ABSTRACT
This chapter presents an interview with the Scarborough Family, an intentional family of eight adults and three children living together in a previously abandoned mansion they purchased in Hartford, Connecticut. Their home is located in one of Hartford’s wealthiest neighborhoods, where longstanding zoning laws strictly limit the number of residents who can live together who are “unrelated” by blood, marriage, or adoption. When the Scarborough Family moved in, their new neighbors attempted to push the city government to enforce the zoning laws against them, pushing them out of the neighborhood. In this interview, the Scarborough Family tell the story of that fight. They also share a picture of their daily lives and reflect on what they see as the benefits of communal living, and on the meaning of “family.” The zoning fight happened to coincide with the legalization of same-sex marriage in the United States, and the interview also includes the Scarborough Family’s reflections on their relationship to LGBTQ and family-diversity politics.
