In Solidarity: Undocuqueer Identities and Politics in U.S. Spanish-Language Ethnic Media

ABSTRACT

This study presents a critical discourse analysis of the coverage of undocumented LGBTQ people and the Undocuqueer Movement by Spanish-language news media to examine how notions of solidarity and advocacy inform ethnic news narratives. The analysis reveals that Spanish-language news outlets construct undocumented LGBTQ identities around the notions of precarity and activism, affording the community some agency while still highlighting the interlocking oppressions that make undocuqueer life particularly hazardous in the U.S. Additionally, the coverage in Spanish-language media deploys solidarity as a news value, rendering newsworthy the perspectives of the undocumented LGBTQ community, the systemic issues that impact it, and the initiatives that undocuqueer people and their allies have taken to improve their situation. This study suggests that Spanish-language news media, as part of the legacies of ethnic media, are a particularly fertile ground for the development of solidarity reporting, which allows journalists to leverage their belonging to minoritized communities to produce more accurate, fair, impactful, and action-oriented news narratives.

KEYWORDS:

• Ethnic media
• solidarity reporting
• news discourse
• immigration‌
• LGBTQ people
• CDA

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 Here is a list of all the Spanish-language news outlets included in the data corpus: El Nuevo Herald, LATAM, El Diario La Prensa, Orange County Register Weekly, La Voz de Houston, El Tiempo Libre, EFE News Services, El Mensajero, La Raza, CityLab Latino, La Noticia, La Prensa, Reporte Hispano, Tiempo de Laredo, Eastern Group Publications, El Sentinel, Impacto, La Opinion, QueensLatino, CE Noticias Financieras Spanish, The Daily Aztec: San Diego State University, AP Spanish Online, CNN Wire – Español, and Spanish Newswire Services.