Stretched kinship: Queer female university students negotiating family and identity

Abstract

For lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer + people, family and peer support are often important in their identity development during early adulthood. Young queer adults who have moved out of the family to pursue university education often seek out a sense of community and a feeling of kinship with other LGBTQ+ individuals as they journey through their identity transition. Based on semi-structured interviews with eight self-identified queer female students in a public university in New Zealand, this study examines their experience of ‘stretched kinship’ – moving out from the family (‘leaving home’), building peer connections in shared student accommodations (‘making home’) and developing more independent identities (‘coming out’) in relation to their original and alternative families. This paper helps us make sense of young queer people’s experiences transitioning from the family to university towards independence and adulthood.