Reading for Tuesday, June 21: “Sexuality, Migration, and the Shifting Line Between Legal and Illegal Status”

The article “Sexuality, Migration, and the Shifting Line Between Legal and Illegal Status” examines the complicated relationship between U.S. immigration policy, illegal/legal status, and conceptions of sexuality throughout U.S. history.

Immigrants to the U.S. face frightening legal concerns and face a variety of obstacles as they try to obtain some type of legal documentation. But the complexities of these road-blocks are even more apparent in the LGBTQ community. An example is that if one’s LGBT married spouse of the same gender were to migrate to the U.S., their marriage would essentially not be binding here. In that case, the process of naturalization hits a dead end. LGBTQ immigrants also face difficulties in obtaining asylum and their partners cannot sponsor their citizenship. The basis of this is that U.S. immigration policy morally values/justifies hetero couples, making it hard for individuals who identify as LGBTQ to migrate to this country and obtain legal citizenship. The article takes a lot of Foucault’s conception of disciplinary power exemplified in the panopticon and relates it to this specific population. Concepts of surveillance, normalization, and disciplinary power are laden in the article as the author uses these terms to show how the ever surveying State causes those who are illegal and identify as LGBTQ so live in constant fear, how they are normalized and deemed abnormal due to their sexuality, and how they discipline themselves as they internalize the panopticon structure and live their lives in uncertainty. They essentially are shifting between this thin line of legal and illegal status with transgendered individuals facing unique obstacles, even when they are legally married and have had the full sex reassignment surgery.

Issue of law enforcement for these illegal immigrants remains a big issue as they live their lives in constant fear of being deported or harassed. I think that it is safe to say that in the U.S., there still remains homo and transphobia and the violence perpetuated by these types of sentiments poses themselves as a real danger to LGBTQ individuals. This unfortunately means that the delicate nature of lacking a secure legal status in the U.S. is made more difficult by one's sexual identity.

Diana W.