Gay Migrants Research Articles

Decadence and relational freedom among China's gay migrants: Subverting heteronormativity by ‘lying flat’

Departing from the prevailing, individualist perspective of freedom, emphasizing individuals’ independence and the maximization of self-interest via unconstrained decision-making, this article applies the concepts of practised freedom and relational autonomy to explore the lived experience of Chinese rural-to-urban migrant gay men. Drawing on our ethnographic fieldwork in the ‘urban villages’ (城中村) of South China, we examine the ways in which rural migrant gay men achieve a sense of freedom, which is dependent on rural-to-urban migration, informal manufacturing jobs, and other queer peers, thus demonstrating a certain level of relational autonomy. Our article clearly shows how these men have come to identify as homeless guabi (挂逼, local slang for those who suffer a tragic and mysterious fate) and spend their days wandering, with no interest in stable work or long-term monogamous relationships. Our research offers a first-hand anthropological account of young adults from the rural working classes who prefer to ‘lie flat’ (躺平) – they refuse to strive for upward social mobility because they believe that upward social mobility is unattainable and a factory job too taxing.

Inclusion in the homonormative world city: The case of gay migrants living with HIV in Barcelona

L’homonormativitat ha esdevingut un concepte hegemonic dins de les geografies de les sexualitats, i els academics critics emfatitzen les practiques d’exclusio en subjectes especifics «no desitjats». No obstant aixo, la literatura ha ignorat el paper d’una de les principals fonts de biaix i discriminacio per als homes homosexuals: la positivitat al VIH. El document preten omplir aquest buit mostrant que les geografies d’homonormativitat i les rutes de migracio d’homes homosexuals amb VIH se superposen. El document construeix un relat diversificat i situat dels espais homonormatius com a espais de privilegis (relatius) i inclusio observant les practiques i experiencies quotidianes d’emigrants gais seropositius italians i francesos a Barcelona, la capital catalana. En considerar les practiques quotidianes, l’article se centra en tres caracteristiques generalment associades amb l’homonormativitat neoliberal: individualisme; privatitzacio, domesticacio i higiene de la vida sexual; i exaltacio de la parella. Metodologicament, els resultats del treball de camp realitzats a Barcelona el 2014 inclouen 16 entrevistes en profunditat a immigrants homosexuals italians i francesos amb VIH.

Tongzhi on the move: digital/social media and placemaking practices among young gay Chinese in Australia

This article examines the placemaking experience of first-generation Chinese gay migrants (18–35 years old) in negotiating their cultural and sexual identities in Sydney and Melbourne. Tongzhi is used as a lingua-cultural reference to their double identity as Chinese and gay. Drawing from interviews and contact with 22 Chinese gay men who initially arrived in Australia on student visas, this article explores how tongzhi migrants use digital/social media to reconstitute their home abroad and to live out their transnational gay identity, politics and desire. Their placemaking practices take place in the intersections of the Internet and outernets, as well as the interzones of one’s gay desires for sexual fulfilment and cultural empowerment.

Migration as an active strategy to escape the ‘second closet’ for HIV-positive gay men in Barcelona and Rome

ABSTRACT Centred around the life narratives of HIV-positive gay migrants in two Mediterranean cities, Barcelona (Catalonia/Spain) and Rome (Italy), this paper frames their decision to migrate towards the big city as an active strategy to escape the ‘second closet’, a concept introduced by Berg and Ross in 2014 to refer to the hiding of HIV-positivity by gay men to avoid negative social condemnation. In line with recent literature on gay migration that has emphasized its relational and situated character, the paper focuses on several factors leading to the decision to migrate: sexual desire and the imagery of the big city; the configuration of the welfare regime allowing free access to antiretroviral therapies (ARTs); access to employment in the services sector; and the absence of strong ties in the new city. Methodologically the paper draws from in-depth interviews conducted with 24 HIV-positive gay men between 2014 and 2016.

Complicating cosmopolitanism: Ethno-cultural and sexual connections among gay migrants

ABSTRACT Contemporary migrants are described as “connected migrants,” as they maintain multiple connections using digital and social media. This article explores how this leads to processes of cosmopolitanism and/or encapsulation in a particular group, voluntary gay migrants in Belgium, focusing on the intersection between ethno-cultural and sexual identifications and connections. Drawing on in-depth interviews, the cosmopolitan outlook of the participants becomes clear, as their national and ethno-cultural connections are relatively weak while they identify more strongly with cosmopolitan LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer) culture. However, while more salient, sexuality is not all-defining either, bespeaking their rather privileged position as a group of migrants who are self dependent and not strongly encapsulated in ethno-cultural nor sexual communities, with neither minority identity causing excessive stigmatization. As a consequence, they use digital and social media to simultaneously connect to different social spheres, although most do manage their self-presentation to avoid the clash or “collapse” of different social contexts online.

Identifications, communities and connections: intersections of ethnicity and sexuality among diasporic gay men

This paper explores sexual and ethnic-cultural identifications among first- and second-generation gay migrants in Belgium. Based on a theoretical framework highlighting the multiple, fluid and intersectional nature of identifications, 29 in-depth interviews are used to study self-identifications and connections to different communities. Drawing on a diverse sample, three clusters of participants can be distinguished: second-generation migrants, who were born in Belgium; sexual refugees, who escaped to Belgium; and voluntary migrants, who chose to move to Belgium. Ethnic-cultural and sexual identifications interact and vary between these groups of participants, but also within them as they intersect with other social positionings such as class, gender and race.

Sexual borderlands: Lesbian and gay migration, human rights, and the metropolitan community church

This article considers several questions surrounding sexual migration, binational same-sex couples, legal precedent, and the role of religious communities in lesbian and gay migration to the United States. With theoretical aspects of human rights serving as a starting point, the article then moves to a consideration of the legal dynamics of migration, the history of U.S. (im)migration law in relation to lesbian and gay asylum claims, and the Uniting American Families Act (2005). Drawing from the concept of sexual migration, the article proposes that religious or spiritual communities may provide important networks and ideological resources for lesbian and gay migrants who subscribe to religious values, particularly in a context of politically incendiary claims surrounding homosexuality and immigration. The analysis centers on the Metropolitan Community Church (MCC), suggesting that with its socially legitimatized status, MCC may provide philosophical foundations necessary for effectively addressing human rights for lesbian and gay migrants.