Queer friendship is good for you, study shows

Friendships between queer people are good for wellbeing and related to experiencing greater life satisfaction and less loneliness on average, a new study has revealed.

Researchers from Michigan State University and the University of Kentucky aimed to explore in their study, which was published in the journalLGBTQ+ Family, the differences in well-being and loneliness fromqueer people’s friendships.

They found when a queer person has at least one friend of the same identity, for example both being bisexual, they reported greater life satisfaction and slightly less loneliness than those without a friend of the same identity.

The study also revealed that when a queer person at least one friend of a similar – but not the same – identity they reported greater life satisfaction, along with greater loneliness, than those without any queer friends.

“These descriptive results suggest that queer people with a queer friend generally report positive well-being despite a potential increase in loneliness, whether the friend is of the same sexual identity or just also queer,” the study reads.

The findings were based on data which was collected by theAmerican Friendship Project, a multiyear survey on the state of friendship in the United States.

“Queer people’s well-being can profit from friendships with other queer people,” Brooke Wolfe, one of the study’s co-authors and a postdoctoral fellow at the MSU College of Communication Arts and Sciences told Phys.org. “However, what may need further exploration is how similarity in friendship can also be linked to negative outcomes.”

Wolfe noted the simultaneous experiences of greater loneliness and positive well-being could be down to many people living a distance from their friends: “While having queer friends as a queer person can improve well-being, it can also serve as a reminder of distance and missed opportunities for in-person interaction.”

Wolfe went on to note that whilst queer people having friendships with one another brings positive benefits, it may make them more aware of the wider isolation and discrimination they face as marginalised people in society – where in they “notice areas of their life in which they are not authentically embraced and supported”.

“While shared identity friendships can be beneficial, the broader political context of marginalisation could prompt queer people to feel disconnected from a much larger community that varies in acceptance of their existence,” Wolfe said.

It is notable these findings come at a time when LGBTQ+ rights, namely trans rights, are a hotly contested issue in the United States following the reelection of Donald Trump.

Since returning to office in January, the Trump administration has sought to attack the rights and dignities of queer Americans by introducing a raft of anti-LGBTQ+ executive orders.

These include an executive order proclaiming it is government policy there are ‘only two sexes’, culling DEI from the government and military, banning trans people from serving in the military, baring trans women from competing in female sport andrestricting gender-affirming healthcare for trans peopleunder the age 19.