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In efforts to prevent the spread of COVID-19, jurisdictions across the globe, including Canada, enacted containment measures that affected intimacy and sexual relations. This article examines how public health measures during COVID-19 impacted the sexual practices of sexual minority men- gay, bisexual, queer and other men who have sex with men-and how they adopted and modified guidelines to prevent the transmission of COVID-19, HIV and other sexually transmitted infections (STIs). We conducted 93 semi-structured interviews with men (

Research documenting the impact of COVID-19 on Two-Spirit, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (2SLGBTQ+) populations in Canada is limited. Our objectives were to investigate the impact of COVID-19 lockdown measures on the lives of trans, nonbinary, and other gender nonconforming (TGNC) people. Engage COVID-19 is a mixed methods study examining the impact of COVID-19 on gay, bisexual, queer, and other men who have sex with men (GBQM) living in Vancouver, Toronto, and Montreal, Canada. Using purposive sampling, we conducted in-depth qualitative interviews (between November 2020–February 2021 and June–October 2021) with 93 participants who discussed the impact of COVID-19 on their lives. Seventeen participants were identified as TGNC. TGNC participants reported barriers to trans healthcare during the initial months of the COVID-19 pandemic. Several participants indicated that some public health interventions during COVID-19 (i.e., lockdowns) eased the pressure to “perform” gender due to fewer in-person interactions. During lockdowns, TGNC participants increasingly cultivated community networks online. Nevertheless, participants reported longing for the social support that was available to them during pre-COVID. Lack of access to community spaces during lockdowns had a negative impact on participants’ mental health, despite reduced pressure to perform gender and opportunities for social engagement in online spaces.

There are many reasons why individuals engage in prosocial behavior; communal sexual altruism is based on the notion that some practice safer sex in the interest of promoting the well-being of their community/in-group. Given that definitions of what constitutes "safer sex" have changed with advances in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) prevention, we investigated the importance of communal sexual altruism (herein "altruism") among urban gay, bisexual, and other sexual minority men (GBM) in the contemporary context. Using a sample of 2449 GBM we examined the association of both safer-sex-related attitudes (e.g., HIV treatment optimism-skepticism) and behaviors (e.g., condomless anal sex [CAS]) with altruism scores. Higher altruism scores were associated with a lower likelihood of CAS and a greater frequency of discussing HIV status with new partners. These findings demonstrate that many GBM are motivated to engage in several kinds of behaviors that improve the well-being of their in-group (i.e., the GBM community).

The Internet and HIV biomedical technologies are considered as significant technological advances underpinning “barebacking”, or condom-less anal sex among gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men (MSM). Online chatrooms, discussion boards, and geosocial networking applications (“apps”) are regarded as having facilitated new opportunities to meet and connect with other barebackers. Virtual spaces enabled the proliferation of online discourses specific to barebacking, such as “bugchasing” and “giftgiving” to refer to the intentional spreading of HIV. While previous research focus on the metaphors used by bugchasers and giftgivers online, such studies lack analyses of other barebacking practices and identities beyond intentional seroconversion. This paper seeks to fill this gap by examining the affordances of a barebacking online community I call “Pigpen” in offering space for MSM to discuss various topics apart from intentional seroconversion: in particular, the emergence of “sex pigging”. Analyzing online forum discussions, I argue that Pigpen opens possibilities for reimagining sex pigging desires, identities, and practices that are intertwined and constituted by HIV prevention discourses and biomedical technologies. While sex pigging is associated with sexual excess, I demonstrate that limitless sex is practiced in a variety of ways: ranging from the eroticization of HIV and other STIs, to avoiding transmission by adapting some harm reduction strategies. Some sex pigs reappropriate the association of pigs with revulsion and taboo by reframing sexual excess as pleasurable and productive of feelings of freedom. By contrast, other sex pigs renegotiate risk and safety by incorporating risk minimization, giving rise to the possibility of “safer sex pigs”. Thus, sex pigging desires, identities, and practices are more complex than previously thought because they do not neatly fall into the category of irrationality and irresponsibility.