Authors

Discussion

Drawing on 40 in-depth interviews with Lithuanian lesbian, gay, bisexual and queer (LGBQ) people the paper explores the significant role of the internet in providing affirming information about same-sex desire. It also discusses how online spaces have created opportunities for connections and building offline networks. The paper argues that ‘informational vacuum’ was a common experience for many LGBQ+ who started questioning their sexuality prior to 2010, i.e. hardly any information about same-sex desire was available to them in their immediate environment. This lack of available information left many LGBQ people feeling isolated and uninformed about their sexuality. Thus, the internet became a crucial resource for information and network building. Thus, following Lagervist (2016) I argue that in this research context browsing the internet is as an existential activity, i.e. driven by searching for meaning, personal validation, and emotional connections.