“Hinduism” in the Lives of Queer Desi Immigrants in the US

Based on 22-indepth interviews, archival material, and web content analyses of queer South Asian websites and blogs, this article demonstrates the significance of religion (Hinduism) in the everyday lives of queer Desi immigrants in the US. Drawing on a queer, feminist, postcolonial, and transnational theoretical framework, I argue that for queer DesisFootnote1, Hinduism – especially the reinvocation of its precolonial, queer, pluralistic, and non-binary traditions – is central to how the intersectional identity is constructed, experienced, and deployed in everyday lives. I describe life transitions within families (in private and in public settings) as sites where religion is reclaimed, re-negotiated, and strategically deployed to signal belonging. By invoking and displaying queer affirming aspects of Hinduism, queer Desis not only mark their belonging in South Asian families and ethnic spaces but also signal their uniqueness within LGBTQ spaces. Finally, by centering a non-Abrahamic religion (Hinduism) in the lives of immigrants from the Global South in the Global North, this article contributes to the diversification of the growing scholarship at the nexus of sexualities, religions, and family that has predominantly focused on Abrahamic religions in the Global North.