In the Backwoods of Lost River, a Gay Retreat

Contents:

• IN THE BACKWOODS OF LOST RIVER, A GAY RETREAT
• A GAY DC POWER COUPLE IS REMAKG A WT VIRGIA TOWN. NOT EVERYONE IS HAPPY ABOUT IT.
• PEACEFUL, GAY-FRIENDLY WT VIRGIA... - GUTHOE LOST RIVER
• IN THE BACKWOODS OF LOST RIVER, A GAY RETREAT
• A GAY GETAWAY THRIV AN UNLIKELY PLACE
• GAY GUI TO LOST RIVER
• GAY LOST RIVER (GRAFTON COUNTY, NEW HAMPSHIRE)
• EXPLORE GAY ROOMS & RENTALS LOST RIVER HOSTEL
• 8 GAY-FRIENDLY DTATNS TO VIS THIS YEAR

IN THE BACKWOODS OF LOST RIVER, A GAY RETREAT

Lost River is also a major statn for gay tourists om Washgton: a sort of Provcetown on the Potomac (the actual river is a tributary of the Potomac River). Gay muny, ” said Michael Cole-Schwartz, the munitns director for the Human Rights Campaign, a gay rights advocy group. “It’s nice to get away to the untry whout worryg about lol attus that might be uniendly toward gay people.

“Live and let live” is how many lols view their relatnship wh the gay newers, said Diane Mathias, 44, who is gay and a lifelong rint of Lost River Valley. “Some of the lols may say ‘gay people are damned to hell’ at church on Sunday, but they’ll still e here Monday morng to get their oil changed, ” said Ms.

Mathias, who said her regular ctomers know she is the legalizatn of gay marriage the District of Columbia and Maryland recent years, more gay upl are holdg their weddg receptns Lost River.

A GAY DC POWER COUPLE IS REMAKG A WT VIRGIA TOWN. NOT EVERYONE IS HAPPY ABOUT IT.

The growg gay prence also has helped the enomy, as gay men and lbians add bs like the new Lost River Farmers Market and the Lost River Tradg Post, an upsle store that opened September nearby Warnsville. Dillard, a brawny 67-year-old who is gay. “Two or three upl would always be gay, ” he said.

Dillard cid to make the Guthoe an official gay tablishment. He started advertisg the Washgton Bla, a newspaper servg gay men and lbians, transgenr people and bisexuals.

PEACEFUL, GAY-FRIENDLY WT VIRGIA... - GUTHOE LOST RIVER

From then on, he said, “I had an credible followg of people, and I felt very fortable bee the heterosexuals who would e were iends wh the gays who were g.

He has veloped and sold more than 400 hom the Lost River Valley, the vast majory to gay upl.

IN THE BACKWOODS OF LOST RIVER, A GAY RETREAT

But ’s clear that attus toward gays ntue to evolve.

“At my church, we have some people who will really voice their opn about gays; they jt nnot accept them and they don’t want to try to unrstand them or have anythg to do wh them, ” said Evelyn Webster, 79, who has lived her whole life Lost Cy, a muny adjacent to Lost River.

I thk bee so many people have e out of the closet, and many of fd that we have someone our fay or a close iend who is gay. ” A versn of this article appears prt on, Sectn TR, Page 9 of the New York edn wh the headle: In the Backwoods of Lost River, a Gay Retreat. The Guthoe Lost River is gay owned and operated and has been the go-to place for the LGBT muny for s.

A GAY GETAWAY THRIV AN UNLIKELY PLACE

Lost River, WV: An Unexpected Gay Dtatn.

Wt Virgia isn't the first place you'd expect to fd a gay statn. It might sound rather formidable, here a sleepy farm town wh a church for every 50 rints: a duo who until recently were one of DC’s leadg gay polil power upl, turng a ep-red rner of Appalachia to a mag for weekendg Washgtonians? They also bought the hoe next door, moved , and raised a gay-pri flag out ont.

GAY GUI TO LOST RIVER

The next stop over is Lost River, a mountao enclave that’s long been popular wh gay DC weekenrs. She promptly “fell love, ” opened a vtage store lled Lucky Johnson’s, and hung the town’s send gay-pri flag.

“I mean, we got our gay people out here.

GAY LOST RIVER (GRAFTON COUNTY, NEW HAMPSHIRE)

At her church, people told Ratcliff they didn’t like her associatg wh gay people. Joseph Kapp, another gay DC transplant and Ratcliff supporter, owns a buildg on Ma Street where aspirg entreprenrs n tt out bs ncepts. If Ned Beatty uldn’t make down a river one piece, a Gay guy om the cy don’t stand a chance.

The two met DC the mid-’90s when Hchck was workg for the founr of the Gay and Lbian Victory Fund and Yandura was ascendg the Clton Whe Hoe.

EXPLORE GAY ROOMS & RENTALS LOST RIVER HOSTEL

When a staffer asked if anyone the room was gay, he was the only person the crowd of 200 to stand up. It turned out the Print wanted to form a gay-and-lbian outreach office and need someone who was actually gay to help. Bee I’m gay!

He later beme the gay-and-lbian outreach director for the Print’s ’96 reelectn mpaign, then raised lns om the LGBT muny for the Democratic Party.

Yandura (left) and Hchck met via Democratic circl the the time, Yandura was workg the Clton Whe went on to bee some of the party's most powerful gay operativ. But the more entrenched he got the party, the sicker he felt about “verg the ass” of ndidat who took money om gay supporters whout standg up for them. In 2006, he fired off an e-mail to major gay donors implorg them to close their wallets until the Democratic Natnal Commtee started phg for their rights.

8 GAY-FRIENDLY DTATNS TO VIS THIS YEAR

At the time, the DNC’s gay-and-lbian outreach arm was n by his boyiend—Hchck. Yandura and Hchck staged protts to get Print Obama to move faster on gay rights.

“Why do you thk the gays got everythg they wanted? In 2015, Jonathan Lewis—heir to the Progrsive Insurance fortune, a major donor to gay-rights , and a longtime iend of Yandura’s who fund GetEqual—bought land for the project.

She’s not bothered one b by the fact that they’re gay, she says: “Bee I have a dghter who’s married to another girl.