A Glimpse of Family Acceptance for Queer Hmong Youth

Abstract

This article draws on in-depth qualitative interviews with two queer Hmong immigrant youth to explore experiences of family care, support, and acceptance. It offers an alternative to discourses of family rejection. It illustrates the ways in which Hmong youth are constructing queer identities while maintaining close relationships to blood family. Ultimately, it suggests that for queer Hmong American youth, identity negotiations are perhaps less about an outward journey of self-realization and more about an interpersonal journey where “going home” is possible and paramount.

KEYWORDS:

• Family
• Hmong
• immigrant
• queer

Notes

¹When Teng and Kia talk about marriage, they are referring to a Hmong wedding, not one through the U.S. legal system.

²There are no words for LGBT identities in the Hmong language (Ngo, 2012b; Yang, 2008), and thus there is a lack of differentiation among gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender. Bic (Ngo, 2012b) found, for example, that family members considered a bisexual Hmong female's identity as “gay.”

³It may be that the families’ acceptance of Teng and Kia was possible because their queer identities aligned with those of a male and female, and thus a heterosexual relationship. A lesbian couple or a gay couple may not have been able to achieve acceptance. However, it is beyond the scope of this study to make such an argument. What our research highlights is the nearly immediate acceptance of Teng by his family and the gradual acceptance of Kia and Teng by her family.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Bic Ngo

Bic Ngo, PhD, is an associate professor in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction at the University of Minnesota.

Melissa Kwon

Melissa Kwon, PhD, is leadership and research associate director of the National Asian Pacific American Women's Forum (NAPAWF) and faculty at the University of Minnesota.