Transformative Compassion

Update: Now Available Our Compassion Song

The complete comic anthology is now available! Click Here

“We might reject everything else: religion, ideology, all received wisdom.
But we cannot escape the necessity of love and compassion.”
—His Holiness the Dalai Lama

Compassion has been recognized by many 2SLGBTQ+ people as a component of their happiness and well-being.

With this research, we seek to understand through personal narratives how experiences of compassion shape the lives, health, and well-being of 2S/LGBTQ+ people.

Findings from the study are shared through a comic book anthology.

Each comic in this collection is a blending of our data exploring the meanings of compassion for queer folx with the creativity, passion, and experiences of a queer comic artist. We commissioned 15 comics from artists in Canada, United States, Greece, India, and Scotland.

Our themes are not distinct – they merge, overlap, and have fuzzy edges that blurs any lines of classification – in this way they are distinctly queer, including 1) Compassion is Shared Trauma, 2) Compassion is Activism and Mentorship, 3) Compassion is (Re)Learning, 4) Compassion is Connections and Communities, and 5) Compassion is New Ways of Being.

Check out our artist Kay Fine creating the cover art

And a few sample images from the anthology below!

Mark and Jaden in the comic Entropy written and illustrated by Jalex Noel. Two men merge like stray stars, attracted to each other’s gravity in the vastness of universe. Through alignment, they reach compassion for themselves and for each other, pulsing echoes of careness they never had before.

Check out the character design for Mark and Jaden

In Effeminared: Under the Lucky Star written and illustrated by Anwesh Sahoo, the young Anay is abused as friends become tormentors – the only reason for these attacks is because Anay is not like the other boys. Sahoo filled the comic with personal experiences of growing up and drew inspiration for the character Sarita Tayi from a well-known trans activist in India.

In Neighborhood Rhapsody by Joe Phillips a neighbor reaches out and finds the music that connects us all.

Peer-Reviewed Publications from the Project

1. Joy, P., White, M., & Aston, M. Artful compassion: Exploring experiences of compassion in eating disorder care for 2S/LGBTQ+ individuals with graphic art. Journal of Critical Dietetics, Accepted.
2. Joy, P., Aston, M., Thomas, A., Hammond, C., & Hammond, B. Blossoming from the Mud: Learnings about Compassion from 2SLGBTQ+ Canadians for Queer Subversion and Socio-Cultural Transformations. SAGE Open, Accepted
3. Joy, P., Thomas, A., & Aston, M. Translating Research Data into Creative Comics for Engaging Knowledge Mobilization: A Case Study on Meanings of Compassion with 2S/LGBTQ+ Communities. SAGE Research Methods Cases: Diversifying and Decolonizing Research. https://doi.org/10.4135/9781529681178
4. White, M., Thomas, A., Aston, M., & Joy, P. (2024). “It’s beautiful and it’s messy and it’s tragic”: exploring the role of compassion in the eating disorder recovery processes of 2S/LGBTQ+ Canadians. Journal of Eating Disorders, 12(1), 1-13. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40337-024-00981-6
5. Thomas, A., Aston, M., & Joy, P. (2022). Orientation to compassion: Exploring how space constructs meanings of compassion for 2SLGBTQ individuals. The International Journal of Diverse Identities, 22(2), 15-30. https://doi.org/10.18848/2327-7866/CGP/v22i02/15-30
6. Joy, P., Thomas, A., & Aston, M. (2022). Compassionate discourses: A qualitative study exploring how compassion can transform healthcare for 2SLGBTQ+ people. Qualitative Health Research, 32(10), 1514-1526. https://doi.org/10.1177/10497323221110701