EMPIRICAL RESEARCH Configurations of Identity Among Sexual Minority Youth: Context, Desire, and Narrative Phillip L. Hammack Æ Elisabeth Morgan Thompson Æ Andrew Pilecki Received: 12 June 2008 / Accepted: 3 September 2008 / Published online: 23 September 2008 Ó Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2008 Abstract Youth with same-sex desire undergo a process of narrative engagement as they construct configurations of identity that provide meaning and coherence with available sexual taxonomies. This article presents a theoretical analysis and four case studies centering on the relationship among context, desire, and identity for youth with same- sex desire. Through an interpretive, holistic analysis of the personal narratives of youth, we examine the integration of same-sex desire, behavior, and identity in the general life story and the selective appropriation of elements of ‘‘master narratives’’ of sexual identity development. Nar- ratives were characterized by challenges to integrate desire, behavior, and identity into a configuration that conformed to the received sexual taxonomy. Implications for theory and further research on sexual identity development are discussed. Keywords Identity Á Narrative Á Sexuality Á Gay/lesbian Á Interpretive Introduction Since the start of the twenty-first century, the science of sexual identity development has been confronted with a number of significant challenges. Foremost, social scien- tists who study the development of sexual identity and the experience of sexual minorities have had to reconcile early paradigms that relied upon an ontogenetic, ahistorical approach to the life course with the realities of lived experience for sexual minorities—realities that have changed markedly in the twenty-first century (Cohler and Hammack 2007; Savin-Williams 2008). Even as hetero- sexism, homophobia, and victimization continue to characterize the experience of many sexual minority youth (e.g., D’Augelli et al. 2006; Herek 2007; Ryan and Rivers 2003), the context for identity development has shifted dramatically for a new cohort of youth with same-sex desire. Most notably, significant political gains for lesbian and gay rights, coupled with a dramatic increase in visibility of same-sex desire and identity through media outlets, speak to a changing cultural context for the development of sexual identity in the United States and elsewhere (Driver 2006; Hillier and Harrison 2007; Raley and Lucas 2006). Contemporary youth now have immediate cultural resour- ces and sources of support that were lacking in prior generations, such as access to communities online and in high schools through gay-straight alliances (Russell 2002). Savin-Williams (2005) argues that, as a consequence of these major cultural changes, we live in a ‘‘post-gay’’ era— a time in which prior paradigms that emphasized the cen- trality of sexual identity in the lives of same-sex attracted youth have waned in significance. As having and expressing same-sex desire become less counterhegemon- ic—that is, as same-sex desire becomes more culturally normative—the need for a distinct social identity as a sexual minority becomes less salient for youth (Savin- Williams 2005). Cohler and Hammack (2007) argue that understanding the identity development of contemporary sexual minority youth requires examination of their process of narrative engagement (see also Hammack and Cohler, in press). They posit that youth currently negotiate at least two ‘‘master narratives’’ of sexual identity in the course of P. L. Hammack (&) Á E. M. Thompson Á A. Pilecki Department of Psychology, University of California, 1156 High Street, Santa Cruz, CA 95064, USA e-mail: hammack@ucsc.edu 123 J Youth Adolescence (2009) 38:867–883 DOI 10.1007/s10964-008-9342-3