The LGBTI community in the 2011 Queensland floods: marginality, vulnerability and resilience

This paper analyzes the experiences of LGBTI (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex) sexual minorities during the 2011 disasters in Queensland, Australia. The findings come from a survey conducted by the Queensland Association for Healthy Communities (QAHC) a year after the floods. An agreement was established between QAHC and university researchers to facilitate data analysis. This paper analyses some key findings using the concepts of marginality, vulnerability and resilience. The data reveal vulnerability due to social and political marginality, including discrimination and issues of access to assistance, but simultaneously examples of resilience borne by self-reliance in a context of marginality.

Vulnerability to disasters is not inherent to particular social groups but results from existing marginality. Marginalisation from social, political and economic resources and recognition underpins vulnerability and impedes recovery. Yet concurrently, disasters can reveal the resilient capacities of some marginal groups, who often develop specific means of coping with marginality.