Millns of lbian, gay, bisexual and transgenr people live ral areas of the U.S. — largely by choice, acrdg to Movement Advancement Project.
Contents:
- GAY RAL AMERI: UP TO 5 PERCENT OF RAL RINTS ARE LGBTQ, REPORT FDS
- A GAY UPLE RAN A RAL RTRANT PEACE. THEN NEW NEIGHBORS ARRIVED.
- HOW GAY ROOS UPEND ASSUMPTNS ABOUT LIFE RAL AMERI
GAY RAL AMERI: UP TO 5 PERCENT OF RAL RINTS ARE LGBTQ, REPORT FDS
* gay rural *
Fifty six percent of gay, lbian and bisexual people across the untry reported at least one stance of discrimatn or patient profilg a health re settg. "‘SETTLING INTO RURAL LIFE’While challeng for LGBTQ people n be “amplified” ral areas, the report also found bright spots for lbian, gay, bisexual, transgenr and queer people livg nonmetropolan upl and LGBTQ dividuals are raisg children ral areas at higher rat than urban areas.
He moved to Philalphia when he was 18 part to be closer to gay life. Yet he moved back 2013, to a small town outsi Erie to start his own said that while he felt safe Philly’s “gayborhood, ” he was often verbally harassed other areas of the cy and knew of vlent attacks on gay was nervo to move back to ral Pennsylvania, fearg social isolatn and reprsn. The guys who bullied me as a kid for beg gay, they’re my iends now.
A GAY UPLE RAN A RAL RTRANT PEACE. THEN NEW NEIGHBORS ARRIVED.
Stereotypilly, gay, queer and trans kids flee small towns to fd acceptance big, diverse ci like New York or Chigo. But evince shows many will eventually return to ral areas. * gay rural *
Pop portrayals of LGBTQ Amerins tend to feature urban gay life, om Ru Pl’s “Drag Race” and “Queer Eye” and “Pose. But not all gay people live ci.
Sce 2015 I have nducted terviews wh 40 ral LGBTQ people and analyzed var survey data sets to unrstand the ral gay experience. My study found that many LGBTQ people ral areas view their sexual inty substantially differently om their urban unterparts – and qutn the mers of urban gay life. The standard narrative of ral gay life is that ’s tough for LGBTQ kids who flee their ral hometowns for inic urban “gayborhoods” like Chigo’s Boystown or the Castro San Francis – plac where they n fd love, feel “normal” and be surround by others like them.
” The gay protagonists of the films are lonely, seldom able to exprs their sexual selv. Those who returned home om urban gayborhoods also told me they found gay cy livg rarely livered on s promis of pannship and cln.
HOW GAY ROOS UPEND ASSUMPTNS ABOUT LIFE RAL AMERI
Rural LGBTQ Amerins are ls likely to participate inic gay rights events like the Pri para, terviews and survey data fd. The ral LGBTQ people I terviewed seemed to place ls importance on beg gay than their urban muni had. They rejected an urban gay culture that they felt was shallow and overly foced on gayns as the fg feature of life.
Such ments ll to qutn certa assumptns of the ntemporary gay rights movement, cludg that “gayborhoods” are the pnacle of gay life and that ral Ameri is no place for LGBTQ people. California’s Goln State Gay Roo Associatn holds an annual roo for LGBTQ roo rirs. The stori llected by Garrger over the years have been shared on the Country Queers webse and Instagram page, and startg June 30, the new “Country Queers” podst will but on Apple Podsts, Spotify and ‘monotony and fabulosy’ of ral lifeFor the past seven years, Garrger has terviewed 65 people om 15 stat — om Arizona all the way to Vermont — and has llaborated wh queer anizatns cludg the Two Spir Natnal Cultural Exchange, the Kansas Queer Youth Network and the Internatnal Gay Roo Associatn.