Queering the Midwest: Forging LGBTQ Community
Queering the Midwest: Forging LGBTQ Community
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Abstract
For the LGBTQ community in River City, drag shows that test the capacity of bars persist alongside wishes for stronger community. In this examination of LGBTQ community, I highlight the ambivalence of LGBTQ lives in a small city in the rural Midwest. Drawing on in-depth interviews, ethnographic research, and friendship mapping, I reveal how community spaces are disappearing and emerging, LGBTQ people feel safe and unrecognized, and friendships do and don’t matter. In this community, non-LGBTQ allies are essential support for their LGBTQ friends and organizations, but sometimes their support comes at a cost. Those who find they feel most comfortable and safe also align with community norms, forming with and connecting to families and identities that are the majority in River City. I share the story of a community that does not fit neatly into a narrative of progress or decline. Rather, it’s a little bit of both. My ambivalent community framework reveals the ways we might think about our communities and relationships more authentically, embracing the contradictions that inform the possibilities for change.
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Front Matter
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Introduction
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1
River City: LGBTQ Life in a Small City
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2
Should I Stay or Should I Go? Social Contexts of Ambivalent Experiences
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3
Out, but Not Too Out: The Line between Inclusion and Invisibility
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4
What Do You Mean Your Gay Friend? LGBTQ Friendships
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5
Straight Woman in a Gay Man’s World: Allyship and Diversity Resources
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6
“There’s Varying Degrees of Friendship in Here”: Creating Ambivalent Community
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7
“We Haven’t Jumped over the Need for One”: Inclusive, Progressive, and Exclusive Approaches
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Conclusion
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End Matter
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