Immigrant sexual citizenship: intersectional templates among Mexican gay immigrants to the USA

Abstract

Existing literature on sexual citizenship has emphasized the sexuality-related claims of de jure citizens of nation-states, generally ignoring immigrants. Conversely, the literature on immigration rarely attends to the salience of sexual issues in understanding the social incorporation of migrants. This article seeks to fill the gap by theorizing and analyzing immigrant sexual citizenship. While some scholars of sexual citizenship have focused on the rights and recognition granted formally by the nation-state and others have stressed more diffuse, cultural perceptions of community and local belonging, we argue that the lived experiences of immigrant sexual citizenship call for multiscalar scrutiny of templates and practices of citizenship that bridge national policies with local connections. Analysis of ethnographic data from a study of 76 Mexican gay and bisexual male immigrants to San Diego, California reveals the specific citizenship templates that these men encounter as they negotiate their intersecting social statuses as gay/bisexual and as immigrants (legal or undocumented); these include an “asylum” template, a “rights” template, and a “local attachments” template. However, the complications of their intersecting identities constrain their capacity to claim immigrant sexual citizenship. The study underscores the importance of both intersectional and multiscalar approaches in research on citizenship as social practice.

Immigration policies and mental health morbidity among Latinos: A state-level analysis

“…Future work should also take into account intersectional experiences of the policy climate; it is conceivable that LGB Latinos, for example, may experience unique mental health burdens in states with policies that deny citizenship rights related to both sexual and ethnic identity, as suggested by Epstein and Carrillo’s (2014) recent discussion of ‘intersectional sexual citizenship.’ Finally, we focused on mental health outcomes in the current study; the extent to which immigration policies contribute to other adverse health outcomes (e.g., substance disorders, physical health morbidity) among Latinos represents an important area for future inquiry.…”

Diversidad sexual: imaginarios y actitudes en estudiantes de enseñanzas medias y superiores mexicanos

“…Justificación El abordaje de la diversidad sexual en México refiere a una temática poco y recientemente estudiada que se constata en la literatura científica existente. No obstante, se observa que su análisis tanto teórico (Epstein y Carrillo, 2014;Granados, Delgado y Méndez, 2006;Parrini y Brito, 2012) como cuantitativo (Lozano, 2009;Ortiz y Granados, 2006;Rodríguez, 2016;Ortiz y García, 2005; Lozano y Díaz, 2010; Barrón, Salín y Guadarrama, 2014; Delgado y Young, 2013) son los más frecuentes. Siendo las principales temáticas de estas investigaciones: la LGTBI-fobia, el estigma, su relación con el VIH-SIDA y la discriminación.…”

The Importance of Sexuality for Research on Ethnicity and Nationalism

“…As described in the next section, there is a significant body of research analysing how sexual scripts on the cultural level interact with and define notions of national and ethnic belonging. Some have found, for instance, that sexual minorities, can have a difficult time negotiating their identities as, say, gay or lesbian, in a country, region, or racial/ethnic group where the sexual scripts associated with those desires are non-existent, freighted with accusations of racial or ethnic "inauthenticity," or eroticized in racially essentialized ways (Carrillo and Fontdevila 2014;Chetcuti 2010;Decena 2011;Epstein and Carrillo 2014;Moore 2010;Provencher 2016).…”

“…Because sexuality is tied to deeply intimate experiences of desire and love, but also reproduction, it constitutes an especially potent symbolic and material driver for creating distinctions. This power is reflected in national legal infrastructures that define "sexual citizenship" through policies as far ranging as immigration and asylum to sex education in schools and family welfare regimes (Epstein and Carrillo 2014;Kuhar 2015;Lewis 2014;Lewis and Naples 2014;Stychin 2003). Scholars interested in understanding ethnic and national identity in a specific context should systematically ask themselves: To what degree do legal institutions, politicians, the press, and people's families, churches, and schools conceive of different types of sexualities as belonging to the polity?…”