LGBTQ+ Youth Euphorias! Stop-Start Shifts in LGBTQ+ Youth Happiness & Comfort

Abstract

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ+) students were a point of policy contention in recent elections and often portrayed as victims. This chapter investigates 1968 LGBTQ+ students experiences of euphoria. Of over a third who had euphoric experiences, most students experienced euphorias sometimes or often. Young, out, and non-binary youth especially experienced euphorias. Community Connection, Acceptance, Category Validation, and Institutional Inclusion euphorias dominated. Change-trends included: (1) increase and intensification of Acceptance euphorias with support; (2) shifts in Category Validation euphorias dependent on identity fit, exposure and bias; (3) more Acceptance euphorias upon dissipation of internalised biases, and (4) heightening and deadening of Acceptance euphoria around specific teachers. Changes to youth euphorias thus had a monumentality; Acceptance and Category validation euphorias were especially reactive.

Key Points

• Over a third of LGBTQ+ students experience education-based euphorias; the likelihood increased for those who were younger, allocated non-male sex, non-binary, and always out.

• They were less likely to experience euphorias in religious and rural schools.

• Externally and socially driven Community Connection and Acceptance euphorias were most dominant for youth.

• LGBTQ+ students’ Category Validation euphorias shifted often around category fit and social endorsement.

• Some LGBTQ+ students’ euphorias were heightened or deadened by certain teachers.

Introduction

I soon abandoned my label as Bisexual and felt much more comfortable identifying as a lesbian, much happier and euphoric, however when I first made that shift, I sobbed at the lost experiences. To me, the hard part wasn’t liking girls, the hard part was not liking boys. Something still felt wrong with this change. Eventually, I understood what asexuality was, and realised that that was the identity that seemed most like me. This was the worst realisation to me. This destroyed me. I believed that this would ruin my chances of finding love, of having a partner and building a life with someone because I just can’t understand the standard dating scene, because people will misunderstand the label and assume I don’t want a partner, because I lose so many experiences that other people—queer or straight—get to have. I have grown into my label, although I usually just say that I am gay to avoid explaining that I am actually asexual but date girls … I have been questioning my gender more and more, but I cannot say how it will turn out. (Chloe, Asexual Lesbian CIS/Questioning Female, 16yrs on sudden shifts in Category Validation euphoria across her sexual and gender identity moratoriums)

Debates around lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ+) youth in education are heated and the United Nations promotes anti-bullying protections for the group [1, 2]. LGBTQ+ students have been points of policy contention in the last three Australian elections and multiple proposed bills—including those further enshrining religious schools’ rights to expel them, dismantling government-funded programme like ‘Safe Schools’ designed to protect them, and limiting educators’ abilities to mention gender diversity [3,4,5]. This chapter briefly reviews literature on LGBTQ+ students, showing its victimhood emphases. It then continues from Chap. 3’s broader presentation of euphoria data from the LGBTQ+ You study, expanding upon findings of the student survey’s data and its contributions.

Victimising LGBTQ+ Students in Education Research

Education research on LGBTQ+ youth has several trends constructing these students as overlooked or invisible, or victims of social or structural conditions since the early 2000s. First, some secondary analyses of national survey studies portray the group as overlooked ‘others’; especially in work conducted from Euro-centric or Western perspectives [6]. These studies included both general sexuality education surveys with one or two questions on sexual behaviours or experiences, and youth studies in which LGBTQ+ young people formed a specific subgroup through a question on sexual preference or identity. Second, research constructing LGBTQ+ youth as at risk of victimhood or discrimination comprised descriptive, correlational, or mixed methods studies using LGBTQ+-specific surveys, interviews, and focus groups [7,8,9]. These studies commonly operated within Critical/Gay Liberationist methodologies and identified links between LGBTQ+ students’ experiences of homophobic bullying and problematic mental and sexual health, wellbeing, and educational outcomes. This research necessarily stressed victimhood in foregrounding real education problems and suicide risks.

