Centering the Margins: A Moderation Study Examining Cisgender Privilege Among LGBTQ plus BIPoC College Students Facing Intersectional Microaggressions

Marginalized college students report experiencing both systemic and everyday discrimination in higher education. Scholars have highlighted the effects of microaggressions on well-being and attitudes toward school persistence. Most studies have used a unidimensional approach to unpack oppressive systems for individuals with multiple marginalized identities and therefore experiences around intersectionality are often not considered. Particularly among sexual minorities of color, differences in experiences with microaggressions for cisgender and gender expansive people are often overlooked when assessing educational outcomes. The current cross-sectional study (n = 153) used an intersectional approach to explore experiences of LGBTQ+ Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPoC). We examined the association between intersectional microaggressions (sexual and racial) and school persistence attitudes, comparing differences between cisgender and gender expansive students. According to our findings, intersectional microaggressions negatively impacted attitudes toward school persistence and cisgender privilege emerged as a moderator to buffer this effect. Specifically, gender expansive students were less likely to hold positive attitudes of school persistence compared to cisgender sexual minority students of color when experiencing higher levels of intersectional microaggressions. We used an intersectional approach to explore how cissexism, heterosexism, and racism impact those at the margins among LGBTQ+ BIPoC students highlighting implications for higher education.