Queering family trees: Race, reproductive justice, and lesbian motherhood by Sandra Patton‐Imani

Abstract

Parenting is no easy feat. I am not a parent, but I am part of a family and a family scientist, so I understand how it can be full of rewarding experiences among so many challenges. Internal familial interactions should be considered of course in understanding why and how families "do family", but so too must the societal and institutional contexts in which families exist, especially, those families at the margins, who are often invisible. Author Sandra Patton-Imani uses an intersectional and narrative framework to share the experiences of lesbian and queer mothers across the nation from varied family structures, race/ethnicities, and social classes in Queering Family Trees: Race, Reproductive Justice, and Lesbian Motherhood. Through her analysis of her interviewees' and her own experiences in queer mothering, I was able to reflect on my own experiences (e.g., assumptions, challenges, and privileges) of living as a queer woman of color in the United States; on inequities inherent in our society around family formation, protection, and belonging; and on the importance of reflexive qualitative scholarship in family science.In Patton-Imani's introduction, she recounts an experience at her Des Moines, Iowa YMCA. It was 2002, and she and her wife had been going there for a year without incident, always scanning in with their membership cards under their family account. One day, they forgot the cards, and needed the woman at the front desk to sign them in. Upon seeing a Black woman with the same last name as a White woman, the receptionist questioned the legitimacy of their "family." They were not allowed back to the YMCA after the end of the prepaid month. They had violated that particular YMCA's policy about who "counted" as a family, which mirrored the Iowa state and U.S. law at the time-not allowing or recognizing same-sex unions. From 2004 to 2010 Patton-Imani interviewed queer mothers with similar stories of discrimination, invisibility, and illegitimacy. Whereas she provides no official sample description, the book is filled with the diverse voices of several families and comparisons of experiences by race/ethnicity and class. Patton-Imani's introduction continues with a preview of important concepts such as marriage as assimilation or resistance and the examination of intersectionality in LGBTQ+ family-making processes and policies (e.g., welfare, immigration, and adoption) that often leave out queer mothers of color.Chapters 1 through 3 more thoroughly introduce us to the ways in which citizenship and belonging are denied to many LGBTQ+ mothers and how adoption, assisted reproduction, marriage, and choice are inherently impacted by systems of power, privilege, and oppression. In these early chapters, we are also presented with Patton-Imani's theoretical framework and methodology. She explains that "an allegorical reading, grounded in a critical intersectional approach, provides a useful lens through which to discuss the deep complexities and contradictions between the stories coming from these different sites"...