Third, studies portraying LGBTQ+ youth as invisible semantic groups used semiotic or cultural investigation of policies, textbooks, and other resources. These studies generally utilised content analysis, semiotic theory, discourse analysis and sometimes feminist or Gay Liberationist frames [10]. Study objectives included investigating barriers to effective sexuality education, revealing lacks in LGBTQ+ coverage. Fourth, studies constructing LGBTQ+ people as a special needs group involved quantitative and qualitative evaluative research on interventions, sexuality education programmes, and support structures [7, 11]. Finally, some studies cast LGBTQ+ youth as conceptually disruptive subjects, especially post-structuralist and critical post-modern historical investigations of sexuality education discourses in Western countries [12], and studies applying Queer theory to sexuality education texts [13]. Though research acknowledging LGBTQ+ students’ negative experiences or centring disruptiveness underscored advocacy towards policy protections and social change, factors aiding LGBTQ+ students in thriving remain unexamined.

Redressing Youth Euphoria Research Gaps

Researchers have called for more positive strengths-based constructions of LGBTQ+ youth and factors contributing to their thriving [14], neglecting euphorias. This chapter explores:

• 1. How can we characterise typical euphoric (happy or comfortable) experiences of LGBTQ+ students, and their influences?

• 2. How do these euphorias typically change over time, and what influences changes?

The following data stem from the 2021–2022 LGBTQ+ You study’s 1968 student surveys (Chap. 3 includes methodology and methods).

LGBTQ+ You Student Survey Findings

Existence of Youths’ Euphorias

Of the 1967 LGBTQ+ students aged 14+yrs who answered the question, ‘Have you ever felt happy or comfortable (euphoric) about your LGBTQ+ identity in school?’, 810 (41.2%) had never felt euphoric; 755 (38.4%) had; and 402 (20.4%) were unsure (Fig. 4.1). Table 4.1 shows how LGBTQ+ students’ demographics and euphorias intersected. There were no relationships for students’ euphorias for Indigeneity, CALD, dis/ability, sexuality, education institution state, or Year level. Table 4.2 shows significant relationships between students’ increased likelihood of euphorias and being under 18yrs (p < 0.05); assigned an F/female or X/another (non-male) sex at birth (p < 0.05);¹ or non-binary (p < 0.01).² There was a highly significant relationship between student euphorias and never concealing LGBTQ+ identity (p < 0.001). Over half of LGBTQ+ students attending non-religious independent/private schools experienced euphoria, yet there was a highly significant decreased likelihood for LGBTQ+ student euphorias in religious private (p < 0.001) and rural schools (p < 0.001).

Fig. 4.1

Whether LGBTQ+ youth felt euphoric about identity in education

Table 4.1 LGBTQ+ students’ euphorias versus demographics

Table 4.2 Relationships between LGBTQ+ students’ euphorias and demographics

Frequency of Youths’ Euphorias

Youth who experienced education-based euphorias were asked ‘How often have you felt happy or comfortable (euphoric) about your LGBTQ+ identity in the school you attend?’ Most selected ‘sometimes’ (just under half, Fig. 4.2) or ‘often’ (around a third). Fewer selected rarely (15.0%) or always (5.4%). Four said never, three preferred not to say.

Fig. 4.2

LGBTQ+ students’ euphoric frequency

LGBTQ+ Students’ Euphorias

Students were asked: ‘Please tell us a time when you felt particularly euphoric (happy or comfortable) about your LGBTQ+ identity in school’. Leximancer revealed four themes in their 706 write-in responses: school, feel, teachers and pride (Fig. 4.3).

Fig. 4.3

Leximancer map for LGBTQ+ students’ euphoria descriptions (N=706)

‘School’: Students’ Dominant Community Connection Euphoria

The largest Leximancer-identified theme for students’ euphorias was ‘school’ (553 hits, 100% relationality). It captured LGBTQ+ students’ Community Connection euphoria—enhanced support, safety and confidence from connection to other LGBTQ+ individuals and groups in schools (sub-concepts: school, LGBTQ, people, community, supportive, group, students, time, gender, sexuality, safe, club, others). Students described schools as social worlds, first and foremost; collections of people not sites for service provision (as for parents) or pedagogies and relational hierarchies (as for staff). Thus, their dominant positive experiences emphasised schools enabling LGBTQ+ communion. Core communion sources included gay-straight-alliances (GSAs), or queer-related clubs and peer groups. These typically featured more LGB than transgender and gender diverse (TGD) students due to their increased population representation generally. Sometimes groupings were institutionally supported, sometimes not. Ollie’s (Asexual/Lesbian Genderfluid, 14yrs) school had an unofficial: ‘small lunch time group for people in the lgbtq community to play games’. Giovanni (Bisexual Non-Binary Person, 16yrs) explained their SA public school had an official ‘gsd group (gender and sexual diversity)’ group:

