Queer, Trans, and Non-binary health cannot be understood in isolation from the political conditions that shape stigma, identity recognition, and healthcare access. Minority stress theory has long established that enacted, anticipated, or internalised stigma, and associated identity concealment or hypervigilance, contribute to health inequalities for queer, trans, and non-binary people. Structural stigma extends this framework to illustrate that anti-queer, anti-trans, anti-non-binary hostility at the level of laws, policies, and public opinion also shapes health outcomes and healthcare access. Therefore, hostile political and legal environments are powerful drivers of ill health among queer, trans, and non-binary people, including in regions where hard-won rights are increasingly eroded.

The politicisation of gender-affirming care, particularly for young people, illustrates how moral panic (a product of disinformation) can contribute to restrictive, pathologising health policy and widening health inequalities. Similarly, the persistence of efforts to “repair” or “convert” a minoritised sexual orientation or gender (identity, modality, or expression) demonstrates that attempts to oppress queer, trans, and non-binary identity and expression remain entrenched in institutions. Criminalising such practices must be a priority in the pursuit of queer, trans, and non-binary health justice.

We invite submissions that address the following topics:

• Minority stress, structural stigma and novel frameworks for understanding widening health disparities
• Politicisation of gender-affirming healthcare
• Pathologising health systems, medical paternalism or refusal of care
• The harms of “conversion practices”, “gender exploratory therapy”, and other forms of sexual orientation and gender identity change efforts (SOGICE)
• Knowledge production, censorship and attacks on queer expertise in health and medicine
• Community-led responses and survival practices, including self-sourced medication and peer-delivered healthcare
• Harm and resilience across intersecting axes of inequality
• Inclusion of sexual orientation and gender measures in public health surveillance

Please note that non-empirical submissions must enable readers to identify a concrete implication for how LGBTQ+ health is understood, studied, practised, or governed. Work that engages medicine or illness solely as cultural, representational, or symbolic terrain, without implications for health knowledge or practice, falls outside the journal's scope.

Pre-submission enquiries can be directed to Dr Dean Connolly (dean.connolly@lshtm.ac.uk) and Dr Michal Pitoňák (michal.pitonak@fhs.cuni.cz).

This Collection supports and amplifies research related to SDG 3, Good Health and Well-Being, SDG 5, Gender Equality, SDG 10, Reduced Inequalities and SDG 16, Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions.

All submissions in this Collection undergo the journal’s standard peer review process. Similarly, all manuscripts authored by a Guest Editor(s) will be handled by the Editor-in-Chief. As an open-access publication, this journal levies an article processing fee. For articles accepted for publication in 2026, Global LGBTQ+ Health has waivers available to offer that can be requested upon submission and allocated on acceptance. For more information on publication fees, please see here. We recognize that many key stakeholders may not have access to such resources and are committed to supporting participation in this issue wherever resources are a barrier. For more information about what support may be available, please visit OA funding and support, or email OAfundingpolicy@springernature.com or the Editor-in-Chief.