Findings

(ii) Employment & Income A large proportion of our participants (59.8%, n=61) reported that they currently work. Of those that do work, more than half (53.3%, n=59) of respondents indicated that their annual income is below $39,999. Of the participants who are currently students, about half (48.1%, n=25) of students do not work and rely solely on the support of their family for the coverage of tuition and living expenses.

(iii) Settlement Experiences Feeling connected to others was reported to be a significant concern for more than half (57.6%, n=53) of participants. Even though participants largely reported feeling welcomed by their immediate networks, including school campuses (54.3%, n=50), the greater Asian community (44.7%, n=41) and the 2SLGBTQ+ communities (44.7%, n=41) here in Toronto, a noticeable proportion (29.4%, n=27) distinctly reported not feeling welcomed by the 2SLGBTQ+ community specifically. A more telling finding is that one third (41.3%, n=38) of participants felt like they did not belong, even amongst these communities and those that they knew.

“In the first year, I'm also struggling with my identity. I don't know how do I fit into both communities, but I don't also want to just fit into either one. So like it's kind of like a struggle for myself. […] I just find it weird when I hear like Canadian-Asians or like Asian-Canadians talking about Asian-ness because I would just be like, what do you mean by that? Because I didn't understand what do you mean by Asian-ness because I'm Asian, like I'm not even Canadian so like the Asian-ness you're talking about is something that I already have, like, yeah. So I feel like because I have that struggle … because we are coming from different background or like culture, so like, I kind of like hesitate to make some new friends here.”

- ISgbMSM from Hong Kong, age 22

Concerns amongst ISgbMSM about discrimination based on their sexuality and race were assessed, and while marginal, it was worthwhile to note that more individuals reported greater concern for racism (39.1%, n=36) as opposed to concern for homophobia (31.5%, n=29).

(iv) Sexual Orientation and Disclosure: When asked about their sexual orientations, 86.9% (n=80) of respondents indicated that they identified as gay, 10.9% (n=10) reported identifying as bisexual, and 2.2% (n=2) reported “not sure”.

When asked about whether participants have disclosed their sexual preferences to people in their lives in Toronto compared to their home countries, responses for having disclosed to “everyone” was higher within the context of Toronto (26.1%, n=24) compared to their home countries (14.1%, n=13). However, over one-third of participants reported that even though they have disclosed to friends or peers, they have not disclosed to their families (34.8% in Toronto and 35.9% in their home countries). When asked what potential barriers existed concerning disclosure of their sexuality, the most common responses were “judgement from family” (67.1%, n=53), “family abandonment” (50.6%, n=40), and judgement from friends (32.9%, n=26).

“Family, I know that they know but they don’t accept it. ‘Cause I’m the only guy in the family, and they really want a guy, you know, yeah […] my dad really wants a guy, you know, passing on the legacy and stuff like that. And when my mom know that she’s having me, just really happy and stuff like that. If I come out to them now, it would be devastating to them.” - ISgbMSM from Vietnam, age 23

(v) HIV & STI status Amongst our survey participants, while a significant proportion of our participants have received an HIV test before (85.9%), only half of those that have been tested (57%) have done so within the last six months. Amongst those that were aware of their HIV status, 8.5% (n=8) of our survey participants reported being HIV positive, and over one-third of those living with HIV (37.5%, n=3) reported being unaware of their viral load. Amongst participants who responded, 21.62% (n=16) report having tested positive for another STI other than HIV since moving to Canada.