What historical and geopolitical attachments inform which objects might be theorized as “queer”? In Queer Studies, the project of valorizing deviance incites scholars to idealize queer social forms. This idealization is becoming increasingly untenable, however, as Queer Studies becomes a more diversified field that is attuned to multiple modes of social deviance and open to historical, empirical, and area studies scholarship. This talk proposes “attachment genealogy” as a method that traces the history of the emotional investments that inform queer theoretical analytics. It historicizes the idealization of queer kinship by considering kinship forms that, although most certainly “queer,” are not easily idealizable. The talk segues into a consideration of how early-twentieth century transplantation of ovaries and testicles across divides of gender, race, and species might deidealize trans* as a scholarly signifier of ontologically vital crossings.