Often when in this group, surrounded by supportive people who understand my struggles, I feel comfortable in my identity (…) and watch people become more confident in their identity (as well as finding friends in the community or allies). I have been able to be confident in my own sexuality/gender anywhere in the school.

Harlan (Bisexual Non-Binary Person, 16yrs) reflected that his current vocational education programme at a NSW TAFE:

is very inclusive and comfortable with students in the LGBT+ community so I often feel comfortable and safe to be there. One particular time I felt euphoric is when I came out as trans to someone.

Story (Bisexual Genderfaer, 14yrs) was typical of many students whose euphorias sparked over engaging with school LGBTQ+ community for the first time. Year Eight at their current NSW public school held an ‘LGBTQ+ civi day’ celebrating queer identities:

people had brought pride flags, wore rainbow clothes and accessories and everybody looked so happy and so proud. I had grown up in regional Sydney and attended a Catholic school, and this was the first time I had ever seen people in real life celebrating or actively supporting the LGBTQ+ community. At the time I was still questioning, but it made me feel safe, and confident in my identity.

Euphoria was also incited by reciprocally aiding others’ first engagement as school LGBTQ+ community representatives. Demarco (Bisexual Cis-male, 16yrs) said at his Victorian public school, ‘It is nice knowing that you can support others who can support you’. Thus students’ Community Connection euphoria had reciprocity and circularity; youth learned from others’ confidence and LGBTQ+ community experience within social engagements or observations, later passing these contributions onwards. This theme linked to ‘feel’, ‘pride’, and ‘teachers’.

‘Feel’: Students’ Acceptance Euphoria Underlined Friends

‘Feel’ (522 hits, 74% relationality) explored how social (peer) acceptance combatted loneliness or other negative feelings, contributing to self-acceptance (sub-concepts: feel, friends, happy, comfortable, talk, identity, queer, able, accepting, gay). Irene (Lesbian Cis-female, 16yrs) said euphoria was incited by coming out to most of her friends by Year Eleven in a Victorian public school; ‘afterwards I felt comfortable and happy to talk to them about things like that’. Cortnette (Bisexual Demi-Girl, 15yrs) felt euphoria due to being accepted by many in the Ninth Year at a SA public school: ‘the majority of my friends are queer and so being able to talk them about lgbtq+ stuff makes me comfortable and happy that other people understand how I feel’. Emerald (Bisexual Cis-female, 15yrs), also in the Ninth Year at a public school in NSW, said euphoria came from, ‘Hanging out with my queer friends in drama. We were just talking about the struggles but also all of our gay awakenings and happy moments’. Finally, some like Ivan (Gay Cis-male, 16yrs) reflected that euphoria was sparked by the realisation he had acceptance by Year Eleven in his ACT public school, when others lacked support:

Once I was with a guy who was hinting at being gay alone in a space at the school and I felt really happy to have been able to come out to myself and others and truly love myself for I thought I’d be able to actually live happily with another man the same as heterosexual couples do even in college.

Youths’ (Social-) Acceptance euphorias thus emerged on nullification of perceived social exclusion threats. They overlapped with Community Connection euphorias where acceptance came from LGBTQ+ school community or was relative to others’ acceptance levels.

