’m seeing direct impacts on LGBTQ+ youth mental health, where queer youth can act as their own coaches, despite the stigma they face. I’m also seeing a shift in clinicians, to help them become more affirming, which will impact the youth that they work with.
On a higher level, we share INQYR’s research with the press and with policymakers to have broader impacts in countering anti-trans and anti-queer legislation, as well as understanding bans on social media. We can counter this prevailing, fear-based narrative around social media, and present more nuanced, evidence-based approaches that see social media as more helpful than harmful to queer youth.
If you could share a message to LGBTQ+ youth struggling with their mental health, what would you tell them?
I would say 2 things. 1) It makes sense that you would feel a lot of stress or feel that there might be something wrong with you, because of all the messages that you’re getting about LGBTQ+ people, and 2) It’s not you, it’s them! And there are people out there who have your back—you just need to find them.
