Queer Sexuality and Exclusion: Advancing Environmental Justice in the Use, Management and Regulation of Urban Parks and Greenspace

There is currently a lack of knowledge on systemic barriers to urban park access experienced by 2SLGBTQ+ communities. This includes understanding how the threat of violence in greenspace limits social interaction for 2SLGBTQ+ identifying people, and how opportunities for receiving the benefits associated with access to natural settings in an urban landscape are limited or restricted. Criminalization and violence towards 2SLGBTQ+ communities in the City of Toronto parks compel a need to examine how normative framings of urban greenspace are reproduced and enforced through management, governance, and regulation. This study draws upon qualitative methods and a social constructionist approach to gain an empirical and conceptual understanding of the implications for environmental justice and management of parks in Toronto. Triangulation across key informant interviews, ground-truthing and key document analysis provide a better understanding of struggles over power, advocacy and agency for 2SLGBTQ+ communities and assists in uncovering the views of various stakeholder groups that are involved, including park management, community activists and politicians. This research seeks to provide practical and theoretical benefits through enhancing the visibility of 2SLGBTQ+ communities’ lived experiences, better-establishing greenspace access among marginalized communities as an environmental justice issue, informing current greenspace management practices in ways that allow more equitable outcomes and cultivating collaboration between 2SLGBTQ+ communities and environmental management bodies.