A study published by the American Sociological Association in December of 2023 found that aunts are crucial to the well-being of LGBTQ+ youth — particularly BIPOC youth.
The paper is part of a larger two-year longitudinal study documenting the impact of supportive family members who aren’t parents.
Researchers interviewed 83 LGBTQ+ youth in South Texas and the Inland Empire of California. They all reported ambivalence or low support from their parents regarding their identity, and over 80% of those interviewed were Latino, Hispanic, Black, Asian, or Indigenous.
Additionally, nearly 70% were trans, non-binary, or gender nonconforming.
A majority of respondents identified their aunts — or someone who played an aunt-like role but who they were not biologically related to — as a source of emotional support and housing stability.
“For the LGBTQ+ youth in this study, aunts provided gender-affirming and queer and trans support, along with anticipatory support for housing and actual housing support for their niblings,” the authors wrote.
According to research in the Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, queer youth make up 40% of young people ages 18 to 25 who face housing instability in the U.S. every year, with Black and Latino trans kids most affected.
But aunties and tías, according to research participants, are often on the front lines to support their LGBTQ+ extended family.
One person who was involved in the study, Stacey Monroe, told NBC News that her tía — which means “aunt” in Spanish — has been supportive since Monroe came out as gay at 13, adding that her Tía Mary “led with curiosity, versus rejection.”
To this day, Monroe can rely on her aunt to intervene with others when they misgender Monroe.
The paper builds on research from Patricia Hill Collins’s book “Black Feminist Thought,” which explores the role of maternal figures — or “othermothers” — who are a non-parental source of housing stability and safety in queer communities.
“Like Black other-mothers, aunts of all racial backgrounds brought an ethic of care and social responsibility toward the well-being of their LGBTQ+ niblings,” the researchers explained. “Aunts acted as a buffer between the youth and other family members, especially parents, and provided consistent loving and affirming support.”
The feedback from research participants affirmed the theory that aunts, and aunt-adjacent figures, are especially critical in the lives of BIPOC LGBTQ+ young people.
“You could just tell how much it meant to them to have this adult family member, this aunt, who just saw them for who they are, loved them for who they are and who will do anything for them,” the paper’s lead author, Brandon Robinson, said.
“I think oftentimes we miss this, because so much research focuses on the parent-child dynamic or parents rejecting their child, and we’re missing that there are actually adult family members such as aunts who are deeply loving and supportive.”
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A version of this article was originally published in The 2024 Pride Edition of the Goodnewspaper.
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