Why LGBTQ+ Expat Representation Matters

Wait, I can actually DO this?

As a queer person dreaming of moving abroad, when you search for informatoin aobut expat life, it rarely pertains ‘exactly’ to your situation. I find that in the expat and relocation world, thought leaders often recommend budget-friendly countries that tend to be homophobic or just not LGBTQ+ friendly, or exciting easy-to-obtain visas in countries that don’t support gay marriage.

If you even just google “expats in …” and look at the images, you will almost never see a member of the LGBTQ+ community in the search results. Conversely, if you search for LGBTQ+ expats, with rare exception, you will almost exclusively find LGBTQ+ travel information, but not details about LGBTQ+ expat life.

But as American civil rights activist Marian Wright Edelman said, “You can’t be what you can’t see.”

Representation matters.

I thought I’d share one example of just how deeply I know this.

Let’s go back to a time when my friend Jaime was miserable and I thought it was genuinely hilarious (in a sweet, supportive kind of way).

The Newbie’s Dilemma

Jaime was gripping his Lonely Planet guide book on the floor of a Costa Rican hostel, sweating over the fact that I was forcing him to plan the next leg of our backpacking journey.

The year was 2011 and I was well into my first year as a digital nomad, blogging, writing and producing my way around the world. I had already lived abroad for a decade before that, so planning a trip into an unfamiliar country was second nature to me.

Not for Jaime.

This was his first week as a backpacker, and he was traveling with us folks who had been on the road for ages.

Until 2010, Jaime had never heard of the word ‘backpacker’. He had grown up in Texas to immigrant parents from Mexico and never even considered traveling the world.

Then, somehow, he discovered his first travel blog. Inspired, he became determined to travel and started his own blog about becoming a backpacker.

He spent a year working double shifts to save the money to go on the road for a year, and searched for fellow LGBTQ+ backpackers to connect with while he prepared. Jaime found my blog, we connected and we decided to meet him in Costa Rica on the first leg of his backpacking year.

In the hostel in Costa Rica, his struggle to plan our border crossing into Panama was only so fun to me because I knew he’d be a pro in no time, and that this was a rare opportunity to see someone at the very start of their journey.

The Catalyst of Change

Jaime would go on to live an incredible life of travel, on and off the road for a decade. He epxerienced falling in love and living in Egypt during the Arab spring, he backpacked all of India, Central America, Mexico, Asia and Europe, climbed mountains, crossed deserts and defied every expectation he ever had for himself.

I don’t take credit for ANY of this, but I feel so proud that when Jaime searched for queer folks on the road, he found me, and I can always be a part of his story: that I crossed his first land border with him, that I taught him nomad shortcuts and shared hard-earned street smarts to boost his confidence from the start.

The Power of Representation

It is often said that you can’t be what you can’t see.

Representation matters. So does a soft place to land when you take the leap of a lifetime.

Today, whenever someone googles Queer Expats or LGBTQ+ expats, my name is almost always going to come up in the search results. And when someone searches How To Move Abroad in Amazon, my book or my guide is going to come up.

And thankfully, I still get to experience people’s first moments of adventure in my life almost every day.

The moment when someone who was dreaming about moving abroad finds me or my content and says, “Wait, I can actually DO this?”

Yes! Nine million Americans are living abroad right now, in fact.

And yes! You can be safe as a queer person abroad. Yes, healthcare is actually cheaper abroad. Yes, your LGBTQ+ (esp trans) status is less of a political football abroad. Yes, there are places that are more affordable, slower, easier, healthier abroad. And yes, there are ways that you can rewrite a chapter of your life into your biggest adventure yet.

We're Here to Help

You can actually do this and myself and my team at Rainbow can help you figure out: where to move, what visas to apply for, whether to look for a job abroad or bring a remote job from home, whether to rent or buy property, how to decide whether to be an expat or a nomad, and how to predict common pitfalls and challenges we experience when living abroad.

This is the power of representation. We have done this and we help queer folks, their families and allies do just the same.

Yes, you CAN actually do this!

This is why we founded Rainbow Relocation Strategies! We are here to help you make that happen.