Queerstory of Recovery

In this article, I use autoethnography to explore how A.A.'s deeply hidden Queer history has and continues to impact the way Queer members learn how to tell their stories of recovery through the qualification narrative device. As Gender Non-Conforming Lesbian, I share my own experiences as a Queer member of A.A., about having learned that the telling of my recovery literacy narrative within the confines of A.A.’s qualification paradigm, within its institutional social system, has hindered my literacy practices and identity-formation as a Queer person who relies on both community and storytelling for survival. Through autoethnography as research praxis, I draw on these experiences to show that while the institutionalization of A.A.’s literacy and literary praxis saved my life, I had to leave my Queer identity at the door in order to participate in A.A.’s redemption story. I articulate critical observations of A.A.’s cis-heteropatriarchal culture, in the arena in which I seek membership, which I have been actively participating in for most of my recovery. While A.A. program tries offer its best version of inclusivity, the program's narrativity still expects Queer members to conform to A.A.’s cishegemony and narrative history. I describe "Queerstory of Recovery", a research methodology embraces Queer literacies, intersectionality, and inclusivity while inviting Queer storytellers to share Queerstories of recovery within and beyond the institution's walls. Through the versions of my A.A. qualification, I show how inclusive storytelling happens when Queer members move beyond A.A.’s hegemonic literacy and literary borders, and engage in public rhetoric through Queerstories of recovery, bringing visibility to the both the Queer and recovery communities, reclaiming intersectionally silenced stories.