Undocuqueer: Interacting and Working within the Intersection of LGBTQ and Undocumented by Jesus Cisneros A Dissertation Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy Approved April 2015 by the Graduate Supervisory Committee: Molly Ott, Co-Chair Gustavo Fischman, Co-Chair Kate Anderson ARIZONA STATE UNIVERSITY August 2015 UMI Number: 3716278 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. UMI 3716278 Published by ProQuest LLC (2015). Copyright in the Dissertation held by the Author. Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code ProQuest LLC. 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, MI 48106 - 1346 ABSTRACT Employing Queer Intersectionality, this study explored how undocuqueer activists made sense of, interacted and worked within the intersection of their LGBTQ and undocumented experience. Participants ascribed three overarching self-meanings: Vulnerability, Complexity, and Resilience. These self-meanings describe the ways participants perceived the interplay of their gender, sexuality and immigration status within the current sociopolitical context of the U.S. Recognizing their vulnerability within a state of illegibility, participants described a sense of exclusion within spaces of belonging, and wariness managing relationships with others; opting for more complex self-definitions, they resisted simplistic conceptions of identity that rendered their social locations invisible (e.g., homonormativity, heteronormativity, DREAMer); and describing themselves as resilient, they described surviving societal as well as familial rejection even when surviving seemed impossible to do so. Interacting and working within the intersection of gender, sexuality and immigration status, participants described identity negotiation and coming out as a form of resistance to institutionalized oppression, and resilience amidst simultaneous anti-immigrant, xenophobic and heterosexist power structures. Participants learned to live in multiple worlds at the same time, and embrace the multiplicity of their undocuqueer identity while seeking to bridge their communities through stories, activism and peer education. This study has implications for further understanding the way that queer politics and identity interact/ relate with various axes of inequality. i TABLE OF CONTENTS Page LIST OF TABLES ............................................................................................................. v CHAPTER INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................. 1 Purpose Of Study ................................................................................................ 4 Significance Of Study ......................................................................................... 6 Research Questions ............................................................................................. 7 Definitions ........................................................................................................... 8 Sex, Gender And Sexuality ..................................................................... 8 Immigration Status .................................................................................. 10 Activism .................................................................................................. 10 Organization Of Study ........................................................................................ 11 REVIEW OF LITERATURE ......................................................................................... 12 Politics Of LGBTQ Rights In The U.S. .............................................................. 12 LGBTQ Activists .................................................................................... 15 Politics Of Immigrant Rights In The U.S. .......................................................... 17 Undocumented Activists ......................................................................... 20 Intersecting Politics Of LGBTQ Immigration In The U.S. ................................ 23 LGBTQ Undocumented Immigrants ...................................................... 26 Summary ............................................................................................................. 29 Conceptual Framework ....................................................................................... 30 Queer Theory .......................................................................................... 30 ii CHAPTER Page Intersectionality ....................................................................................... 34 Queer Intersectionality ............................................................................ 36 METHODOLOGY ......................................................................................................... 40 Narrative Inquiry ................................................................................................. 42 Study Context ...................................................................................................... 45 Participant Selection ........................................................................................... 46 Data Collection ................................................................................................... 48 Semi-Structured Interviews .................................................................... 48 Protocol ................................................................................................... 49 Researcher ........................................................................................................... 51 Ethical Considerations ........................................................................................ 53 Analytic Procedure .............................................................................................. 54 Trustworthiness ....................................................................................... 58 FINDINGS ..................................................................................................................... 59 Section 1: Meaning Making ................................................................................ 60 Vulnerability: Recognizing Illegibility Inscribed By Law ..................... 61 Exclusion Within Spaces Of Belonging ..................................... 69 Managing Interpersonal Experiences .......................................... 74 Complexity: Developing Complex Self-Definitions .............................. 85 Resisting Simplistic Conceptions Of Identity ............................. 89 Heteronormativity ........................................................... 94 Homonormativity .......................................................... 98 iii CHAPTER Page DREAMer ..................................................................... 102 Resilience: When Thriving Is (Im)Possible ............................................ 106 Surviving Social Rejection ......................................................... 110 Surviving Familial Rejection ...................................................... 114 Section 2: Interacting And Working Within ....................................................... 120 Identity Negotiation ................................................................................ 120 Coming Out ............................................................................................. 132 Bridging Communities Through Education ............................................ 141 DISCUSSION, CONCLUSION AND IMPLICATIONS .............................................. 147 Discussion ........................................................................................................... 149 Implications ......................................................................................................... 156 Conclusion .......................................................................................................... 162 REFERENCES ............................................................................................................... 165 APPENDICES ................................................................................................................ 185 A INSTRUMENT ............................................................................................... 185 B CONSENT FORM .......................................................................................... 188 iv LIST OF TABLES Table Page 1. Participants .......................................................................................................... 48 2. Codebook ............................................................................................................ 57 3. Frequencies ......................................................................................................... 57 v CHAPTER 1: Introduction You can be ignorant or blinded like how I was, saying that one thing does not affect the other, but if you sit down and really analyze it, like how it affects your every single day—and it affects it so much! As an LGBT mainstream movement you are