The Making Of Queer Parenting: New Kinship Formations Beyond Borders And Norms

After the introduction of assisted reproductive technologies in late 20th centuryprimarily in the United States and gradually throughout the globe, the methodssuch as IVF and surrogacy have enabled new kinship arrangements for single intendedparents and same-sex couples, as well as heterosexuals. In some countrieslike Turkey, these technologies became a subject of political debate and legal limitationsagainst egg/sperm donation and surrogacy were taken. I examined twodifferent contexts in this debate, the United States where these reproductive technologiesare legalized and Turkey where they are prohibited. I looked at how parentingwith biological kin for queer people is possible through navigating potentialresources and mobility options for reproductive purposes. Having conducted 24in-depth interviews and participant observations in those countries, I encountereddifferent opportunities and challenges for queer people. In the United States, queerpeople are channeled into the commercial reproductive system and the costly natureof it stratifies the intended parents; in Turkey, transgender and bisexual parentsmanage state-recognition through heterosexual marriages and the access to reproductivetechnologies in nearby Northern Cyprus meanwhile the same sex intendedparents either look for ways to move abroad or keep it there in secrecy. Readingthese reproductive landscapes together with a gender lens, I aim to provide a crossculturalanalysis of how the making of queer parenting works concurrently as anapproximation to the normative dynamics and a deconstruction.