Queer Recognition, Estrangement, and the Great Grey Area in Between

Cross-stitch watercolor by Demetris Papadimitropoulos When Aly changed hir name, hir mother heard more than a new set of syllables. Margaret told researchers in Rin Reczek and Emma Bosley-Smith’s study that she felt Aly had “divorced the whole family.” Before the change, Margaret and her husband had been sending Aly money every two weeks. Afterward, Margaret stopped. Later, when Aly described the fights over what hir mother should call hir, ze reduced Margaret’s position to something startlingly