Mary Robertson: Growing Up Queer: Kids and the Remaking of LGBT Identity

Queer. This is where Mary Robertson begins her analysis of LGBTQ youth and their relationships with and within the Spectrum community center, a resource and gathering space for LGBTQ youth. Queer, Robertson describes, is “both to describe a way of being in the world that opposes normal, as well as to describe sexual conduct and behavior” (Robertson 2019, p. 6). Queerness, as described by her interview subjects, pervades the Spectrum space. Queerness is its essence, its community, and its joy. Robertson notes that other social science studies on LGBTQ youth have focused heavily on “risk and resilience”, therefore coloring LGBTQ discourse in a way that highlights suffering. Robertson emphasizes the importance of belonging and becoming for LGBTQ youth, and how physical space, media representation, and linguistic history matters in their understanding of their gender and sexuality. …