Intimate Allies: Familial Becomings in Beirut

Abstract

This study explores the intimate worlds of families and their queer kin in, and around, Beirut. Worlds, which despite being framed by legal and social homophobia have fostered the emergence of supportive family members. My thesis examines their departure from the cultural orthodoxy, and asks what the work of becoming, and acting as, an ally entails. My analysis focuses on three dimensions: forms of support, modes of becoming supportive, and the role of the non-profit sector in producing allyship.