#this isn't to discount the challenges that come from being queer and rural

[urne-buriall]

https://at.tumblr.com/kingcasanuva/what-if-i-dont-want-to-leave-texas-the-only/fqnsirguz2h4

Is this not dean from spirit of the west. Sawry I’m obsessed

no it is! in reference to this post about wanting the south to be safe for LGBT+ folks and not just shuffling us all off into the liberal cities

this is a HUGE part of "spirit of the west" and I'm really glad you shared it because it's on purpose that it's there. because there's this narrative of "oh you poor country queer who isn't like your peers, one day you will go to The City and maybe they won't hate you there?"

but you love your fields and animals and 200 acres between you and your neighbours. and yes the city has drag nights and spacetime lectures, but you don't actually Belong there more

and there are good people in the country. there are queer people in the country. and you don't have to give up your queer identity to be here and you don't have to give up your rural identity to be queer because neither of those things is ALL of you anyways

in "spirit of the west," this was really important to me. it's a coming-of-age story where Dean learns a lot and loses a lot. there are some things he has to let go of, even if they aren't easy, but it's all so that he can be MORE himself than he was before. when he's talking to Cesar about it, there's an undercurrent of fear in him that if he's gay, he'll have to change who he is to fit this stereotypical mould of metropolitan queerness. but he doesn't! he's gay and he's who he always was

this came up in "our lights in ashes" as well because, again, this topic is kind of important to me. when I was writing about Morgan and Loretta, a trans couple living in small-town Tennessee, it was important to reflect that "the South" isn't one monolithic cesspool of bigotry. it was also important to me that these are older trans people, both into their fifties or sixties, because being trans wasn't invented by today's young people

like, Morgan literally says: “Some people asked why she didn’t leave and go to a city where she wouldn’t be so noticed, wouldn’t get talked about. But I think she was like me. I never could leave the small towns behind; the quietness, the country. Couldn’t help wanting a little bit of farm to look after.”

what I'm saying is that I have Many Feelings on this topic so thank you for the ask, my friend