Finding Freedom?

An exploration of LGBTQIA+ international students who pursue U.S. higher education—and their challenges following graduation.

Do LGBTQIA+ international students enroll in US colleges and universities to escape discrimination at home? And is the United States what they hoped it would be? In Finding Freedom?, Anne Campbell examines the experiences of 12 queer international students from seven countries with anti-LGBTQIA+ laws.

Using rich qualitative data and a social justice lens, the book uncovers queer international students’ motivations for studying abroad, their evolving identities and search for community while in the United States, and the dilemmas they face in “finding home” after graduation. For many of the 180,000–350,000 queer international students currently in the United States, the search for freedom is both complex and relentless, and more can and should be done to support them.

The book is important reading for scholars and students of higher education, international education, and queer studies—as well as for international students themselves and for those who teach them, design policy for them, and study alongside them.