Transnational families, welfare states, and marriage rules in the time of COVID-19

This autoethnography draws on my experiences of isolation and transitional family separation to reflect on the ways that borders challenge diverse family structures during COVID-19. My story crosses several borders—the United States, Canada, and France—that brought challenges during lockdowns and border closings. How one individually understands family—what sexuality scholars have called families of choice—and how family is understood from a legal, national, and transnational perspective present problems for those who live outside the normative nuclear family structure. I provide this case study to reflect from a feminist standpoint on the broader consequences of government regulation of families.