Accepted for/Published in: JMIR Infodemiology
Date Submitted: Nov 18, 2024
Date Accepted: Jul 14, 2025
Health-Related Concerns of Anti-LGBTQ+ Legislation: A Thematic Analysis Using Social Media Data
ABSTRACT
Background:
There has been a recent proliferation of anti-LGBTQ+ legislation being proposed in the United States, including more than 500 bills across 42 states in 2024.
Objective:
The objective of this study was to use social media data to explore health-related concerns of anti-LGBTQ+ legislation among sexual minority men in the United States.
Methods:
We qualitatively analyzed tweets that matched keywords related to LGBTQ+ legislation, identifying those that expressed health-related concerns and then categorizing them into emergent themes. We automatically identified users’ geographic location and age for subgroup analyses.
Results:
Among 8486 keyword-matched tweets, 493 (5.8%) expressed health-related concerns of anti-LGBTQ+ legislation and were posted by 288 sexual minority men in the United States: 112 (38.9%) who posted about healthcare, 84 (29.2%) about safety, 64 (22.2%) about mental health, 62 (21.5%) about general harm, 49 (17%) about human rights, and 40 (13.9%) about support. The prevalence of concerns varied by geographic location and age.
Conclusions:
Our findings contribute to a broader understanding of health-related concerns of anti-LGBTQ+ legislation and may inform targeted public health efforts to address them.
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