As someone who used to DJ in a transsexual sex worker bar years ago, I still often think about how »houses« used to function in the trans community – the House Mothers often being the only people helping homeless queer teens who were disowned by their families. City, state, and federal governments certainly weren't helping. I always wondered what would happen if they divested of the familial constellation and metaphors. Is it even possible? Between the metaphors of family (houses) and nationalism (the »house nation,« etc.), it is clear that a lot of underground queer culture has been led by desires for overcoming the trauma of disownment by constructing new families and nationalisms. It's simultaneously heartbreaking, disappointing, and utterly understandable. At times, a quite tragically campy politic. It really left me with an awareness of how trauma gives predictable form to our politics and practices, and inadvertently perpetuates the conservative.

As someone who used to DJ in a transsexual sex worker bar years ago, I still often think about how »houses« used to function in the trans community – the House Mothers often being the only people helping homeless queer teens who were disowned by their families. City, state, and federal governments certainly weren't helping. I always wondered what would happen if they divested of the familial constellation and metaphors. Is it even possible? Between the metaphors of family (houses) and nationalism (the »house nation,« etc.), it is clear that a lot of underground queer culture has been led by desires for overcoming the trauma of disownment by constructing new families and nationalisms. It's simultaneously heartbreaking, disappointing, and utterly understandable. At times, a quite tragically campy politic. It really left me with an awareness of how trauma gives predictable form to our politics and practices, and inadvertently perpetuates the conservative.

As someone who used to DJ in a transsexual sex worker bar years ago, I still often think about how »houses« used to function in the trans community – the House Mothers often being the only people helping homeless queer teens who were disowned by their families. City, state, and federal governments certainly weren't helping. I always wondered what would happen if they divested of the familial constellation and metaphors. Is it even possible? Between the metaphors of family (houses) and nationalism (the »house nation,« etc.), it is clear that a lot of underground queer culture has been led by desires for overcoming the trauma of disownment by constructing new families and nationalisms. It's simultaneously heartbreaking, disappointing, and utterly understandable. At times, a quite tragically campy politic. It really left me with an awareness of how trauma gives predictable form to our politics and practices, and inadvertently perpetuates the conservative.