‘Teachers’: Students’ Category Validation Euphoria Led by Pedagogies

‘Teachers’ (263 hits, 53% relationality) illustrated LGBTQ+ students’ positive feelings around how their gender identity category was validated by teachers (sub-concepts: teachers, pronouns, name, class, started, asked). Comments were overwhelmingly from TGD youth. Over a hundred quotes reflected teachers’ sparking students’ Category Validation euphorias through compliance with directly requested name changes and pronoun use. Derwin (Bisexual Trans-male, 15yrs) experienced euphoria in a religious Victorian school, ‘When I first told my year 9 English teacher I was trans and she started using my correct name in class’. Sal (Asexual Trans-male, 15yrs) similarly recalled that in the Tenth Year in a QLD public school: ‘The first few times my teachers started using my correct name and pronouns in class made me feel very euphoric’. Sometimes, staff and/or students sparked euphorias in requesting, and then fulfilling, participants’ category validation needs. Alton (Asexual Non-Binary Person, 14yrs) felt euphoria at their WA public school when ‘A teacher of mine asked me for my preferred name and pronouns’. Two dozen quotes reflected gendered form, bathroom and policy inclusion, whilst other quotes reflected combined social and structural validation. Bronn (Queer Non-Binary Person, 17yrs) experienced euphorias as their category was validated across their Victorian public school:

when my friends started to call me by my chosen name, and a lot of my year level cohort caught on quickly and would refer to me by my chosen name despite me not asking them to. This is also the case with a couple of my teachers who approached me and asked me for my name and pronouns after overhearing … the unquestioning, quiet acceptance of who I am has been really nice and means a lot more to me than the big school events such as ‘wear it purple day’ celebrations which often come off as a bit tokenistic.

In rare comments, the mere promise of teachers’ potential category validation of students’ gender if needed, kindled euphorias. For example, Alpha (Bisexual Non-Binary Person, 14yrs) explained that in their Year Eight QLD public school:

We were naming this stuffed animal for philosophy (to throw around and take turns with), and once we decided a name, the teacher asked what the toy’s pronouns were (now the toy uses he/they), and it made me pretty sure if I was to ever tell the teacher my pronouns it would be ok.

For (especially TGD) students, Category Validation Euphoria accordingly had overlaps to Community Connection and Institutional Inclusion euphorias through the supportiveness of social and institutional communities for their identities.

‘Pride’: Students’ Institutional Inclusion Euphoria Emphasised Events

‘Pride’ (112 hits, 21% relationality) constituted LGBTQ+ students’ feelings of visibility, fun and safety from their schools’ institutional efforts at direct structural supports and celebratory inclusion (sub-concepts: pride, day, wear, purple, flag). Students emphasised recognition of Wear it Purple Days, International Days Against Homophobia, Intersex-bias, and Transphobia (IDAHOBITs) and Pride Days as key sources of Institutional Inclusion euphorias. For example, Bee (Bisexual Demi-Girl, 14yrs) reported euphoria at a NSW public school: ‘when we did a Wear it Purple day for lgbtq+ pride’. Blaise (Gay Non-Binary Person, 15yrs) experienced euphoria when their Victorian public school ‘had a whole week dedicated to IDAHOBIT day activities, including a pride flag display’. Trinity (Bisexual Cis-female, 17yrs) reported euphoria when her Victorian non-religious independent school: ‘gave out wristbands for Wear it Purple Day’. Antonella (Lesbian Cis-female, 14yrs) reflected her WA public school ‘has a pride day and I got to get my flag painted on my cheek and it was really fun’. Riley (Gay Questioning Gender, 18yrs) explained their Institutional Inclusion euphoria was sparked by their Victorian public school’s ‘Wear it Purple Day and IDAHOBIT’, involving:

hosting small events or putting up posts to educate students on LGBTQ+ identities which makes me feel more seen and safe. An event in 2019 was allowing students to write messages on sticky notes that were stuck on a rainbow flag in the courtyard. These had really kind and inspiring things written on them which made me feel good about myself and safer at school.

Students’ Community Connection and Institutional Inclusion euphorias had overlaps seen in these comments and the Leximancer map on ‘special events’ celebrating LGBTQ+ and institutional connections.

Existence of Changes in Youth Euphorias

Youth experiencing education-based euphorias were asked ‘Has your sense of euphoria (happiness or comfort) with your LGBTQ+ identity changed over time?’. Around two thirds reported that ‘Yes’ it had changed over time (64.1%, Fig. 4.4). Less than a quarter were ‘Unsure’ (23.2%), and 12.8% indicated ‘No’ changes.

