Migration decision making and barriers among LGBTQA adults in Hamilton, Ontario

Abstract At a time of unprecedented political hypervisibility and discrimination, the mobility of 2SLGBTQIA+ individuals subnationally has become a heightened concern. This paper aims to address three questions: What decisions do LGBTQA migrants make when deciding on whether and where to move? What barriers do they face when moving to or settling into a new city? And how do they reflect on their new environments in relation to previous environments? Interviews were conducted with 14 self‐identified LGBTQA adults who had all moved to Hamilton, Ontario between 2016 and 2022. Drawing on existing migration literature on causes of and barriers to migration, thematic analysis was carried out across the 14 cases to distill common decision‐making themes. These themes include housing and transportation, employment and education, and social and cultural factors like proximity to queer communities and nature. The most difficult barriers to migrating and settling in were housing accessibility and social isolation. Our research contributes to the subnational migration literature on gender and sexual minorities within Canada, especially in that it highlights the interplay between socio‐economic determinants of migration and gender/sexual marginalization, and it should be regarded as an exploratory step in further research on this subject.