Introduction

Abstract

The existence of nonnormative relationship formations presents us with the difficult task of accounting for relatedness in ways that do not prioritize marriage and domesticity. This volume seeks to elaborate on the experiences of LGBTQ2 families and the various ways in which notions of family are deconstructed and reconstructed to fit identities, sexualities, and nonnormative arrangements. We also examine the reasons why LGBTQ2 people find family, which we argue reflects ideas about the necessity to receive and the desire to do family work.

With whom and how people find family is the result of tradition, religion, and state-level politics, as well as the very localized experiences of everyday life. As discussed, conversations about and policy on LGBTQ2 rights largely center on rights related to the construction of the family, such as marriage equality and adoption. This focus on familial rights, however, diverts attention from the various lived experiences that inform how and why people seek family, kinship, and connection, as well as the plurality of ways people create these relationships.

What might familial work look like when we remove it from the private, consanguineal family sphere? What might familial work look like when family is not determined by romantic love, but rather by a commitment to one’s queer community? This volume engages these and many other research questions with the goal of providing an international perspective on the lives of LGBTQ2 people as well as proposing multiple theoretical and methodological interventions.