“I’m Afraid for My Life”: Queer and Trans Youth’s Experiences of Surviving Far-Right Anti-LGBTQ+ Laws in Alberta, Canada

This paper examines how queer and trans youth in Alberta, Canada navigate and resist an escalating wave of anti-LGBTQ+ legislation and far-right political rhetoric. Drawing on data from participatory arts-based workshops with over one hundred Albertan 2SLGBTQ+ young people, we show how recent policies restricting gender-affirming healthcare, inclusive sex education and schooling, and sport participation produce concrete harms alongside conditions of fear, uncertainty, and disruption to young people’s sense of the future. These policies operate through material restriction but also by shaping how young people understand safety, belonging, and what kinds of lives feel possible. Participants describe heightened vigilance, shrinking horizons, and destabilized life trajectories, while also mobilizing practices of queer rage, softness, and queer joy to contest exclusion and sustain community connection. These findings demonstrate how resistance emerges under conditions of political hostility and underscore the urgent need for policy interventions that protect youth safety, autonomy, and belonging.