Where Queer and Vegan Meet - The Development, Negotiation, and Desires of an Emerging Intersectional Identity

This thesis investigates the emerging phenomenon of queer individuals more frequently practicing veganism; seeking to understand the role that veganism plays in the lives of queer people. Applying intersectionality, or an understanding that identity categories are intertwined (Crensaw, 1989), it is apparent that the identity categories of ‘queer’ and ‘vegan’ are to be examined concurrently and in relation to the systems of oppression in which they are positioned. This approach sought out to bridge the gap in literature that has evaluated such identities and practices in isolation. Following this theoretical underpinning, 16 queer vegan identifying individuals were recruited via social media to participate in semi-structured in-depth interviews. The data collected was analyzed utilizing thematic analysis in the first phase of collection and Grounded Theory throughout the length of the project. The results of this study found that the queer vegans involved viewed their identity temporally. This is first exemplified through the participants describing how they look to their past to explain the development of their identity categories as a step-by-step process in which veganism is viewed as a means to address the trauma that they have experienced due to their queer identity category. In the present, the participants describe how they must negotiate the current meaning of their intersectional identity in relation to discourse, ideology, social isolation, other salient intersectional identity categories such as race/ethnicity and class, as well as utilizing Queer Vegan social media groups and online communities to stabilize the salience of their identity categories. For many of the individuals involved in this study, their past developments and present negotiations with their identity categories are seen as investments for a future in which their marginal identity is considered normal and mainstream, but most importantly, the participants expressed a desire for a kinder and more inclusive queer vegan world. Through the analysis, it is made clear that veganism is more than a practice or a lifestyle to the individuals involved, but instead, is a defined identity category that plays a considerable role in the lives of the queer individuals involved, in which the experiences of being queer influences one’s practice of veganism, as much as one’s veganism influences their queerness.