THIS SPECIAL ISSUE provides diverse perspectives on queer intimacies, families and companionships. By shifting away from familiar logics of understanding LGBTQIA+ families and intimacies – as aligning with or transgressing dominant norms of intimacy – this special issue offers novel ways of inquiring into queer relating, both theoretically and thematically. As intimacies always emerge as multi-faceted processes in relational networks that are entangled with discursive, material, natural, cultural and social elements, they cannot be reduced to fixed categorizations of sexualities, genders and relationships. Being aware of the limitations of these terms we chose to have three concepts – intimacies, families and companionships – in our title, in order to invite contributors to address various queer forms of relating that are not restricted to human relationships, normative forms of kinship or existing heteronormative forms such as the nuclear family. In this special issue, we bring together scholars from Finland, Poland and England in six articles and one essay, which share common ground in decentering the couple and the sexual at the heart of queer kinship and families. This collection recognizes the diversity of contemporary queer relationships and offers both challenges to and new directions beyond the familiar ways of theorizing and conceptualizing queer relating.