Aunties, Aunts, and Tías: The Forgotten Othermother Supporting and Housing LGBTQ Youth (original) (raw)
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Existing research on lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) youth homelessness identifies family rejection as a main pathway into homelessness for the youth. This finding, however, can depict people of color or poor people as more prejudiced than White, middle-class families. In this 18-month ethnographic study, the author complicates this rejection paradigm through documenting the narratives of 40 LGBTQ youth experiencing homelessness. The author examines how poverty and family instability shaped the conditions that the youth perceived as their being rejected because of their gender and sexuality. This rejection generated strained familial ties within families wherein the ties were already fragile. Likewise, the author shows how being gender expansive marked many youth's experiences of familial abuse and strain. This study proposes the concept of conditional families to capture the social processes of how poverty and family instability shape experiences of gender, sexuality, and rejection for some LGBTQ youth.
Sanctuary or prison: queer youth and the family, household and home
Attention to queer youths’ lives in their family homes often centers on their coming out experiences. These experiences are framed as negative, filled with anxiety and even trauma [Valentine, G., Skelton, T. & Butler, R. (2003). Coming out and outcomes: Negotiating lesbian and gay identities with, and in, the family. Environment and Planning D: Society and Space, 21, 479–499; Valentine, G. & Skelton, T. (2003). Finding oneself, losing oneself: The lesbian and gay ‘scene’ as a paradoxical space. International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, 27, 849–866]. This is not always the case as these experiences can be quite positive and even queer the rest of the family [Gorman-Murray, A. (2008). Queering the family home: narratives from gay, lesbian and bisexual youth coming out in supportive family homes in Australia. Gender, Place and Culture, 15, 31–44]. For many queer youths, however, coming out to family members can be characterized as neither positive nor negative. Instead, I argue that queer youth experiences in the family home are complex, involving a sociospatial navigation and negotiation with(in) their family/home. As such, queer youth often must negotiate the closet carefully as they decide to whom, when, and in what capacity to come out. Yet, the experiences of queer youth in the household do not rest solely in coming out. Other factors and family/household arrangements add to the complexity of queer youths’ living in the family home – out of the closet or not. Furthermore, this article expands the definition of family by drawing on Sedgwick’s concept of the avunculate [Sedgwick, E. K. (1993). Tales of the avunculate: Queer tutelage in the importance of being ernest. In E. K. Sedgwick (Ed.), Tendencies, Durham, NC: Duke University Press]. I draw upon semi-structured interviews, focus groups and participant observation of LGBT/queer adolescents.
Journal of GLBT Family Studies, 2020
Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer (LGBTQ) youth are at an increased risk for social isolation and family rejection. This is particularly true in African American communities where there is an increased lack of social support and acceptance for LGBTQ youth from their biological families, communities, churches, schools and healthcare systems. To counteract the social isolation and develop a sense of community, African American LGBTQ youth often form chosen or created families, with peers and older LGBTQ persons that mimic nuclear family structures, to cope with rejection at home and in their communities. These resilient social networks are created with varying sets of rules and relationship dynamics that may directly impact the social determinants of health among this community. The purpose of this manuscript is to systematically review the literature on African American LGBTQ youth and created families and identify patterns about the unique experiences of African LGBTQ youth who participate in these systems.
" My aunt unfriended me: " Narratives of GLBTQ Family Relationships Post 2016 Presidential Election
This study focuses on the impact of the 2016 US presidential election on gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and queer (GLBTQ) peoples' relationships with their family-of-origin. Although family relationships play an important role for all people, GLBTQ individuals' relationships with their families are particularly important during times of sociopolitical change, and when GLBTQ rights are being threatened. Specifically, the election of Donald J. Trump mandates a direct need to more thoroughly explore how the 2016 US presidential election has impacted GLBTQ individuals' relationships with their families. Participants included 274 individuals who identified as a part of the GLBTQ community, and completed an online survey in which they discussed the impact that the 2016 US presidential election had on their family-of-origin. Thematic analysis revealed three relationship-salient themes: (a) family divisions, (b) family cohesions, and (c) no change. Discussion of the results focuses on the critical role played by GLBTQ peoples' families during times when GLBTQ prejudice is politicized.
Journal of Marriage and Family, 2024
Objective: This study documents the importance of grand- parents for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ+) Latinx youth and how cisnormativity shapes these relationship dynamics. Background: Most research on LGBTQ+ youth’s family relations centers on the parent–child relationship. Grand- parents are important for racially marginalized families, particularly Latinx families. Additionally, Latinx LGBTQ + youth are impacted by precarious familismo—the disparate experiences with family members in which their gender and sexuality are simultaneously accepted and rejected. Method: The data for this project are from the Family Housing and Me (FHAM) project, a landmark longitudi- nal study on the impact of non-parental relatives on the lives of LGBTQ+ youth. This paper analyzes a subsample of 35 qualitative interviews with Latinx LGBTQ+ youth (16–19 years old) who live in South Texas or the Inland Empire of California, the majority of whom are transgender or nonbinary. Results: Grandparents played an important role in the lives of Latinx LGBTQ+ youth interviewees, including providing many of the positive benefits of familismo. The youth also described “disparate experiences” of precarious familismo in how their grandparents simultaneously attempted identity support of their gender identities and reinforced cisnormativity. Youth often navigated these experiences by expressing low expectations that their grandparents would fully understand their gender identities, which we refer to as generational gender expectations. Conclusion: Research on LGBTQ+ youth should integrate the study of non-parental relatives to fully understand sup- port networks and family systems for LGBTQ+ youth. Additionally, cisnormativity plays an important role in family life and familismo.
