1

Essay 2
Ricardo Rojas
Arizona State University
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While the immigrant experience is in itself already complicated, there are even further

levels of complexity when evaluating the intersectional experiences of migrants of different

classes, races, and particularly gender and sexuality. The dimensions that these identities

encompass have been historically more difficult to evaluate. The histories of queer immigrants,

and queer people in general, are often private or shared by word of mouth. However, with what

writing exists, there are some clear conclusions to be made. The intersections of gender,

queerness, and immigration offer both unique communion with these intersectional experiences

but also challenges in balancing the two identities. This essay will focus primarily on the

experiences of Latin American women, gay immigrants, and gender-nonconforming individuals

as they grapple with the tensions between their gendered experience and their immigrant

experience. Upon conclusion, this essay will highlight both the highs and lows of what it means

to exist within these spaces at the same time.

The traditional immigrant narrative particularly focuses on the challenges faced by men

as they leave for the United States in hopes to find work and financially support their families in

their home countries. Historically, women have been much less likely to immigrate to the United

States in the first place as gendered expectations of maintaining the household kept women

home, and when they did travel, they rarely traveled alone.1 The weight of maternal

responsibility held heavy on the possibilities of what Latin American women were able to do.

Making the trip from their country of origin to the United States was dangerous, and finding

work or opportunity presented their challenges once they had arrived. Keeping together a family

on top of that made compounded the difficulties faced by immigrant women. This is especially

for immigrant women of lower social mobility, or women of indigenous backgrounds, where

these social identities often magnified the divide between immigrant men and women and the
1
Donato, “U.S. From Latin America: Gendered Patterns and Shifts”, 81
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choices, they could make.2 Ultimately, however, once the women that could cross made it over

the border and settled within the US, their responsibilities had shifted. Mexican migrants in the

US had historically been needed for their labor, dating back several decades of US immigration

policy that lured migrants, male and female over the border. Gendered precedent founded upon

hundreds of years of religious expectation about the roles of men and women pushed the idea

that men would work and women would care for the household. However, this expectation

would only hold for people of higher economic status. For immigrant women, their role once

coming into the US meant being able to financially support their family alongside their

husbands, as over time they disproportionately participated in the labor force compared to

American and even Mexican women.3 What this means is that because the divisions of labor

between immigrant men and women were less pronounced compared to other groups, immigrant

women existed in a different space from the traditional gendered expectation of womanhood.

Immigrant women had to make themselves work both in and out of the home to contribute. This

essentially doubled the workload for these women. In some eyes, that denied the same parity

between them and white womanhood. In other eyes, it provided a deep cultural difference and

instilled in generations of immigrant women different values. Those values are unique to this

group of women.

If the gendered experience between immigrant men and women provided different

challenges then the same could be said of heterosexual immigrants and homosexual immigrants.

Queer history is harder to find, but the traces of it are windows into how the gay experience and

the immigrant experience provided even more complex relationships between the two. Gay

immigrants often deal with a twofold sense of rejection or isolation. Immigrant gay and lesbian

2
Hamilton, “Gender disparities in Mexico-US migration by class, ethnicity, and geography”, 539
3
King, “Mexican Women and Work on both sides of the US-Mexican Border”, 616
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communities had to contend with a hostile political landscape from different angles. From the

AIDS epidemic or anti-immigrant laws like California's Proposition 187, which sought to

prevent immigrants from being able to seek the use of public services, queer immigrants were

deeply affected by both.4 On top of this, queer immigrants faced the same social rejection from

their own families, just as their native US counterparts did. Rejection like this, on different social

and political levels, was deeply isolating. Even when it comes to legal immigration, the existence

of gay immigrants could be isolated and targeted. The formation of immigration services during

the 20th century and the rise of immigration did not mean that it was possible for gay and lesbian

individuals to migrate, as “sexual deviation” was something that could be used to prevent these

groups from being able to migrate.5 Gay men and women coming to the United States had to

survive all of these challenges Homophobia amongst many Latin American communities, and

xenophobia experienced while being in the United States made it a reality that gay immigrants

had to forge their sense of community, and on a deeper level, a sense of familiarity. The

formation of gay neighborhoods in the US coincided with gay Latino communities as well.

