Beyond homonormativity versus anti-normativity: Recognising transformative practices of rainbow families in rural alpine Switzerland

Scholars who study LGBTIQ+ 1 parents often pose the question of whether rainbow families assimilate to or subvert the normative power of the nuclear family. We argue that queer theory’s attachment to anti-normativity and its subsequent overemphasis on metronormative concepts, such as homonormativity, fail to deliver analytically situated analyses of queer rural lives and parenthood. Decentering the question of normativity, we analyze the lived experiences of lesbian, bisexual, trans and queer parents in the Swiss canton of Valais and how they seek transformation. We examine how the families understand and politicize their lives in Valais, including the local socio-cultural structures. Although the families display no attachment to anti-normative identities or practices, they have an ardent desire for change that is rooted in their everyday lives. We argue that their experiences of marginalization have a politicizing effect on them and prompt them to engage in an array of space-claiming practices through which they hope to realize more liveable futures for families that do not fit the local social fiction. • A focus on homonormativity and anti-normativity fails to produce contextualized analyses of queer rural lives. • The families formulate nuanced critiques of local socio-cultural structures and identify areas for change. • Parents interpret their social position through invisibility and hostile visibility. • The parents seek to change regional socio-cultural structures to counter experienced precarity and vulnerability. • Everyday acts of transformation include raising awareness both in personal networks, in institutions and publicly.