Citizenship(s), belonging and xenophobia: Ecuador and NYC

This article uses a linguistic anthropological approach to map and analyze the relationship between constructions of gayness vis-à-vis xenophobia and media discourses around it. This article is part of a broader research study that looks at the life strategies of the Ecuadorian Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) community in New York City in the face of exclusion resulting in xenophobia. This community’s Ecuador-New York trajectory is marked not only by their identities as immigrants but also by other forms of diversity — race, class, ethnicity, migrant status and citizenship. The story of Renato, one of the Ecuadorian gay men interviewed is used as a backdrop to flesh out how language “acts” within this particular situated context.