A Life of Otherness: Identity Negotiation, Family Relations, and Community Experiences among LGBQ Armenians in Los Angeles
Set against Los Angeles as home to one of the largest and most heterogeneous Armenian diasporic communities, this study examines identity negotiation, family relations and community networks. It asks what happens when people are not encouraged to accept their identity in all its diversity, and what choices they make when one component of identity conflicts with another. It documents the strategies of Los Angeles lesbian, gay, bisexual and queer Armenians in reconciling multiple identities, finding that they use distinct disclosure strategies with family and with community members in order to belong and to maintain coexisting relationships. It examines the influence of ethnic-based institutions, family values and cultural norms on those experiences, based on interviews with LGBQ Armenian adults aged 21–51.