The LGBTIQ+ refugee digital storytelling project: facilitating inclusion in a queer Canadian christian community

Abstract

Abstract There is a growing LGBTIQ+ refugee population in Canada as individuals and couples flee from countries with anti-gay laws and persecutory environments. The LGBTIQ+ Refugee Digital Storytelling Project was carried out in 2016 as part of a broader community-based research study with Metropolitan Community Church (MCC) of Toronto exploring how God and religion are tied up in transnational pro- and anti-gay LGBTIQ+ social movements. The project aimed to provide a space for refugees to narrate their own stories in their own way to make sense of the experiences with others facing similar challenges. Drawing on theories of transnational social exclusion and inclusion, borders as processes and trauma narratives, this paper explores whether the LGBTIQ+ Digital Storytelling Project facilitated inclusionary processes that drew refugees into the MCC in valued roles and whether the discursive moments the border narratives produced by this project offered were inclusionary and/or exclusionary.