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Queer Kinship on the Edge? Families of Choice in Poland Queer Kinship on the Edge? Families of Choice in Poland explores ways in which queer families from Central and Eastern Europe complicate the mainstream picture of queer kinship and families researched in the Anglo-American contexts. The book presents findings from under-represented localities as a starting point to query some of the expectations about queer kinship and to provide insights on the scale and nature of queer kinship in diverse geopolitical locations and the com- plexities of lived experiences of queer families. Drawing on a rich qualitative multi- method study to address the gap in queer kinship studies which tend to exclude Polish or wider Central and Eastern perspectives, it offers a multi-dimensional picture of ‘families of choice’ improving sensitivity towards differences in queer kinship studies. Through case studies and interviews with diverse members of queer families (i.e., queer parents, their children) and their families of origin (parents and siblings), the book looks at queer domesticity, practices of care, defining and displaying families, queer parenthood familial homophobia, and interpersonal relationships through the life course. This study is suitable for those interested in LGBT studies, sexuality studies, and kinship and Eastern European studies. Joanna Mizielińska holds DSs (habilitation) in Sociology, University of Warsaw, and a PhD in Women’s Philosophy, Institute of Philosophy and Sociology of Polish Academy of Sciences. She was a Fulbright scholar at Princeton University working under the mentoring of Professor Judith Butler, CIMO researcher at the Christina Institute, University of Helsinki, and visiting scholar at the Centre for Baltic and East European Studies, Södertörn University and the Department of Gender Studies at Rutgers University. She currently works as Associate Professor at the Institute of Psychology of the Polish Academy of Sciences. Her interests concentrate on queer theory, queer kinship, and sociology of gender, sexuality, and families. Recently, she was a Principal Investigator of the project “Families of Choice in Poland” (2013– 2016) and Co-Investigator in “Doing Right(s): Innovative Tools for Professionals Working With LGBT Families” (2016–2020) and “Queer(y)ing Kinship in the Baltic Region” (2016–2021). She is the author of Different or Ordinary? Families of Choice in Poland (2017), Sex/Body/Sexuality (2007), and (De)Constructions of Femininity (2004) and co-author of In Different Voices. Families of Choice in Poland (2017) and Families of Choice in Poland. Family Life of Nonheterosexual Persons (2015). She is co-editor of De-Centring Western Sexualities (Ashgate, 2011 and Routledge, 2016). Transforming LGBTQ Lives Series Editors: Katherine Johnson (RMIT University, Australia) Kath Browne (University College Dublin, Ireland) Transforming LGBTQ Lives hosts the best international scholarship on contemporary Lesbian, Gay, Bi, Trans and Queer (LGBTQ) issues. Innovative, interdisciplinary and intersectional, the series showcases theo- retical and empirical research that fosters debate, pushes disciplinary boundaries and shapes activism. Extending feminist and queer scholarship through attention to a wide set of disciplinary influences (sociology, psychology, human geography, media and cultural studies, social policy, leisure studies, sports studies, political science), topics address the diversity of LGBTQ lives. Recent titles in series: The Everyday Lives of Gay Men Autoethnographies of the Ordinary Edited by Edgar Rodríguez-Dorans and Jason Holmes Queer Roma Lucie Fremlova Queer Kinship on the Edge? Families of Choice in Poland Joanna Mizielińska For more information about this series, please visit: www.Routledge.com/ Transforming-LGBTQ-Lives/book-series/LGBTQLIVES Queer Kinship on the Edge? Families of Choice in Poland Joanna Mizielinska ́ First published 2022 by Routledge 4 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN and by Routledge 605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10158 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 2022 Joanna Mizielińska The right of Joanna Mizielińska to be identified as author of this work has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. The Open Access version of this book, available at www.taylorfrancis. com, has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution- Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 license. Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Mizielińska, Joanna, author. Title: Queer kinship on the edge? : families of choice in Poland / Joanna Mizielińska. Description: 1 Edition. | New York, NY : Routledge, 2022. | Series: Transforming LGBTQ lives | Includes bibliographical references and index. Identifiers: LCCN 2022000648 (print) | LCCN 2022000649 (ebook) | ISBN 9780367860387 (hardback) | ISBN 9781032290980 (paperback) | ISBN 9781003016571 (ebook) | ISBN 9781000607154 (adobe pdf) | ISBN 9781000607185 (epub) Subjects: LCSH: Queer theory--Poland. | Transgender children--Family relationships--Poland. | Sexual minority youth--Family relationships--Poland. | Sex--Social aspects--Poland. | Sexual minorities--Legal status, laws, etc.--Poland. Classification: LCC HQ76.3.P7 M597 2022 (print) | LCC HQ76.3.P7 (ebook) | DDC 306.7609438--dc23/eng/20220228 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022000648 LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022000649 ISBN: 978-0-367-86038-7 (hbk) ISBN: 978-1-032-29098-0 (pbk) ISBN: 978-1-003-01657-1 (ebk) DOI: 10.4324/9781003016571 Typeset in Sabon by SPi Technologies India Pvt Ltd (Straive) To all my informants and chosen families everywhere Contents List of Figures viii Acknowledgements ix 1 Introduction 1 2 Polishing Queer Relational Trajectory 38 3 Ain’t We a Family? 67 4 Communicating Vessels: Relations with Families of Origin 96 5 Queer(ing) Parenthood 124 6 Queer Spawn Talks Back 159 7 Conclusions 188 Appendix: Methodology 196 Bibliography 200 Index 218 Figures 3.1 Family map drawn by Adam (reconstructed) 73 3.2 Family map drawn by Kazimiera (reconstructed) 83 5.1 Family map drawn by Klara (reconstructed) 130 6.1 Family map by Wictoria (reconstructed) 163 6.2 Family map by Gabrysia – first approach (reconstructed) 163 6.3 Family map drawn by Gabrysia – second approach (reconstructed) 164 6.4 Family map drawn by Darek (reconstructed) 166 Acknowledgements The project Families of Choice in Poland was funded by the Polish Ministry of Science and Higher Education programme Ideas Plus, research grant number IdP2012000462. This book would not have been possible without the support of many people – first of all, the editors of the whole series, Kath Browne and Katherine Johnson, who helped to shape its vision with their expertise and advice; then, reviewers on all stages of the book production who encourage me to re-think some of its threads. I would like to thank all who read the manuscript at different stages for their comments and insights – Krzysztof Fordoński for professional proofreading; Antu Sorainen, Ulrika Dahl, and Raili Uibo for our Baltic dialogue on queer kinship; always already Agata Stasińska, for her constant help and inspiration in divine and ordinary moments.