A Space for Us: The Creation of Safe(r) Spaces for LGBTQ+ Comedy.

This article examines how LGBTQ+ comedians in Toronto create safe(r) spaces within the comedy industry, which is predominantly white, cisgender, and male, to counteract experiences of tokenization, harm, and inaccessibility. Based on 18 semi-structured interviews, the study finds that these safe(r) spaces serve as bottom-up resistance by fostering representation, reducing exposure to harmful content and behaviors, and increasing accessibility for marginalized performers and audiences. However, the research highlights that without broader structural changes—such as improved funding, accountability, and equitable labor conditions—safe(r) spaces alone have limited capacity to transform the systemic inequities and precarity inherent in the comedy industry. The article situates these findings within the context of creative labor, LGBTQ+ nightlife, and the ongoing negotiation of safety as a dynamic and contested process.