Fig. 4.4

LGBTQ+ students’ euphoric change

Change-trends for LGBTQ+ Youth Euphorias

Students were asked: ‘Please describe how your sense of euphoria (comfort or happiness) about your LGBTQ+ identity has changed over time’. Leximancer found six themes across their 439 responses: feel, people, friends, become, bisexual and teachers (Fig. 4.5).

Fig. 4.5

Leximancer map for LGBTQ+ students’ euphoric change descriptions (N=439)

‘Feel’ & ‘People’: Students’ Acceptance (& Other) Euphorias Intensified with Support

The largest two overlapping Leximancer-identified themes for LGBTQ+ youth euphoria change-trends were ‘feel’ (442 hits, 100% relationality) and ‘people’ (370 hits, 71% relationality). They portrayed students’ increased Acceptance (and other) euphorias over time (sub-concepts: feel, comfortable, identity, time, gender, euphoria, coming, people, sexuality, used, queer, others, community, LGBTQ, someone, proud). For example, at her NSW public school Valentina (Bisexual Cis-female, 15yrs) felt Acceptance and Community Connection euphorias ‘increased over time, I feel most likely due to more people around me coming out’. Anna (Bisexual Non-Binary Person, 16yrs) felt these euphorias expand ‘through conversations with my friends and peers over what gender is’. Bronn (Queer Non-Binary Person, 17yrs) reported Acceptance and Category Validation euphoria increase around friends at their Victorian public school, with lapses during invalidations:

After coming out, particularly to friends, there was a brief period of a few months of pretty high levels of euphoria (…) My levels of euphoria are fairly consistent now but fluctuate a bit as I’m not properly out to my school or work yet, so there’s a fair bit of deadnaming and misgendering that occurs.

These euphorias increased for Christina (Lesbian Cis-female, 15yrs) in her NSW public school:

Prior to year 9, I often questioned my identity, gender, and my ‘validity’ of being LGBT. However, now I am much more comfortable in myself, and allow myself to feel much more euphoric in public spaces such as school.

Kameron (Bisexual/Asexual Non-Binary/Genderfluid Person, 16yrs) felt Acceptance euphoria increase with friends at their SA public school, ‘they were supportive and helped me when changing pronouns to something I felt more comfortable’. Teachers inhibited their outness and euphorias: ‘as many of them have purposely misgendered others’.

Many students narrated redemption arcs from negative to positive contexts, wherein euphorias increased. Ardell (Pansexual/Bisexual Non-Binary/Confused, 15yrs) felt Acceptance euphoria increase, after initial fear about their SA public school subsided: ‘I used to be so scared about coming out as a member of the LGBTQ+ community but now I’m pansexual and proud’. Allison (Queer Non-Binary Person, 15yrs) felt Institutional Inclusion euphoria increase with their NSW independent school’s increased app-based supports ‘In year 7, [when] an app called Tellonym (and other similar sites) was trending where you could send in anonymous messages to someone’. Lilyana (Asexual/Omni or Pan Cis-female, 14yrs) had increased Community Connection, Institutional Inclusion and Acceptance euphorias at her current WA public school:

I moved schools from a strict, religious private school that was known for being homophobic to a public school that had many programs to help me and others. There was a club and a lot of people were LGBTQ+, and that made me a lot happier about my sexuality.

(Self-)Acceptance euphoria deepened over time for Megan (Lesbian Cis-female, 14yrs), who went from terrible ‘internalised homophobia’ and telling herself she was straight, to being embraced by her increasingly socially accepting WA public school towards becoming ‘more accepting of myself as I grew older and matured’. Youth euphorias thus often changed in relationship to supports, contacts, and time. Sometimes Acceptance and other euphorias’ increases correlated to social and self-categorisation processes; evident in overlaps with ‘friends’ and ‘bisexual’ Leximancer themes and linked Category Validation euphorias.

