The Promise of Transnational Europe for the LGB Migrants: The Management of Stigmatized Identities and the Transformation of Family Norms

Vuckovic Juros, Tanja
(2017) 13th European Sociological Association (ESA) Conference: (Un)Making Europe. Capitalism, Solidarities, Subjectivities — Location: Athens, Greece (29.August.2017)

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  • Vuckovic Juros, TanjaUCLouvain
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Abstract
The Europe of porous borders is potentially a space of opportunity for those denied certain rights, such as gays and lesbians from Central and Eastern European countries (CEE) with the constitutional ban on same-sex marriage. In countries that allow same-sex marriage and adoption, such as Belgium, these individuals can establish legally recognized same-sex families. The consequences of such an institutional space – unavailable to them in their home countries – manifest at individual, interpersonal and collective levels. By examining these consequences through in-depth interviews with the LGB migrants from CEE who are now in same-sex marriage or who are raising children with a same-sex partner in Belgium, the present study investigates how different institutional practices affect the lived experience of a stigmatized identity and shape the LGB migrants' strategies in exposing their families to the presumably less hospitable home-country environments. The analysis is guided by three research questions: (1) What are the LGB migrants’ stigma management strategies, including the presentation of their same-sex families, in Belgium and in their home countries?; (2) What are their perceptions of evaluations of their homosexual identity due to their family status, in Belgium and in their home countries?; (3) What are their perceptions of change (if any) in family values among their family members and neighbours back home? By answering these questions, the present study investigates how the promise of transnationalism for the LGB migrants – to widen the space of rights and shift family norms through transfer of institutional models across borders – is executed on the ground.
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Vuckovic Juros, T. (2017). The Promise of Transnational Europe for the LGB Migrants: The Management of Stigmatized Identities and the Transformation of Family Norms. 13th European Sociological Association (ESA) Conference: (Un)Making Europe. Capitalism, Solidarities, Subjectivities, Athens, Greece. https://hdl.handle.net/2078.5/128023