Queer families can be catalysts with potential to undo normativities and larger social structures that support them. However, much less is known about the many intersections represented across queer families and how undoing normativites and family construction processes are engaged. Accordingly, this symposium examines these processes across five different intersections of queer families: stepfamilies headed by a gay male couple, interracial lesbian couple, parents with gender non-conforming youth, queers couples who adopt, and queer parents who used a known sperm donor.

Objectives

1. To analyze family construction processes used by queer (LGBTQ+)families and how they are influenced by intersectionality

2. To identify the influence of normativities (e.g., heteronormativity, cisnormativity) on queer families.

3. To examine how queer families break free of normativities as a way to (re)construct family in a way that centers the family's experience and needs