The SMILE study is a research study to learn about the life experiences (including challenges and general wellbeing) of people who identify as sexual and/or gender minorities (SGM).  It is happening in three countries: Brazil, Kenya, and Vietnam.  “Sexual or gender minority” can mean people who are LGBTQI (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, or intersex). “Sexual or gender minority” can also refer to people attracted to the same gender/sex, or people who feel they are not the sex/gender they were given at birth, or people who do not feel they are male or female.

Participating in the study mainly means completing this 15 to 20 minute-long online survey.  You will not benefit directly from doing this research study.

Our goal is to collect data from as many LGBTQI folks living in Brazil, Kenya, and Vietnam as possible, in order to document the many challenges faced by SGMs and to understand how policies, programs, and services can best be created or adapted to help and support sexual and gender minorities living in your country. 

Please help your community by contributing data about your experiences as a sexual or gender minority.

To help protect their confidentiality, we will never ask for your name; however, in order to contact you for follow-up surveys we will ask for a phone number and email address, which are stored separately from your survey responses. Contact information will be kept private and will not be shared with anyone outside of the project.