California LGBTQ+ communities face distinct challenges in recovery after 2025 Eaton Canyon fires: report

The Williams Institute at the University of California Los Angeles School of Law and the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health released a report highlighting the impact of the fires that burned through LGBTQ+ households and businesses for the one-year mark since the fires.

The report reveals that LGBTQ+ survivors entered the disaster with greater vulnerabilities and less immediate support from community organizations, friends, and family. LGBTQ+ residents also faced additional barriers during recovery due to discrimination and bias from service providers, survivors told report authors.

“When the fires [were finally] under control, [LGBTQ+ residents] faced recovery services led by a federal administration hostile to LGBTQ+ people, and local service providers, including some faith-based service providers, that were not fully inclusive of their families,” said lead author Brad Sears, distinguished senior scholar of law and policy at the Williams Institute.

The Williams Institute and the LA County Department of Public Health conducted a wildfire rapid needs assessment survey following the Eaton Canyon Fire to collect data for the latest report. They also held a listening session to collect data on the experiences faced by those affected.

The key findings point to a major disparity in housing vulnerability – LGBTQ+ residents were more likely to be renters than they were to be homeowners. This disparity leads to an added layer of vulnerability in available housing and housing programs designed to help homeowners over renters. The survey also found that LGBTQ+ residents were three to four times more likely than non-LGBTQ+ residents to require legal assistance to navigate tenants' rights in resolving disputes with landlords.

Some participants of the listening session told researchers, "They believed their claims or needs were taken less seriously once their sexual orientation or gender identity became apparent."

Though the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), states that ‘FEMA treats all people equally regardless of an individual’s race, color, religion, national origin, sex, age or disability,’ the participants of this survey claim otherwise. Some participants of the study hit barriers in accessing FEMA assistance due to their preferred name, sex-at-birth not matching federal paperwork, or after mentioning that they had a same-sex domestic partner.

According to the report, participants “described being misgendered, having their partnerships dismissed, and encountering skepticism or discomfort from service providers unfamiliar with LGBTQ+ family structures.” Trans and nonbinary participants reported feeling discriminated against when seeking temporary housing and anticipated mistreatment and deadnaming during the rental search.

Some participants of the survey also noted that FEMA removed civil rights protections for sexual orientation and gender identity during this time.

The report notes that LGBTQ+ community members were more likely to have mental health conditions than non-LGBTQ+ people.

"Participants in the listening sessions described profound grief, feelings of disorientation, and difficulty reestablishing stability in the months following displacement. Sensory reminders such as construction noise, ash, and smoke residue triggered ongoing distress, preventing many from feeling grounded or comfortable in their environment," it states.

Queer respondents also told researchers that the loss of LGBTQ-inclusive spaces had negatively affected them. Something echoed by a local business owner to The Advocate.

June Bug Tattoos, an LGBTQ+ and woman-owned business designed as an intentional safe space for LGBTQ+ people and people on the autism spectrum, was originally based in Altadena. The fires burned down the shop in that location and forced Isabela Livingstone, the owner, to relocate her business to Eagle Rock. This inclusive space is just one now gone from the Altadena area.

“We definitely got the majority of our assistance through our GoFund Me campaign,” Livingstone told The Advocate. “So specifically the Altadena community and the queer community, and the tattoo community were the people that helped us rebuild.”

She says that though they have reopened, they are still in the process of rebuilding and that "some things are taking longer than others."

This article was written as part of the Future of Queer Media fellowship program at The Advocate, which is underwritten by a generous gift from Morrison Media Group. The program helps support the next generation of LGBTQ+ journalists.