Contextualizing Familial Relationships Between Queer Elders of Color: Analyzed Experiences from the Passing It Forward Interview Project

This paper explores how LGBTQ elders of color discuss their family relationships, both biological and chosen, in relationship to their activism. Queer and transgender elders were interviewed as part of a national research project. Through analysis of a subset of 12 of these interviews, I found that queer elders had in-depth knowledge of their current families through personal contact, had in/formal adoptions, and received tools from their family through racial identification that they later applied to queer activism. This necessary research demonstrates a clear connection between the fields of family studies and civil rights, while leaning on quare and symbolic interactionist perspectives to reach inclusive and conscious conclusions.