Contradictory connectivity and hybrid spaces

LGBTQ+ identity negotiation in the Hunter region of New South Wales, Australia

Bibliographic Data

ID12291971
AuthorsJustin R Ellis (0000-0002-6438-7633, Newcastle College, corresponding author), Jane Goodman-Delahunty (0000-0001-6764-6920, United States Department of Justice), David Betts (0000-0001-7612-629X, University of Newcastle Australia), Sofia B Davey, Sofia Davey (Independent researcher)
Year2026
Volume33
Issue8
Pages1-21
Publication date2026-03-28
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueGender Place & Culture (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0966-369X • E-ISSN: 1360-0524
PublisherTaylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/0966369x.2026.2645555
OpenAlexW7141943960
LanguageEN
References cited45

A growing body of research has examined Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer (LGBTQ+) identity negotiation through digital platforms, and how LGBTQ+ adults ‘produce’ safety in public spaces. Less well understood is how safety is co-produced in ‘hybrid’ spaces that bridge the online and in-person worlds through technology use in public spaces. This article contributes to addressing that gap through in-depth interviews with LGBTQ+ adults from the Hunter region of New South Wales, Australia (N = 20), which encompasses the metropolitan centres of Newcastle and Maitland. In doing so, the article brings a digiqueer criminology analysis to feminist geography, examining the contradictory connectivity of queer engagement in time and space. This involves a dynamic and contingent process of disclosure and retreat to reconcile internal identity with external categorisation through online and in-person interactions. Integral to this process is managing the conflicted intimacy of hybridity, which doubles, and at the same time, collapses space, reterritorialising hope for, and hate against queer expression. Online connectivity through private LGBTQ+ chat groups and fora, how this might lead to in-person connectivity, and vice versa, remain important elements of queer hybrid expression for intimacy, friendship and belonging. At the same time, increased hostility towards LGBTQ+ individuals and groups through digital platform content, algorithmic bias, and traditional media framing has led to increases in queer self-censorship, and calls from participants for better integration of hybrid technologies such as ‘queer’ QR codes into hybrid spaces. As such, this article situates local queer experience within a global context.

Ethnic group · Ethnography · Field (mathematics · Identity (music · Negotiation · Perspective (graphical · LGBTQ Health, Identity, and Policy · Marriage and Sexual Relationships · Social Power and Status Dynamics