Planning Our Futures: A Study of Family Formation Goals among Black Sexual Minority Women Restricted; Files Only

Abstract

With growing social acceptance and expanded civil rights for LGBTQ+ individuals, sexual minorities are increasingly pursuing family formation. Yet, dominant cultural narratives continue to privilege heteronormative, nuclear family ideals. These ideals, which promote marriage and childrearing within a biologically related, two-parent household, function not only as cultural norms but also as structural mechanisms embedded in law and policy. This dissertation explores the preferred family formation pathways among Black sexual minority women, a group whose visions for family life remain largely overlooked in both LGBTQ+ and family scholarship.

This study draws on data from 53 semi-structured in-depth interviews, investigating how intersecting dimensions of race, gender, sexuality, and class shape participants’ aspirations around marriage and parenthood. In doing so, it introduces hegemonic family formation ideology (HFFI) as a conceptual framework to examine how societal norms are internalized, contested, and reimagined in Black sexual minority women’s aspirations for family building—and how these norms shape their preferred family formation pathways.

Thematic analysis revealed two main pathways: the hegemonic family formation pathway (HFFP), marked by a desire for both marriage and children within traditional structures; and the nonhegemonic family formation pathway (non-HFFP), characterized by aspirations that center community networks, prioritize platonic relationships, and decenter the two-parent model. Themes of respectability were common among HFFP participants desires for family life, who were largely from middle-class backgrounds. Conversely, working-class participants more frequently embraced non-HFFPs, drawing on historical Black kinship practices and rejecting the nuclear family ideal in favor of village-like, community-centered models of care.

By centering the voices of Black queer women in Georgia, this dissertation not only addresses a critical gap in the literature but also affirms the agency of marginalized women in crafting family futures on their own terms. It contributes new insights to the study of family formation by revealing how Black sexual minority women simultaneously navigate structural constraint and exercise personal agency as they imagine, negotiate, and pursue family life beyond conventional paradigms.

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

INTRODUCTION…………………………………………………………………………........1

General Statement……………………………………………………………………..........1

Statement of the Problem………………………………………………………...........……2

Research Question and Purpose of this Study………………………………….............……6

CHAPTER 1: Review of the Literature…………………………………………………….……7

Introduction………………………………………………………………………………..7

Black Women, Kinship, and Respectability in Historical Context…………………………..8

Mapping the Legal History of Queer Family Building……………………………………..22

Marriage and Parenthood as Significant Life Course Transitions…………………………..30

A Theoretical Framework for Understanding Family Formation Aspirations among Black

Sexual Minority Women………………………………………………………………..…42

Conclusion………………………………………………………………………….……..47

CHAPTER 2: Methodology…………………………………………………………………….50

Introduction………………………………………………………………………………50

Research Design……………………………………………………………………..……51

Population and Sample……………………………………………………………………53

Data Collection………………………………………………………………………...….60

Data Analysis………………………………………………………………………...……68

Ethical Considerations…………………………………………………………………….73

CHAPTER 3: Mapping Similarities in Family Formation Aspirations Between Non-HFFP

and HFFP Groups………………………………………………………………………………77

Introduction………………………………………………………………………………77

Common Ground Across Preferred Family Formation Pathways…………………………78

Theme One: Family Support………………………………………………………...….…78

Theme Two: Financial Security……………………………………………………………86

Theme Three: Legal Protection as a Priority in Family Building……………………...……96

Conclusion………………………………………………………………………………104

CHAPTER 4: Quantitative Examination of Differences in Family Formation Aspirations

Between Non-HFFP and HFFP Groups………………………………………………..……105

Introduction………………………………………………………………….....……..…105

Socioeconomic Status and Racial Salience by Preferred Family Formation Pathway…….. 105

Non-HFFP Aspirations……………………………………………………….…………109

HFFP Aspirations……………………………………………………………..…………115

Conclusion………………………………………………………………………………125

CHAPTER 5: Rejecting the Nuclear Family Paradigm, Prioritizing Platonic Relationships,

and De-Centering the Two-Parent Model Through Non-Hegemonic Family Formation

Pathways………………………………………………………………………………………..127

Introduction……………………………………………………………………………..127

Key Themes: Non-HFFP Group………………………………………………...………129

Theme One: Defying the Nuclear Family Model………………………………..………..130

Theme Two: Decentering Romantic Relationships and Prioritizing Platonic Love in Family

Life………………………………………………………………………………………143

Theme Three: Decentering the Two-Parent Model…………………………...………….148

Conclusion………………………………………………………………………………160

CHAPTER 6: Embracing Marriage, Children, and Traditional Family Structures through a

Hegemonic Family Formation Pathway…………………………………………………...…163

Introduction……………………………………………………………………………..163

Key Themes: HFFP Group………………………………………………………...…….163

Theme one: Preference for Conventional Nuclear Family…………………………..……164

Theme two: Pronatalist Aspirations for Family Formation………………………………172

Theme Three: Plans for Fostering Joy and Cultural Pride in Black Family Life…………..185

Conclusion………………………………………………………………………………193

CONCLUSION……………………………………………………………………...………...196

Introduction…………………………………………………………………………..…196

Overview of Findings……………………………………………………………………196

Preferred Family Formation Pathways: Trends and Takeaways…………………………..200

Study Limitations……………………………………………………………………...…203

Study Implications and Future Research Directions………………………...……………206

REFERENCES……………………………………………………………………...………...212

APPENDIX……………………………………………………………………...…….............224

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School	Laney Graduate School
Department	Sociology
Degree	Ph.D.
Submission	Dissertation
Language	English
Research Field	Sociology, General
Stichwort	Qualitative methodology Intersectionality Black women LGBTQ+ Sociology of family
Committee Chair / Thesis Advisor	Alyasah Ali Sewell, Emory University Irene Browne, Emory University Bin Xu, Emory University Stu Marvel, Emory University

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