‘Friends’ & ‘Bisexual’: Students’ Category Validation Euphoria & ‘Identity Fit’ Indication

‘Friends’ (336 hits, 54% relationality) and ‘bisexual’ (171 hits, 21% relationality) themes combined to depict youths’ sudden, sporadic or slow shifts in Category Validation euphorias in relation to their friends’ identities, attitudes to identities or trialled identities’ ‘fit’ (sub-concepts: friends, school, started, year, pronouns, changed, different, uncomfortable; and bisexual, realised, gay, straight, thought, lesbian). For example, Lesleigh (Asexual Non-Binary Person, 17yrs) felt euphoria around their Year Twelve NSW public school friends’ outness, but retained barriers to their own Category Validation euphoria:

I didn’t know I was ‘different’ from straight people but I still felt strange. When I started talking about it with my friends and they came out I felt way happier although I still feel uncomfortable with some people about it.

Wally (Straight Trans-male, 17yrs) felt his greatest Category Validation euphoria when dressing congruently and wearing a binder ‘which made me feel so much happier going out’, and when his Victorian public school friends validated their pronouns ‘which also improved things greatly’. Harmon (Bisexual Questioning/Non-Binary Person, 17yrs) felt Category Validation euphoria when their NSW public school friends validated their sexual categorisations; however, shifting gender categorisations demanded new peer validations:

In year 10 I came out to the whole school and that felt euphoric and I’m open now, so it’s changed a lot. Now I’m back to square one with my gender identity and correcting people on my pronouns.

The ‘bisexual’ concept captured how LGBTQ+ students sometimes moved across multiple categories variably, changing Category Validation euphorias—which sometimes intensified when identities felt appropriate but reduced when they did not. For example, Theodora (Asexual Cis-female, 14yrs) felt Category Validation euphorias fluctuate over different categories over time: ‘I only realised I was asexual recently and am still questioning my romantic orientation. Earlier this year I thought I was completely straight and allosexual’. Bisexuality and non-binary identities in particular—whether students’ own, or others’—sometimes featured as temporary sites of identity exploration or inspirational stepping-stones facilitating moves across categories. Temporary identification staged-out trajectories towards categories offering greater fit and later Category Validation euphoria, but which initially appeared too distant or unliveable. Mia (Aegosexual Lesbian Cis-female, 14yrs) for example, said she felt euphoria over her lesbianism more when a friend announced their bisexuality:

When I was younger I always came up with these scenarios and as a bit of a joke I thought ‘lol what if you’re lesbian’ and then I quickly shut that thought down thinking (…) I always convinced myself that I’m not gay but one day my old friend came out as bisexual.

Reagann (Bisexual Non-Binary Person, 16yrs) said:

At first when I started identifying as Non-binary and earlier Bisexual I felt like I wasn’t ‘queer’ enough and like I was just pretending. Once I started to accept myself I started to be happy with my identity. I also feel like talking to other queer students helped to get rid of the stigma I was feeling towards myself.

Bee (Bisexual Demi-Girl, 14yrs) traversed phased identifications with asexuality, bisexuality, and gender diversity—intensified Category Validation euphoria indicated progressively improved categories’ fit:

At first I thought I was just a straight asexual, then I thought I was bi, but I was doubting myself telling myself that I’m just a straight girl looking for attention, and then I thought no wait I actually am bisexual, and then realised I’m not exactly comfortable identifying as a girl, and I have got more comfortable with who I am.

Chloe’s (Asexual Lesbian CIS/Questioning Female, 16yrs) journey from bisexual, to lesbian, to asexual lesbian (in this chapter’s introductory quote) typified a phenomenon where monumental Category Validation euphoria intensifications and blockages arose across complex self-discoveries over time. Chloe’s experiences illustrated how initially some youth Category Validation euphorias plummeted when stigmatised identities fit them most, tempering their joy in ‘best-fit’ categories. Category Validation euphoria functioned as a sign of identity fit for youth, both in its presence or severe absence; depending on categories’ socio-cultural (de)valuing. The influences social exposures, and responses to, identities had on Category Validation euphorias manifested in overlaps with Acceptance euphorias (and Leximancer concepts ‘feel’ and ‘people’).

