Samantha Allen: Queer People are Thriving in Red States

LGBTQ&A

Jeffrey Masters

Society & Culture

4.7 • 703 Ratings

🗓️ 11 June 2019

⏱️ 47 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Not only do cities like Norfolk, Louisville, and Indianapolis have thriving LGBTQ+ communities, they're now seeing larger increases in their LGBTQ populations than places like San Francisco or New York. Samantha Allen documents this change in her new book, Real Queer America. It disproves the common my that if you want to be happy, you must move to a big city in a blue state.

LGBTQ&A is hosted and produced by Jeffrey Masters. Follow us on Twitter: @jeffmasters1 @lgbtqpod

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Not only am I not afraid to be queer in a red state, red states are where I prefer to be queer.
0:13.0	That is how Samantha Allen begins her book, Real Queer America.
0:18.0	In it, she documents a cross-country road trip she took to get to know and explore
0:22.4	the lives of queer and trans folks across different red states. Cities like Norfolk, Louisville,
0:28.1	and in Indianapolis have thriving queer communities, and they're actually seeing larger increases
0:33.6	in their LGBTQ populations and places like New York or L.A. There is this myth that if you're LGBTQ and you want to be happy,
0:41.3	that is only possible in a big coastal city.
0:45.3	And as we talk about today with Samantha Allen, that is just not true.
0:49.3	From Luminary Media, I'm Jeffrey Masters, and this is LGBTQ and A.
0:59.2	I wanted to have you on the podcast because I have been guilty through subtle and overt messaging of perpetuating the myth that if you want to be happy in're queer or trans, you have to move to a big city.
1:12.1	You have to live in New York or a big liberal blue state. And that's not true.
1:17.5	Yeah. I mean, there are pockets of LGBT acceptance all over the country. The country doesn't look
1:23.0	like blue on the coasts, right in the middle. it looks like lots of little islands and pockets of blue
1:27.8	all over. Yeah, and so there is tension, I guess, in what you write that you acknowledge in the book
1:32.4	between these thriving communities that exist in places without legal protections.
1:37.8	Yeah. In Texas, that contrast was so, so stark for me, because never have I met a group of LGBT people who are more amazing,
1:47.4	fun-loving, loud, boisterous, like beautiful people who have a state legislature that just every
1:54.4	year is like, well, it's time to try to discriminate against you, let's roll out some new bills.
1:59.9	And these LGBT Texans, they just
2:02.5	show up at the State House protest, get most of those bills killed, and then party and hang out
2:08.8	in Austin. And so in those places where they don't have the legal protections, do you find that
2:14.6	queer people tend to be more politically engaged? I think so. You know,
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Jeffrey Masters, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Jeffrey Masters and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.