Sexualities, Ahead of Print.
Pandemic restrictions shuttered educational, community and support spaces for queer youth. Despite the pervasive despair, many young, queer people found joy and opportunities for connection, empowerment and intimacy during this period. Through a qualitative thematic analysis of self-reported data from 270 young queer people in Toronto (82), Melbourne (90), and New York (98), this paper explores how queer joy is complicated by less positive and complex emotions such as fear and stress and is found in unexpected places such as school, friends/peers, sex/dating and coming out. We propose a definition of queer joy that attends to the myriad of complex and conflicting emotions that make joy possible. Queering understandings of joy allows educators and influential adults in young people’s lives to support queer youth in accessing joy.