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Queer and radical criticisms of the LGBT movement have existed since the movement's origins. Indeed, within any movement there are tensions between radicalism and liberalism, assimilation and separatism, and the role of professional or hierarchical organizations. Examining three recent publications on the LGBT movement, I argue that within the LGBT movement there is a tension between queer radicalism and professionalism (which is often conflated with homonormativity and assimilation.) As the national LGBT movement grew, it inevitably developed professional, formal organizations. Although a necessity in maintaining movement coherence and focus, professional organizations are also deeply problematic because of how they suppress dissent and radicalism. Professional organizations also incorporate corporate diversity culture, which is often staffed and led by white professionals and targets only visible and fundable identities such as race and gender.

Queer theory has long argued for the liberatory potential of separating masculinity from men. This article examines whether and how masculinities can be radically transgressive for individuals and simultaneously re-create gendered systems of inequality. In two case studies—a drag troupe and a queer leather club—we find that the cultivated queer sexualities were mimetic iterations of sexual practices among gay men and came rife with both the possibilities and problematics of these real and imagined tropes. We trace the consequences of this in two processes: the eroticization and self-exploration of masculinity and the reliance on validation from gay men. We find that the empowering sexualities taken up by individuals were concurrently rooted in and reproduced sexist meanings of desire and sexual agency. In so doing, we contribute to sociological understanding of masculinities by charting how androcentrism is reproduced in some groups, with or without the presence of male bodies.

How does gender accountability vary? We theorize that reduced perceptions by others of one's gender, or reduced external assessments of gender accountability, create more space for the cultivation of nonbinary subjectivities. We use the shelter-in-place period of the COVID-19 pandemic as a natural experiment during which major social institutions such as work and school changed and thus shifted gender accountability. Through interviews with a racially diverse sample of 22 U.S. adults who came out as nonbinary or genderfluid during this time period, we examine their experiences and understandings of this change in gender accountability. Participants described relief from relentless gender assessments as well as space for self-reflection and gender experimentation. Less stringent external assessments at work and school, especially the reduction of constant in-person evaluations of gender expression, produced new gender subjectivities that resisted binary understandings of gender. This study explores the nuance, variability, and situational character of gender accountability. We argue that in-person full-body gender assessments are a powerful component of gender accountability and that relief from gender accountability at work and school may be particularly liberating.

AbstractObjectiveThis study documents the importance of grandparents for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ+) Latinx youth and how cisnormativity shapes these relationship dynamics.BackgroundMost research on LGBTQ+ youth's family relations centers on the parent–child relationship. Grandparents are important for racially marginalized families, particularly Latinx families. Additionally, Latinx LGBTQ+ youth are impacted by precarious familismo—the disparate experiences with family members in which their gender and sexuality are simultaneously accepted and rejected.MethodThe data for this project are from the Family Housing and Me (FHAM) project, a landmark longitudinal study on the impact of non‐parental relatives on the lives of LGBTQ+ youth. This paper analyzes a subsample of 35 qualitative interviews with Latinx LGBTQ+ youth (16–19 years old) who live in South Texas or the Inland Empire of California, the majority of whom are transgender or nonbinary.ResultsGrandparents played an important role in the lives of Latinx LGBTQ+ youth interviewees, including providing many of the positive benefits of familismo. The youth also described "disparate experiences" of precarious familismo in how their grandparents simultaneously attempted identity support of their gender identities and reinforced cisnormativity. Youth often navigated these experiences by expressing low expectations that their grandparents would fully understand their gender identities, which we refer to as generational gender expectations.ConclusionResearch on LGBTQ+ youth should integrate the study of non‐parental relatives to fully understand support networks and family systems for LGBTQ+ youth. Additionally, cisnormativity plays an important role in family life and familismo.

Scholars theorize that the development of community is an important part of resilience. In this mixed‐methods study, we argue that race informs the experiences that transgender and non‐binary (TNB) people have in seeking community. Using the Strengthening Colors of Pride Phase I and Phase II research, we argue that in a Latino‐majority city, Latinx and Anglo TNB people connected with the transgender and broader lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ+) community, although Anglo TNB people reported more transphobia in the LGBTQ+ community. Black and American Indian TNB people connected with LGBTQ+ communities of color specifically and struggled more to find in‐person community. Anglo TNB people used their own White racial networks to connect with supportive hobby and interest groups. In general, TNB people connected more with communities that resonated with the multiplicities of their own lives, such as commonalities of economic precarity and immigration status. This research is an important contribution to understanding the development of community for resilience, and the way race and gender identity inform community experiences for TNB people.