With little is known about the high rates of food insecurity across the LGBTQ community, Food and Drink Editor Lucy Warmington discusses the gaps in Ireland’s food poverty data.
When the Global Food Security Index (GFSI) 2022 announced that Ireland had been ranked as the second most food-secure country in the world, Ireland was understandably proud. So proud in fact, that Ireland still does not have a national food poverty indicator, nor a national definition for food poverty. We see no need.
In that case, food insecurity is perhaps best understood by the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) definition of food security as ‘when all people have physical, social, and economic access to sufficient, safe, and nutritious food that meets their dietary needs and food preferences.’ Food insecurity then, is not having access to nutritious foods which suit your needs and preferences.
Just a year before our ranking in the GFSI 2022, a report from the Department of Social Protection (DSP) (using an adapted measure of food poverty) found that 8.9% of people experienced food poverty in 2021. An October 2022 study by children’s NGO Barndardo’s showed a very different reality; 19% of parents felt they did not have enough food to feed their children, and 29% of parents skipped a meal, or reduced their portion, to give their child a sufficient sized meal. This wasn’t revealed by the DSP report as figures were taken from the Survey on Income and Living Conditions (SILC), where attention was only given to regional disparities; the differences between Eastern and Midland, Northern and Western, and Southern. How can we say there is a minimal food poverty rate in this country without considering this disproportionate impact across social groups? There is simply a lack of sufficient research into food insecurity in (second most food secure) Ireland, and until this is rectified, the true impact of food insecurity will remain hidden. For example, the reality of food insecurity for LGBTQ people in Ireland is a likely area of drastic inequality we simply know nothing about.
The fact that LGBTQ people experience much higher rates of food insecurity than non-LGBTQ people is not a well-known one, and in the absence of Ireland’s research on the topic, I have turned to research from the United States (U.S.) and United Kingdom (UK) to try and paint a picture of the potential reality that Ireland is not considering.
"There is simply a lack of sufficient research into food insecurity in (second most food secure) Ireland, and until this is rectified, the true impact of food insecurity will remain hidden".
Firstly, in the U.S. there has been a huge number of academic research studies in this area. Even if this cannot directly tell us about the situation here in Ireland, it does show us the importance of looking beyond the surface. A UCLA report in 2016 revealed that in the previous year, 27% of LGBT adults experienced food insecurity in the U.S., in comparison to 17% of non-LGBT people. When researchers looked a little deeper again and analysed the LGBT respondents based on their race, they revealed that 42% of African-Americans, 33% of Hispanics, 32% of American Indians and Alaskan Natives, and 21% of Whites reported not having enough food. Another study in 2023 showed that 20% of U.S. high school LGBTQ youth had experienced hunger in the past 30 days due to not having enough food at home, in comparison to 15.7% of non-LGBTQ youth. So what does this mean? Quite simply, it means that LGBT people in the U.S. experience higher rates of food insecurity than non-LGBT people and non-White LGBT people experience higher rates again than White LGBT people.
“27% of LGBT adults experienced food insecurity in the U.S., in comparison to 17% of non-LGBT people.”
A 2020 research study in Southeast U.S. states, focusing specifically on Transgender and Gender Non-Conforming (TGNC) people, showed an even bleaker picture. A massive 79% of TGNC participants experienced food insecurity. In this case, the high numbers were expected to be related to the sociopolitical context of Southeast U.S. states, and the lack of support or protective laws for TGNC people there.
Generally, a simple inability to afford food is the main reason for food insecurity, but LGBTQ people experience higher rates of stigma, harassment, employment discrimination, and community discrimination, all of which result in higher rates of low income, under or unemployment, and homelessness. Whilst the sociopolitical context in Ireland is quite different to that of the U.S., it is by no means generous to the LGBTQ community. A closer equivalence could, however, be drawn from the UK. Food poverty NGO The Trussell Trust released their ‘Hunger in the UK’ report in June 2023, which revealed that 27% of LGBTQ people experience food insecurity in the UK, in comparison to 13% of non-LGBTQ people. So, the very same trend of higher rates of food insecurity for LGBTQ people still exists.
Furthermore, the social resources provided as relief from food insecurity, such as food banks and state-sponsored meal programmes, only yield a limited safety net for LGBTQ people. In the U.S., similar to in Ireland, the majority of food banks are run by the church, rather than provided by the state or non-religiously affiliated groups. Given the historically damaging relationship between LGBTQ communities and the church, it is no surprise that 74.3% of U.S. TGNC people experiencing food insecurity had never used their local food bank, 41% of whom claimed they felt “unwelcome” or that the service was “not meant for them”. These same societal barriers are experienced by LGBT youth in U.S. high schools, 20% of whom avoid the cafeteria at lunch times to avoid being subject to hostile bullying environments, hence missing out on any school-based provision of meals or food poverty relief. Unless we can confidently say that there is no social stigma here in Ireland, no sexuality or identity-based bullying in schools, no religiously motivated movements threatening LGBTQ lives and experiences, then we cannot confidently say that these same issues are not also preventing LGBTQ people in Ireland from accessing food poverty relief resources.
“These same societal barriers are experienced by LGBT youth in U.S. high schools, 20% of whom avoid the cafeteria at lunch times to avoid being subject to hostile bullying environments, hence missing out on any school-based provision of meals or food poverty relief.”
The fact that no research into food insecurity across social groups exists in Ireland means we simply do not know what the situation looks like. The persistent influence of the Catholic church over state institutions, such as education and healthcare, is a major block to improving the realities of LGBTQ people, and feigning some semblance of equity. Ireland has been continually criticised for its especially poor performance in the area of transgender youth and healthcare, ranked worst in the EU. The social stigma and systemic inequalities which disadvantage LGBTQ people did not magically disappear alongside the legalisation of same-sex marriage in 2015. It would not, therefore, be far-fetched to imagine a similar trend of disproportionate food insecurity occurring here. Perhaps this is an area for LGBTQ NGO’s and equality bodies to lobby for; the recognition and inclusion of marginalised communities in national statistics; the acknowledgment of the disproportionate impacts of poverty across social groups; an intersectional approach to research and policy. It is an area currently dismissed and ignored by government departments and policymakers, and as a result, it is a concealed area without any prospects of exposure.