Called Q Chat Space, the platform is advertised on the CDC’s LGBT Health Youth Resources page, archived here. The chat service, which describes itself as “a community for LGBTQ+ teens,” is available for those ages 13-19, can be hidden from parents, and focuses on a number of mature themes.
Q Chat hosts conversations on a number of different mature and sexual topics, including “Drag Culture 101,” “Sex and Relationships,” and “Having Multiple Genders,” intended for ‘Bi/Pan Youth.”
One chat celebrates Ru Paul’s Drag Race while another is called “Queer Youth Activism,” which is intended for “youth of color.”
Q Chat also features conversations on “Gender Affirmation Surgeries,” as well as on hormone replacement therapy. The chats are used in part to tell children “where you can find resources” related to their transition.
There are also chats on astrology, including “self discovery in astrology” and one titled “Queering Tarot,” a reference to tarot cards commonly used in occult practices.
The sexually, politcally, and even spiritually charged material is intermixed with content that appeals to young children, such as conversations on video games, Pokemon, and StarWars.
One meme posted on Q Chat’s Instagram page displays a Trojan horse, explaining that children may realize they’re queer after “learning about queerness” from their friends.
The chat seems specifically designed to be concealed from parents and family members. Each section of the website has a large button on the bottom of the screen that says “Click/Tap here for a quick escape …” and shows a stick figure running towards an exit. When clicked, the button takes users to the Google homepage, hiding the site.
The site also notes that users can get reminders that obscure the name of the chat, explaining, “There are 2 text message reminder options: Discreet or Detailed,” going on to explain that “Discreet text reminders are private, they do not include ‘Q Chat Space’ or the name of the chat.”
One of the rules of Q Chat is to “Keep confidentiality” and agree that “what’s shared here, stays here.”
An academic article about Q Chat, published on the National Library of Medicine website, praised the service for its ability to be hidden from parents, saying that “The platform’s chat-based nature likely helps youth avoid concerns about family members accidentally overhearing their conversations.”
But while the chats are designed to be hidden from parents and family members, one chat session was called “Finding Chosen Family,” while another was titled “how to deal with family during the holidays.”
The conversations are facilitated by leftwing activists from a number of organizations. Some facilitators use alternative pronouns like “xe/xem,” with one identifying as “Black, genderqueer, gray-ace, and neurodivergent.”
Another facilitator is a self-described “drag artist” and is “Black nonbinary queer asexual.”
When children apply to join Q Chat, they are asked a number of different questions regarding their race, gender, and mental health. The application asks children their racial and ethnic background, how often they feel depressed or hopeless, what their “sexual/romantic” orientation is, and how they feel about their gender identity.
Q Chat is run in part by Planned Parenthood, which Breitbart News recently revealed offers hormone replacement therapy to minors and has claimed that transgender identity can be “cemented early in elementary school.” Planned Parenthood has also promoted Q Chat in a video posted to their Tumblr account.
Breitbart News revealed in May that the Arizona Department of Education has promoted Q Chat.
The CDC did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
