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As a gateway to this issue on queer families, this essay investigates the tension inherent in its theme: on the one hand, the defiance of norms and expectations, on the other, the struggle to be “recognized” by the Law. Bavaro explores the significance of “family” in queer culture by focusing on some key voices in LGBT history (from Larry Kramer to Tony Kushner), on queer theories (from Edelman to Muñoz), and on queer readings (from Moana to Pose). Queer strategies of survival and appropriation of exclusionary discourses have catalyzed the rise and development of diverse practices of creative intimacies, affective constellations of mutual care and responsibility, which shape queer kinships and the passing of transformative legacies across time.