Putting the Trans in Transnational: How Young Queer Indian Americans’ Political Identities are Impacted by their Parents’ Domestic Indian Affiliations
Parth Joshi, research intern
Within South Asian communities, particularly among Indian Americans, questions of gender, sexuality, diaspora, religion, family obligation, and cultural belonging intersect in uniquely complex and understudied ways. While scholarship exists on South Asian queer migrant adults, much less research has examined younger generations, especially Gen Z and Millennial queer Indian Americans, whose social worlds are shaped not only by migration histories and traditional family structures but also by online queer communities, shifting U.S. racial politics, transnational media flows, and evolving discourses around mental health and intersectionality. This proposal seeks to address this gap by examining how queer Gen Z and Millennial Indian Americans navigate identity, belonging, and cultural expectations across U.S. and Indian cultural contexts. Via semi-structured interviews, it seeks to understand how younger queer South Asians construct meaning around queerness and Indianness simultaneously and how they navigate intergenerational cultural pressures.
Algorithmic Curation and Its Effects on LGBTQ Youth Civic Engagement
love adu, research intern
This study examines how TikTok’s algorithmic recommendation system shapes the visibility of civic and political content among young LGBTQ+ users. Drawing from a dataset of 1,000 TikTok videos, it models algorithmic curation (e.g., the TikTok "For You" page) as a process that both personalizes and fragments exposure to civic discourse. By first dividing LGBTQ+ youth TikTok users into twenty distinct ‘personas’ (a methodology common in this field of algorithmic analysis) — from “Policy Nerd Gen Z” to “First-Time Voter” — and then simulating “For You” feeds for each of them, this study reveals that civic content on TikTok is (1) unevenly distributed to young LGBTQ+ users, and (2) selectively clustered away from users who TikTok labels as less visibly tied to their queer identity or less “political.”
OutVote Research Brief: Why LGBTQ+ Youth Voter Engagement is More Important Than Ever
This brief proposes a nonpartisan voter engagement initiative focused on mobilizing young LGBTQ+ voters: OutVote. The proposed approach targets young LGBTQ+ voters, a growing demographic with the potential to impact election outcomes, particularly in swing states. Evidence suggests that voting behaviors have a stronger influence on LGBTQ+ policy outcomes than actions by other political actors, and demographic trends indicate that LGBTQ+ youth represent a rapidly expanding segment of the electorate. The report outlines key implementation strategies, including peer-to-peer engagement, recruitment of youth ambassadors, and focusing on contentious races in swing states. The initiative also highlights the need for broader engagement, both nationally and within states where LGBTQ+ rights are most vulnerable. Mobilizing young queer voters offers a preventative approach to stopping anti-LGBTQ+ legislation, addressing the immediate need for action while fostering long-term civic engagement within the LGBTQ+ community.
outvote research coordinator
josh babu (he/they)
Originally from Arizona, Josh studied molecular biology and gender and sexuality studies at Princeton, where his research explored the clinical benefits of gender-affirming hormone therapy for gender-diverse youth. As a Rhodes Scholar, Josh then received a Master’s in Comparative Social Policy and a Master of Public Policy at the University of Oxford. Josh's graduate research, which won the George Smith Award for Best Thesis, explored legal protections for LGBTQIA+ individuals in the United States. Josh documented state-level trends in pro- and anti-LGBTQIA+ legislation over the past fifteen years and investigated which factors contribute most heavily to a state’s LGBTQIA+ policy outcomes. Josh is set to attend Harvard Medical School to begin a career as a physician-policymaker and advocate for the rights of LGBTQIA+ patient populations. Josh believes fiercely that science and research are key to the fight for LGBTQIA+ equality, as they grant us the perspective to know exactly where our efforts should lie.