Who Is In Your 'Chosen Family?'

KQED's Forum

KQED

News, News Commentary, Politics

4.2 • 726 Ratings

🗓️ 22 June 2022

⏱️ 56 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

There’s the family that you’re born with, and then there’s the family that you choose. The concept of chosen family took hold several decades ago in the LGBTQ+ community often out of necessity when people were rejected by their biological families and developed familial relationships with new loved ones. Experts define chosen family as people who you are not tied to by blood or law, but who you treat as family. Your chosen family is there for you not because they’re related, but because you relate to them. We discuss chosen families, how they are formed and what they mean to people. Guests: Nayeema Raza, documentary filmmaker and senior editor, New York Times Opinion. She's also the author of the article "My Father’s Last Gift to Me Came After His Death." Dawn O. Braithwaite, professor emeritus of communication, Department of Communication Studies at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln Baruch Porras-Hernandez, writer, performer, organizer, host, curator, stand up comedian, and author of the chapbooks “I Miss You, Delicate” and “Lovers of the Deep Fried Circle” and co-organizar of KQED's ¿Dónde Esta Mi Gente? Literary Series Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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0:42.8	From KQED.
0:58.3	From KQED in San Francisco, this is Forum.
1:00.9	I'm Scott Schaefer in today for Alexis Madrigal.
1:07.8	Our families can be the bedrock of our lives, offering support, nurturing, and ideally unconditional love. But of course, not every biological family provides that for reasons ranging from
1:12.7	the inability to be a good parent or sibling to tragedy or even being rejected by the very
1:18.1	people whose love you expect. That last thing happens all too often to LGBTQ kids cast out by
1:24.5	homophobic families and others who end up simply building and adopting their own family-type relationships.
1:30.5	This hour, we're delving into these chosen families and what they mean to those who have them.
1:35.3	That's next on Forum, right after this news.
1:50.5	From Keyes, From KQED in San Francisco, welcome to forum.
1:53.2	I'm Scott Schaefer in today for Alexis Madrigal.
1:55.6	I remember when I moved to San Francisco.
2:01.4	It was 1981, and I knew exactly three people, not one, was a family member.
	...

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