The Summer issue of the Journal of American Ethnic History presents a special feature on “Homoerotic, Lesbian, and Gay Ethnic and Immigrant Histories.” Guest Editor Horacio Roque Ramírez writes in his introduction:

As we continue to dig into the histories and archives of lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and gay genders and sexualities as well, the authors remind us not to limit ourselves to those deemed legal subjects or fully documented “nationals” of the state, but instead to look beyond the single nation-state and peer between the countries, at the borders and boundaries where nonheterosexual immigrants seeking entry encounter the state’s attempts to stop them.

More from the contents list:

Amy Sueyoshi: “Intimate Inequalities: Interracial Affection and Same-sex Love in the ‘Heterosexual’ Life of Yone Noguchi, 1897-1909”

Marc Stein: “All the Immigrants Are Straight, All the Homosexuals Are Citizens, But Some of Us Are Queer Aliens: Genealogies of Legal Strategy in Boutilier v. INS”

Julio Capó Jr.: “Queering Mariel: Mediating Cold War Foreign Policy and U.S. Citizenship among Cuba’s Homosexual Exile Community, 1978-1994”

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The following wonderful photos, of Cuban immigrants during the controversial Mariel boatlift exodus in 1980, appear in Julio Capó’s article and both are courtesy of Patsy Lynch (© 1979~2009).

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Subscribe now to the Journal of American Ethnic History and receive “Homoerotic, Lesbian, and Gay Ethnic and Immigrant Histories” as your first issue.