MPIDR Working Paper
Queer family matters: estimates of queer kinship in the United States
MPIDR Working Paper WP-2026-014, 57 pages.
Rostock, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research (April 2026)
Abstract
Queer family demography largely centers the nuclear family with limited attention to extended kin. We provide a more comprehensive picture of queer extended kinship in the United States, specifically aunts/uncles, cousins, siblings, niblings, children, and grandchildren. Combining demographic kinship modeling techniques with survey data that directly identifies sexual minorities, we estimate both the individual-level number of queer kin and the population-level share with at least one queer kin, focusing on age, sex, and cohort dynamics. Findings indicate the number and composition of queer kin are shaped jointly by queer identification patterns, age and sex structures of kinship networks and populations, and past demographic rates that determined kinship network size. We find substantial cohort differences: younger cohorts have more queer horizontal kin whereas older cohorts have more queer descendants. A majority of U.S. residents has one or more queer kin, driven by extended kin. Beyond providing estimates in a context where no comparable data exist, this study advances a queer kinship demography that situates queer people as members of extended family networks. This study offers a mechanism linking exposure to queer people to demographic trends, with implications for broader acceptance of sexual minorities.
Keywords: USA, family demography, kinship, sexuality