LGBTQ+ EXPERIENCES WITH AUTHORITARIAN PARENTING PRACTICES DURING CHILDHOOD

Little is known about how LGBTQ+ people experience authoritarian parenting. This articleexamines interviews with 20 LGBTQ+ adults, many of whom identified as Black or SouthAsian, who reported growing up with authoritarian parents. The study introduces anintersectional analysis of authoritarian parenting, showing how experiences of race, religion, andfamily authority intensify the policing of LGBTQ+ identities in the U.S.. Findings highlight howauthoritarian parents enforced compliance of cisnormativity and heteronormativity throughcriticism of gender expression, threats, institutionalization, family separation, and enforcedisolation. Additionally, this study gestures towards the importance of these experiences in themental health of LGBTQ+ people as participants understood these practices as contributing topsychological issues in adulthood, such as dissociation, emotional suppression, anxiety, andrelational difficulties. This article deepens understanding of how family-based cisnormativityoperates as a form of adversity with potentially enduring consequences for LGBTQ+ well-being.