‘Become’: Students’ Acceptance Euphoria Blocked by Internalised Biases

‘Become’ (197 hits, 36% relationality) showcased how LGBTQ+ students’ (Self-)Acceptance euphoria was often initially blocked by internalised biases (particularly internalised homophobia), and then arose upon these biases’ dissipation (sub-concepts: become, happy, able, accepting, homophobia). Typically, Iliana (Queer Cis-female, 17yrs) said ‘when I was younger, I identified as an LGBTQ ally and experienced a lot of internalised homophobia. Now I am able to be quite open about my identity’. Brighton (Gay Non-Binary Person, 16yrs) explained, ‘I have worked through [much] internalized homophobia, as I have overcome this and other anxieties I’ve become more confident in myself’. Devintae (Gay Undeclared Gender, 17yrs) said:

I was very reluctant to accept myself to start with and dealt with a lot of internalised homophobia. Being around people who were accepting or out themselves helped me accept myself more and allowed me to feel happy in my identity.

Megan (Lesbian Cis-female, 14yrs) enjoyed increased (Self)Acceptance euphoria after broader socio-cultural change reduced her internalised homophobia:

I don’t view being LGBTQ+ as a bad thing anymore, as society is more accepting, I feel better about myself and it makes me happy that there are people openly expressing their sexuality, it is helping destigmatise queerness.

Alaia (Bisexual Cis-female, 16yrs) similarly felt (Self)Acceptance euphoria after internal biases passed, ‘as I have come to accept my identity or am able to become happy with who I am and how I belong in the world’. This theme’s overlaps with broader intensifications of Acceptance euphorias over time were reflected in overlaps with the Leximancer map concepts ‘feel’ and ‘people’.

‘Teachers’: Students’ Acceptance & Institutional Inclusion Euphorias Affected by Teachers

Minor stand-alone theme ‘Teachers’ (26 hits, 11% relationality) exhibited moments and time periods specific teachers upraised or dampened LGBTQ+ students’ Institutional Inclusion and Acceptance euphorias. For some participants, accessing progressive teachers by changing year-levels or schools advanced these euphorias. Typically, Daryle (Bisexual Non-Binary Person, 17yrs) said by Year Eleven at their QLD public school, ‘I came out to teachers as well, so I get euphoria from being gendered correctly by them too’. Princess (Bisexual Cis-female, 14yrs) said that in Ninth Year at her religious Victorian school, ‘it’s changed because I’ve learned about myself but I’ve also met supportive teachers’. Amir (Bisexual Non-Binary Person, 15yrs) said moving to a WA public school provided ‘more progressive teachers and has a program that educates students (not entirely accurately) on LGBT+ topics. While it is not perfect, it is a step in the right direction’.

For other participants, particular teachers deadened euphorias. Winter (Gay Non-Binary Person, 16yrs) described how by Year Eleven at their ACT public school: ‘Since I stopped being female I don’t feel as accepted anymore as my teachers still use my dead name (…) I feel like I can’t approach them about it’. Harper (Bisexual Cis-female, 15yrs) found teachers’ acceptance and inclusion worsened over time at her Victorian religious private school. This decreased her euphorias in their vicinities:

After I came out to many of my friends I have felt a sense of euphoria when I am talking to them. These days, I can feel downhearted though, when teachers are talking negatively about LGBTQ+ matters.

Therefore, for some LGBTQ+ youths, teachers mediated euphorias, as builders or blockers. Overlaps in the Leximancer map for teachers’ dulling of Acceptance and Category Validation euphorias, are seen between ‘friends’ and ‘teachers’ concepts.

Discussion

Dominant Youth Euphorias

For over a third of LGBTQ+ students, (1) Community Connection; (2) Acceptance; (3) Institutional Inclusion; and (4) Category Validation euphorias dominated. These euphorias’ inciting sources and dominance orderings strongly reflected students’ social focus [15,16,17], and Community Connection euphoria was accordingly most connected and conducive to other youth euphorias. Category Validation euphorias reflected joyful feelings of rightness from existing TGD studies [18, 19], and Erikson’s assertion that the teen years (Stage 5) often lend heightened importance to engagement with and approval of same-stage peers and shared identity formation groupings, and also the formation of (Stage 6) intimacy [16, 20]—Fig. 4.6. The socially driven nature of youth euphorias perhaps explained their positive correlation with outness—disclosing LGBTQ+ (especially non-binary) identity enables some youth to access community connection, acceptance, and inclusion. Stalled identity moratoriums, feigned identity foreclosures, and most LGBTQ+ youth’s lack of euphorias; suggested many LGBTQ+ youth identities were unknown, unvalidated, or unaccepted. This reflects theories happiness is less available to individuals forsaking aged/staged ideals [16, 21]. Whole-school institutional efforts and students’ reciprocal co-contributions transforming LGBTQ+ experiences, taking and giving peer support, thus appeared subversive.

