ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the author begins by touching briefly upon empirical and theoretical engagements with lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer populations in criminology. She focuses more specifically on the emergent field of queer criminology. The author discusses various lessons learned from my qualitative study of gay gang- and crime-involved men. She hopes that criminological work is convincingly illustrative of the importance, challenges, and promise of conducting qualitative criminological research with queer-spectrum populations. The author illustrates how employing the sensibilities of qualitative methods can help overcome circumscribing the identities of understudied populations, which is consistent with a queer criminology. She assumes that they had experiences that did not mirror other young gay men's experiences, especially as they related to homophobic bullying, harassment, and violence. The author also assumes that, based on long-standing heteronormative perceptions of street crime and gangs, participants would have to negotiate masculinity in heteronormative ways.