Archives of sexual behavior, 2017
Familial responses to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) young people's identities range on a spectrum from rejection to acceptance and these reactions strongly impact family relationships and young adult well-being. Less is known, however, about how family members' reactions may differ based on young people's contexts of socioeconomic status. Through a qualitative, life course analysis of in-depth interview data from 46 LGBTQ college students and LGBTQ homeless young adults, our study highlights the diverse, contextual nuances of young people's "linked lives" within their families. We find that the context of socioeconomic status influenced how a young person managed family rejection. Conversely, processes of familial acceptance were also connected to life course transitions that worked in some cases to enhance LGBTQ young adults' family relationships. Finally, the intricacy of familial reactions to a young person's LGBTQ identi...
Children and Youth Services Review, 2022
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer or questioning (LGBTQ) young adults are overrepresented among young adults experiencing homelessness. Heterosexist and cisgenderist rejection from their families frequently causes and exacerbates this housing instability. Despite these challenges, LGBTQ young adults demonstrate tremendous resilience. Using grounded theory to analyze interviews with 15 young adults experiencing family rejection and housing instability, this study seeks to illuminate the practices and attitudes that allow LGBTQ young adults to develop and maintain resilience. Analysis of the interview data revealed three main themes: (1) strategizing: taking agency, making plans, and learning lessons; (2) connecting: getting support from individuals, institutions, and communities, and engaging in their own altruism; and, (3) coping: focusing on goals, maintaining motivation, and using creativity. This study holds important implications for housing agencies and others who seek to support LGBTQ young adults, suggesting that we should build programs that leverage the existing strengths and resilience of these young adults in efforts to create housing stability. ge the existing strengths and resilience of young adults in efforts to create housing stability.
Qualitative Research on LGBTQ-Parent Families
LGBTQ-Parent Families, 2020
Qualitative research on LGBTQ-parent families and queer individuals and families of all kinds has burgeoned, to include narratives, interviews, diaries, emotion maps, participatory action research, and visual and performative methods—individually or in combination. In this chapter, we examine a range of qualitative methods, particularly from the lens of a qualitative multiple methods approach developed by Jacqui Gabb. We also address conceptual, theoretical, intersectional, and methodological tensions that remain or have emerged regarding how qualitative LGBTQ-parent family research is conducted, to what ends, and how it should be represented in publication, for researchers, for practitioners, and for participants themselves. Our goal is to show that qualitative LGBTQ-parent family research has come of age: a great deal of exciting research is appearing around the globe, and yet, this area also faces numerous challenges to retaining its cutting edge nature. Finally, we combine new c...
Homelessness and Housing Experiences among LGBTQ Young Adults in Seven U.S. Cities
Cityscape: A Journal of Policy Development and Research , 2018
Research demonstrates the challenges faced by lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and questioning (LGBTQ) young adult(s) (YA) experiencing homelessness, including preliminary evidence regarding the unique barriers and circumstances of the subpopulations within the broader category of LGBTQ. Few research efforts have investigated the differential experiences between identity and racial subgroups within the population of LGBTQ YA experiencing homelessness, however. This study uses a seven-city sample of 442 LGBTQ YA experiencing homelessness to examine the homelessness and housing experiences of LGBTQ YA—including specific experiences of marginalized and understudied subgroups—and compare these experiences across racial subgroups. Analyses revealed LGBTQ YA most commonly experienced homelessness because they were kicked out/asked to leave the home of their parents, relatives, foster or group homes. This experience was more common among transgender YA. Other differential experiences related to duration of homelessness, discrimination, and stress were reported across subgroups. This study fills a critical gap in the literature by identifying differential experiences of subgroups within the LGBTQ YA homeless population that can better inform program and policy interventions designed to prevent and end homelessness among YA.
"It's not fiction, it's my life": LGBTQ+ youth of color and kinships in an urban school
Theory into practice, 2020
This article argues that chosen family structures are critical for LGBTQ+ youth of color. Further, it articulates the inherent sense of agency that is found in choosing a family-something that not only shapes young ways of being, knowing, and doing but impacts their ability to resist toxic cultural norms that all too often position students for the school-to-prison and school-to-coffin pipelines. Finally, this article argues that schools should attend more closely to chosen family structures and find ways to include them in school culture to better sustain students, classrooms, and communities of color. Davonte 1 : When I came out, I lost my family. Seriously, I lost them. I was kicked out. I had to build a new family. It was sad but also kind of cool because I got to pick the people who love me.