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The purpose of this paper is to argue that the myriad social forces in El Salvador make it difficult for LGBTQ+ to publicly declare their sexual orientation or name their perpetrators and hence to use the #MeToo hashtag as a leadership strategy of their movement.

A qualitative research design was used that included interviews and focus group discussions with LGBTQ+ leaders of organizations and government officials. A descriptive/interpretive approach was used to understand their experiences of being LGBTQ+, leadership approach to gain their rights and knowledge of #MeToo.

Although the movement has contributed to the public dialog about sexual misconduct, it has not had an impact on the “coming out” of LGBTQ+ on Twitter, public exposure of offenders, improved treatment of LGBTQ+ or significant changes in employment law for LGBTQ+ Salvadorans. Rather than the celebrity-led #MeToo movement, a continuation of the more grassroots approach that Salvadoran LGBTIQ+ leaders use may more successfully achieve their protection and rights.

Further research should be completed regarding the impact of leadership on changing the social imaginary and the leadership approach most appropriate for this impact.

The study provides a case to further explore the leadership's role in changing the social imaginary.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this paper is the first to illustrate that #MeToo cannot be successful in all cultural contexts or with all LGBTQ+ communities and that grassroots approaches may be more appropriate in countries such as El Salvador.

Purpose: Fear of deportation and its relationship to healthcare access has been less studied among immigrant Latinx men who have sex with men (MSM), a population at risk for HIV and characterized by their multiple minority statuses. The first step is to accurately measure their fear of deportation.

Approach: We used an exploratory sequential mixed methods design. Eligibility criteria were that research participants be ages 18–34 years; Latinx; cisgender male; having had sex with another male; residing in the District of Columbia metro area; and not a US citizen or legal permanent resident. In Study 1, we used in-depth interviews and thematic analysis. Using participants' interview responses, we inductively generated 15 items for a fear of deportation scale. In Study 2, we used survey data to assess the scale's psychometric properties. We conducted independent samples t-test on the associations between scale scores and barriers to healthcare access.

Findings: For the 20 participants in Study 1, fear of deportation resulted in chronic anxiety. Participants managed their fear through vigilance, and behaviors restricting their movement and social network engagement. In Study 2, we used data from 86 mostly undocumented participants. The scale was internally consistent (α = 0.89) and had a single factor. Those with higher fear of deportation scores were significantly more likely to report avoiding healthcare because they were worried about their immigration status (p = 0.007).

Originality: We described how fear of deportation limits healthcare access for immigrant Latinx MSM.

Research implications: Future research should examine fear of deportation and HIV risk among immigrant Latinx MSM.