“We are the Others//The Change we Need//The Change we Demand”: Resistance and Queer Kinship in Catherine Hernandez’ novel Crosshairs (2021)

Abstract

In Catherine Hernandez’s novel Crosshairs (2021), queer, non-biological kinship functions as the foundation for an uprising against a fascist government. This paper analyzes the relationship between queerness, kinship, and resistance in the context of the novel based on theoretical works by T. Bradway and Elizabeth Freeman, José Esteban Muñoz, Judith Butler, and others from the fields of queer and kinship studies and contextualizes the novel through references to the shooting at Pulse Nightclub in Orlando in 2016 and the Stonewall Riots in New York in 1969. In doing so, the paper argues that queer kinship and community are the basis for resistance in Crosshairs, as the protest at the end of the novel would not have been possible without protestors recognizing each other as (nonbiological) kin.