Queer Family: Construction of the Chosen Kin Network and Social Support

• In Event: 40820 - Section on Sociology of Sex and Gender Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable (60 minute): Table 6: Queer Identities, Experiences, and Communities

Abstract

Although research on fictive kinship networks has significantly increased in recent decades, identity-based support within queer fictive kinship networks remains understudied. This study draws analytical insights from in-depth interviews with 28 LGBTQ+ individuals to build an understanding of how fictive kinship networks, colloquially referred to as chosen families, function and sustain themselves through social support. I answer Furstenberg’s (2020) call to determine how kinship is formed and maintained when people no longer follow the traditional models of marriage and parenthood and argue that queer fictive kinship networks serve as the nexus of social connectedness and support for LGBTQ+ individuals who may face rejection from their families of origin (biological or adoptive). I extend Reczek and Bosley-Smith’s (2022) argument to show that even when queer individuals maintain kinship ties with their families of origin, they often seek what I refer to as identity-based support, an amalgam of informational and social support from their queer kin. This paper highlights the significance of a sociological analysis of the non-traditional queer family: one that is not legally formed or maintained, one that emerges and is propagated through queer sociality and support rather than legal structures. Results indicate that the LGBTQ+ respondents in the study seek and maintain queer kinship for a variety of reasons— most importantly— a shared understanding and support of queer identity exhibited in but not limited to informational exchanges, sexual support, and unpacking the emotional impacts from encountering heteronormative society.

Author

• Max Calleo, University of Massachusetts-Amherst