Pride month spotlight: LGBTQ+ carers – The start of a personal and professional journey

When I started my current professional chapter working on informal care in Europe, I immediately knew I wanted to explore what this experience means for LGBTQ+ people. The queer part of my identity has profoundly shaped my life trajectory in many ways (some rather painful, some incredibly joyful and enriching), and I felt it was important to reflect on what are the ways in which being LGBTQ+ impacts carers.

Informal care by definition happens in the context of social relationships that pertain to the most intimate sphere of those involved, such as family relations, romantic relations and friendships. Being LGBTQ+ has a significant impact on these interpersonal relationships and, therefore, on the experience of providing informal care.

Framing the conversation

The first challenge I encountered when I started this research, was the lack of data, information and resources. The UK is a virtuous exception in this sense, as the majority of studies and analyses available in Europe are produced here. In particular, I was especially impressed by Scottish resources, such as this very comprehensive study by Carers Trust Scotland focusing on LGBTQ+ young adult carers. This geographical disparity is a direct reflection of the fact that being an LGBTQ+ individual can be a widely different experience depending on where you are in Europe – the ILGA Rainbow Map is a great tool to easily picture some of these differences.

Similar disparities apply also to informal carers: although they provide the bulk of long-term care across Europe, their role and contribution are not uniformly recognised, and the level of support they are entitled to varies considerably from country to country.

These complex stratifications are a reminder that informal carers and LGBTQ+ individuals are not a monolith. Within both groups coexist layers of vulnerability and privilege originating from the interplay of factors such as gender, race, class, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, carer status, nationality.

What we know about LGBTQ+ carers in Europe

This research journey took me along conversations with several experts working on this topic, and long hours spent reading studies conducted with LGBTQ+ carers in various parts of the continent (albeit very few) and of the world. My exploration resulted in the publication of this report, at the beginning of 2025.

A large section of the report is dedicated to what are the main challenges that LGBTQ+ carers face, such as navigating identity and coming out while being a carer, wading the complexities of family relations (including when family relations are not officially recognised), facing a higher risk of financial vulnerability and poverty, withstanding discrimination and stereotyping (including from health and social care institutions), and the impact on physical and mental health.

However, it was crucial for me not to structure the whole document around these negative implications. Being LGBTQ+ also shapes the experience of care in positive ways, that broader society can learn from.

Historically, LGBTQ+ individuals have been at the forefront of redefining care relationships beyond the confines of the biological family and of medical institutions. This legacy of chosen family and mutual aid dates back to the AIDS/HIV pandemic, and continues today with experiences of community based trans specific healthcare – just to provide some examples. Without a doubt these experiences are born out of necessity, to overcome medical neglect and discrimination, but nonetheless they are important lessons of community-making.

The transformative potential of community care

Looking at LGBTQ+ experiences of informal care can help society as a whole to shed light on what community care means in practice. The responsibility of caring for one another does not only apply to family relationships, but it is collective and reciprocal.

LGBTQ+ caregiving practices teach us that more recognition and support is needed for friends and chosen families that are informal carers. As a group, they are often sidelined in conversations about long-term care, and not always recognised on par as family members and romantic partners who take up this role. Often, they are not able to rely on traditional sources of support for carers that have been developed for biological relatives and spousal carers, even though research shows that the two groups do not differ in levels of perceived stress or depressive symptomatology deriving from caregiving.

Breaking away from this conflation between the concepts of ‘family’ and ‘care’ holds transformative potential to broaden our understanding of care systems in truly innovative ways.

Young carers

While I did not want the main focus of this article to be the negative implications of being an LGBTQ+ carer, I believe it is important to dedicate some special attention to the needs of young LGBTQ+ carers, which the report covers extensively.

‘Young Carers’ are children and young people under the age of 18 who provide care for a parent or a relative in the community, usually within their own home. Being a young carer comes with its own set of challenges, when there is no adequate support and recognition, and this is even more noteworthy for young carers that are LGBTQ+.

Young LGBTQ+ people can find themselves in particularly vulnerable situations, as they often face greater obstacles to advocate for themselves and their needs, due to their lack of financial and legal independence. When growing up in hostile environments (i.e. family of origin, school setting, social circles), it is more difficult for them to access safe, affirming spaces and support. This has a severe negative impact on their wellbeing.

My hope is for a future in which no young person finds themselves in dangerous or unsafe situations for their being LGBTQ+, but I know that we are still far from this reality. Until we get there, it is extremely important that professionals interacting with young carers (including teachers, social workers, youth workers) should be adequately equipped to meet the needs of LGBTQ+ youth and create safe and affirming environments, also for those who have not yet come out.

Some reflections for this Pride Month

Currently, the experience of LGBTQ+ carers remains largely invisible in policy, advocacy and research in Europe – both in the context of the carers’ movement, and LGBTQ+ movements.

I hope that this short reflection piece (and the report) can encourage researchers and public authorities to better investigate their experience, and help put this topic on the agenda. I also hope closer attention is paid to the intersectionality of compounded discrimination faced by this and other minority groups in caregiving roles.

Each June we see a number of initiatives and campaigns focusing on LGBTQ+ issues, all around us. My wish for the future is to see more stories of LGBTQ+ carers at the forefront.

Some resources to explore this topic further:

• Carers UK, “Supporting LGBTQ+ carers: a good practice briefing” (UK)
• The project BestCare4LGBTQI+ (EU wide)
• ‘Queer Caring’ doctoral research by Zoe Hughes (Ireland)
• The work by Prof. Paul Willis at Cardiff University / Centre for Adult Social Care Research (UK)
• ‘Tour d’amour’ by Eveline van de Putte (The Netherlands)
• Winq’s campaign featuring portrait stories of young LGBTI carers, in collaboration with the Strategische Alliantie Jonge Mantelzorg (The Netherlands)