Using Creative Methodology to Explore Life-time LGBTQ+ Love and Relationship Experiences: Towards Positive Intergenerational Exchange

This study explored younger and older peoples’ LGBTQ+ love and relationship experiences using creative methodology. Three 2-hour virtual intergenerational storytelling and creative writing workshops were conducted at the height of COVID-19. Participants included 3 middle – older aged adults; 2 adults; and 5 youths who identified as either lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or queer. Participants’ stories were audio-recorded, transcribed and thematically analysed to capture understandings of: intergenerational knowledge exchange; LGBTQ+ love and relationships across sociocultural and environmental contexts; and unpack diverse experiences shared through a self-reflexive creative writing process. Six themes emerged from the analysis: role of technology in facilitating and hindering love and relationship experiences; making non-romantic connections within LGBTQ+ communities; impact of COVID-19 on LGBTQ+ love and relationships; creating one’s own community (logical versus biological families); and storytelling as beneficial for understanding one’s own experience. Key findings culminated a collection of short stories premised on lifetime LGBTQ+ love and relationship accounts of inclusion and exclusion, and were shared broadly in the shape of a zine. Participants reported that being able to craft their stories was a freeing experience, enabling sense-making to occur. Using creative methodology was demonstrated as an effective way to facilitate intergenerational engagement, and bring to light the complexities of LGBTQ+ love and relationships across generations.