Fig. 4.6

Ecological model of psycho-social influences on LGBTQ+ students’ euphorias

Monumental Change-trends

LGBTQ+ students’ euphorias were variable, fluid, and tenuous across their Chronosystem/time: Acceptance euphorias were especially reactive to socio-institutional contexts. Students’ Category Validation euphorias could function as signs of endorsed identities’ fit reflecting the joyful feeling of rightness from TGD studies [18, 19]. However, their absence could signify stigmatised identities’ fit; especially around teachers’ or parents’ ‘disapproving’ meta-emotions over LGBTQ+ pleasures [22]. Some youth used what Marcia terms ‘identity foreclosure’—commitment to identities with greater socio-cultural endorsement in their Macro and Microsystems; or feigned ‘identity moratoriums’ (pretending continued exploration) [23, 24] to avoid identities laden with stress and denied happiness [21, 25, 26]. Hence, students struggled with conformity drives against the sometimes-unhappy-queer-within-the-euphorically queer position, particularly in religious and rural schools. Many showed strength and bravery achieving stigmatised identities nonetheless. Youth euphorias were not, however, the stable reward-based positions implied in adult research and therapies [18, 27, 28]. Though LGBTQ+ students sometimes improved education environments towards supporting euphorias through activisms, changes more often required factors beyond their control: information exposures, social environments, disclosure, and treatment request supports and so on. Youth euphorias change-trends were therefore not linear but relational, stop-start and monumental (involving mile-stones, events, sudden shifts).

Significance & Limitations

The study provided the largest-scale student euphoria data to date, offering (re)conceptualisations of many LGBTQ+ youth as joyful, brave, peer-supporting, and strategic. Students’ comments were particularly elaborative compared to those of adults in the LGBTQ+ You study, and their discussion of euphoria likely benefitted from the enhanced clarity emotion brings youth [29]. Past research emphasises that dysphoria models overlook non-binary and transmasculine people’s experiences [30]; these data show euphorias as especially useful for identifying and understanding such youths’ experiences. The study showed pedagogies endorsing diversity and students’ requested names/pronouns supported in anti-suicide data [1, 31, 32], also support students’ Category Validation euphorias. Teachers could be LGBTQ+ youth euphoria builders or blockers, reflecting research linking teacher rejection to increased wellbeing risks [14, 33, 34]. However, the study offered limited exploration of conditions for students never reporting euphorias.

Conclusions

Youth euphorias are not pervasive, but occur enough to substantiate alternative lenses to deficit models for mental health, health, education, and other service providers exploring consent-based models [35]. Euphorias appear relevant for identifying and understanding non-binary youth and transgender youth not allocated a male sex at birth, particularly given their dysphoria discrepancies [30]. The scant, monumental nature of LGBTQ+ youth happiness overall suggests LGBTQ+ identity formation and community connection goals are less supported within schools’ available happiness economies than they should be in a ‘euphoric ideal’. LGBTQ+ youth also sometimes disrupt normative identity development models; combatting more external biases or abandoning the binaries identities are usually based around. Thus, their once-settled inter-related identities may be repeatedly recalled for questioning and identity fidelity achievement may take longer or have alternative impacts compared to rewarded norms. However, youth showed strength in bravely embodying stressed categories regardless, and euphoric-sharing circularities with/for peers. Studies on euphoria blockers for youth never experiencing euphorias are needed. Activists can debunk spectral ideas about teachers’ anti-LGBTQ+ disapproving meta-emotion by promoting data showing most teachers’ desire improved sexuality and gender diversity education and training [36]. School social, structural, and pedagogical supports can enable Community Connection and Acceptance euphorias for LGBTQ+ students. Comparative and intervention studies may help to understand if and how often Community Connection euphoria is experienced by all youth and/or marginal groups particularly; and which models best support it (of GSAs, queer rooms, events etc.). Chapter 5 explores professionals’ euphorias.