Resilience was necessary for survival.

Among the challenges faced by cisgender women and gay people, there is another group

that deserves focus. Countries all over the world had once accepted the existence of gender

identities outside the gender binary. Mexico has many people who claim such identities,

including the Muxes of southern Mexican tradition. Beyond that many Latin American countries

feature, within their indigenous history, identities that go beyond the traditional gender binary.6

Colonization had affected how these identities could exist, affecting how Mexico accepted the

existence of transgender people. So, transgender individuals in Mexico in modern times have had
4
Cantú, “The Sexuality of Migration: Border Crossings and Mexican Immigrant Men”, 26
5
Cantú, “The Sexuality of Migration: Border Crossings and Mexican Immigrant Men”, 45
6
The Guardian, ”Muxes- Mexico’s Third Gender”
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to face discrimination just as their counterparts in the United States. Compounded with economic

poverty, these challenges force many transgender Mexicans to immigrate to the United States.

They carry with them the history of gender nonconformity that once existed long ago. But

coming into the United States offers a significant chance for violence. Transgender migrants,

facing violence and discrimination, likely have encounters with it while crossing, even in

encounters with US Border Patrol.7 Transgender immigrants face unique challenges that other

immigrants do not. This comes with an understanding that these levels of violence and

discrimination are forces that were not necessarily innate within their own countries. But, like

gay and lesbian communities, solidarity and community are necessary for them to survive. The

community between them, other queer immigrants, and trans people within the United States

provide a sense of unity, from people who are bonded by struggle.

The weight of gender identity and sexuality in of themselves are complicated. The

immigrant experience is difficult and is formed by a long-standing legacy of legal discrimination

and challenge. Women bear the weight of expectation. The female immigrant experience is one

where through suffering, a sense of strength is found. For gay and lesbian immigrants, the social

isolation they face on multiple fronts is beaten through solidarity. The history and culture taken

from gender-nonconforming and transgender immigrants is something that will always be within

the consciousness of these people. When an individual who shares these identities exists, the

challenges they face, and the joy and solidarity they can find, are unlike anything else faced

within the traditional immigrant experience. While the emotional and personal histories are

7
Del Real, “They Were Abusing Us the Whole Way’: A Tough Path for Gay and Trans Migrants, The New York
Times
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private, what has been written and shared about the experiences of these people is not something

to ignore.

Bibliography
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1: Donato, Katherine M. "U.S. Migration from Latin America: Gendered Pattens and Shifts."

The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 630 (2010): 78-92.

Accessed November 18, 2020. doi:10.2307/20743988.

2: Hamilton, Erin R. "Gendered Disparities in Mexico-U.S. Migration by Class, Ethnicity, and

Geography." Demographic Research 32 (2015): 533-42. Accessed November 18, 2020.

http://www.jstor.org.ezproxy1.lib.asu.edu/stable/26350123.

3: King, Mary C. "Mexican Women and Work on Both Sides of the U.S.-Mexican

Border." American Journal of Economics and Sociology 70, no. 3 (2011): 615-38. Accessed

November 18, 2020. http://www.jstor.org/stable/41329203.

4/5: Cantú Lionel. The Sexuality of Migration: Border Crossings and Mexican Immigrant Men.
New York: New York Univ. Press, 2009.

6: The Guardian, “Muxes- Mexico’s Third Gender” YouTube Video, October 17th, 2017,

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iiek6JxYJLs&list=LL&index=27

7: Del Real, Jose A. “'They Were Abusing Us the Whole Way': A Tough Path for Gay and Trans
Migrants.” The New York Times. The New York Times, July 11, 2018.
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/11/us/lgbt-migrants-abuse.html.