ABSTRACT
This chapter examines materials and practices in Spanish as a heritage language (SHL) programs that constitute discrimination or that otherwise contribute to negative affect for learners who identify as both Latinx and queer. It shows the ways that contesting heteronormativity constitutes good pedagogical practice and ways to construct classroom environments that are more supportive of LGBTQ identities. The chapter presents models of sexual identity articulated by queer theorists who espouse an expansive, poststructuralist view of social constructivism—one that regards sex, gender, and sexual attraction as separate constructs, not fixed, biologically determined classifications. It argues that adequate representation of queer Latinx identities in the SHL setting means going beyond the discourse of marriage equality, adoption, and open military service. These concepts are arguably heteronormative, white-centric, and "homonationalist"—tied to maintaining nationalist/capitalist structures—and fail to address issues such as racialized violence, economic injustice, and racial privilege that impact queer communities of color.
