Many development actors have perceived sexuality and gender diversity to be ‘too hard’ or ‘too political’. As a result, inclusive and participatory urban development programming has often ignored gender and sexual diversity, but including people with diverse gender identities and sexual orientations is a vital part of achieving equitable cities.
Diverse opportunities in urban areas lead LGBTQI+ people to migrate to them: seeking community, acceptance, education and livelihoods. Many LGBTQI+ people struggle for dignified work and access to housing and services in safe, healthy and sustainable communities. They experience specific vulnerabilities, due to homophobia and transphobia, which are often compounded by vulnerabilities associated with gender, poverty and informality, racialisation, migration status, age or disability.
This backgrounder explores how queering development practice questions assumptions about gender, the home, state-society relations, and typical practices of inclusion and participation, and also sets out some priorities for action research.
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Available at https://www.iied.org/21551iied
