Publications

Research linking gender diversity and autism has grown quickly, and this scoping review takes stock of how that work is done. Five databases were searched for peer-reviewed studies published between 2018 and 2023, yielding 1,432 records after deduplication and 84 included studies with original qualitative or quantitative findings on a psychosocial connection between autism and gender. Estimating autism prevalence among gender-diverse people was the most common focus. Overall rigor was acceptable, but recurring weaknesses included inconsistent definitions of concepts such as gender dysphoria, weak sampling and participant description, and unvalidated measures. The field appears to be shifting away from pathologising framings toward community collaboration.

Shelters and congregate living sites faced acute COVID-19 risk, and in March 2020 Women's College Hospital formed a Community Response Team offering mobile testing and infection prevention across Toronto, later co-designing vaccine clinics with 14 shelters. This study evaluates that hospital-community partnership using constructivist grounded theory, with semi-structured interviews with administrators from 10 shelters chosen through maximum variation sampling. Analysis produced five categories and a core category asserting that healthcare access is a human right and communities must be understood. Hospitals were seen as credible during confusion, though shelters prioritize housing over health resourcing, partnerships, accountability, and governance.

Dating apps have reshaped how men seeking men understand themselves as sexual beings, according to an analysis grounded in 79 qualitative interviews. Researchers set participants' accounts alongside theories describing intimate life as increasingly detraditionalized and precarious, but also more democratic and inventive. Participants describe far more than hook-up culture: superficiality, unmet expectations, and sometimes bruising encounters with hierarchies of age, race, body type, gender expression, and serostatus. Alongside these frustrations sits a strong pull toward sociability, building social networks, and finding language for connection beyond the terms of family and friendship. Comparing generations reveals how these virtual sexual fields have shifted sexual subjectivities.

Internet-based testing for sexually transmitted and blood-borne infections has been available in British Columbia since GetCheckedOnline launched in 2014, and researchers wanted to know who was actually using it five years on. Drawing on the Sex Now 2019 online survey of gay, bisexual, transgender and queer men and Two-Spirit people, the team examined uptake among British Columbia respondents who already knew about the service. Just over a quarter had tested through it. Use was lower among racialized participants and those living with HIV, and higher among men who usually tested at walk-in clinics. Convenience was the most common reason for choosing the service.

What does an equitable relationship look like outside heterosexual norms? Thirty young women and non-binary youth aged 17 to 29 in British Columbia, over half with experience living as trans, took part in qualitative interviews about their current or recent non-heterosexual or non-monogamous relationships. A youth-engaged collaborative reflexive thematic analysis identified three requirements for equity: moving away from cis-heteronormative gender roles, actively dismantling hierarchies by sharing power, labour, and decision-making, and affirming each person's distinct needs and identities. Youth also described the difficulty of resisting deeply ingrained norms. The findings carry implications for healthcare providers, educators, and policymakers.