Scholars of childhood and youth have drawn our attention to the diverse ways Black and LGBTQ young people experience marginalization across intersections of race, class, gender, and sexuality. However, our understandings of how parental concerns affect access to resources for racial and gender minority young people deserve further attention. In my research with LGBTQ African Americans in Birmingham Alabama, I found that parents and Black communities often perceived “gayness” as an additional obstacle for young people already highly policed, educationally stereotyped, and economically disadvantaged. These findings are compelling in that they show how the hopes and aspirations of parents together with racial marginalization experienced by African Americans more broadly, can distance LGBTQ young people from support and resources. In this paper, I examine the coming out narratives of three individuals to show how parents and communities working to counteract racial marginalization may create spaces of resource scarcity for LGBTQ children...
