Queer people’s identities play a significant role in how they navigate community spaces because many do not fit into the “traditional moral standards” associated with rural life. The fact that they are different from their straight neighbors can impede their ability to sustain a living in rural environments. Rural environments also tend to lack resources for queers and foster a sense of isolation in these people, thus leading them to move to more urban environments.
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Rural queer lifestyle
In rural areas, the heterosexual family unit is valued as an essential part of life. It is the overtly dominant lifestyle in these spaces, which makes being queer a different experience than one would have in a metropolitan area.
Masculine and feminine gender representations operate differently for those in rural areas because work done by both genders is perceived as masculine behavior in other non-rural areas. Both men and women can exhibit masculine features and be perceived as normal. Many rural women work alongside men on farms or in construction work, thus certain types of masculinity displayed by rural women is not interpreted as lesbian behavior as it might be in an urban or suburban environment. As a result of female gender representations being more masculine for women in rural spaces, femininity operates very differently there, and thus so does lesbianism. This masculine dynamic allows for some lesbians to blend in quite easily, where typical female attire can be wearing flannels and cowboy boots. However, deviations in style, such as short hair or wearing ties, can still result in judgment from the woman’s surrounding community. Emily Kayzak notes that “the sexual identity of rural butch lesbian women is not invisible in urban lesbian cultures, their more butch gender presentations do not do the same work in rural areas because those gender presentations are also tied to normative (hetero)sexuality.” Generally, lesbian-butch women are compatible with rural lifestyles as long as they can fit in with the typical masculine-female appearance. Rural spaces have even been referred to as makings for “lesbian lands,” in part due to their ability to blend in.
In the 1970s, women began to move to agricultural communes where they could live and work with other “country women”. In these communities, lesbian women built communes where they grew their own food and created societies away from men. They believed that living and working in nature allowed them to embrace their inherent connection with nature. Gay men also partook in similar activities; Bell and Valentine note how the Edward Carpenter Community in England hosts Gay Men’s Weeks where they conduct events related to free-spiritedness and the embracement of one’s sexuality.
For rural men, on the other hand, “publicly disrupting normative gender expectations arguably remains as, if not more, contentious than homoerotic desires.” In many places, as long as a gay man subscribes to masculine representations and activities, such as wearing traditionally masculine attire and working in manual labor, acceptance comes much more easily. Deviations in appearance, like dressing up in drag, would be seen as very unacceptable, and can result in harassment. Male effeminate expressions and rurality are generally seen as incompatible. Many gay men in rural communities reject femininity and embrace masculine roles. Feminine gays typically face persecution and disapproval from their community members.
Queers in rural areas, as in many other places, face discrimination and violence. In small rural areas, perpetrators and victims are typically both known to the surrounding community. Even police, who are intended to hold up the law, are known to commit crimes against sexually marginalized people. Brett Beemyn’s review of John Howard’s piece "Men Like That: A Southern Queer History" explains some of the roots of violent hate crimes and discrimination against queer people. In the 1960s, amongst the acrimony of racists was the tendency to depict African Americans as sexual deviants. In addition, during the civil rights movement African Americans were known to have queer allies, thus stereotypes of racial justice supporters as engagers in perverted sexual acts became prevalent in the 1960s and the focus of discrimination spread to include queers in a more direct manner.
In contrast, queer urbanites have gained much more acceptance and visibility as a result of gay rights movements and the recognition of the potential of the queer economy. Acceptance of queerness is also much more common in suburban and urban communities, because there is a higher acceptance of diversity in general. All cities have recognized, visible gay neighborhoods. Gay couples are more likely to live in urban areas than are lesbian couples, as the urban setting can be much more conducive to gay culture and life. Amongst those with higher income or education, acceptance is also more prevalent. These two points have led to an increase of the migration of queers from rural communities to metropolitan areas. The cost of moving to a city filters out some with lower incomes, creating a class bias for those who are more affluent. Yet discrimination from community members, local police, and even state governments still occurs in urban spheres, although cities typically maintain a relative liberalism.
Assumptions made about queer rural spaces are sometimes crude. In media, rustic sexual expression can take the form of homosexual rape, as seen in Pulp Fiction and Deliverance, and bestiality, which is also a theme in these films. After James Michael Taitt died after paying to be anally penetrated by a male horse, bestiality became linked to country happenings, and induced a nationwide “bizarre sex panic.” Heterosexual activities that are not heteronormative become contextually queer activities, some of which take place in rural areas, because they are viewed as a place to retreat and sexually experiment. Practicing “dogging” occurs, in which people can engage in public sex, voyeurism, exhibitionism, swinging, group sex, or partner swapping. Quiet roadsides and rest areas make for private places to meet, making cars vital for maintaining heterosexual and non-heterosexual queer interactions as well.
Rural queer farmers
Other communities of queer farmers prefer to live a more conventional lifestyle with a house and agricultural land of their own. The documentary Out Here portrays the lives of many rural queers across the United States, and it shows how many queer people make a living and are making a difference in their communities through agriculture.
The documentary's creators also provide many biographies about queer farmers on their blog. The farmers documented have a wide variety of experiences, from being a specialty cattle farmer to an urban community gardener at a non-profit. The farmers surveyed state that they feel that farming provides a place where it is free to experiment, and is a place where queers naturally belong. They also describe the discrimination that they have faced throughout their agricultural careers, from social isolation to having fungicide dropped on them in the field.
Farmers and Friends, a helpline for closeted gay farmers in England, was created to help farmers deal with discrimination and to provide emotional support. Many closeted queer farmers risk being outed by their communities, which could lead to loss of their livelihoods and community ties.
The eco-queer movement aims to draw attention to the intersectionality of nature and sexuality. Part of this intersectionality is the reason why many queers may not feel comfortable in a rural setting due to the population dynamics that generally occur in these areas, which mainly consist of straight, middle-class, white men. Because of this, many queer farmers have taken to growing food in urban environments so that they can be agricultural while maintaining their queer lifestyles.
Queer political activism in the United States
Queer political movements in the United States have centered on urban populations. Many organizers believe reform is more difficult to pass in rural communities that are less tolerant of queer lifestyles. It is harder to mobilize communities in rural spaces where queer populations are less dense and financial contributions are limited. This has led to a divestment in formal rural queer political organizing. Because political activism has been silent in rural communities, many Americans assume rural queers do not exist, or they only do so only before moving to more urban and accepting communities. This assumption has created a misrepresentation of the US queer population. US Census data shows that 66% of South Dakotan same-sex households were located outside of urban areas. Queer communities exist outside urban areas, although they are generally less visible.
A lack of visibility and political attention has left queers more vulnerable to institutional discrimination. Compared to the heterosexual population, they have less access to housing, face more employment discrimination, and have less access to healthcare . In South Dakota, only 29% of rural same-sex households own homes, compared to 84% of married heterosexual couples. There are generally fewer community resources and support groups for rural queers, as more limited local resources do not facilitate their existence.
Legislation often neglects rural queer populations, leaving them without protection in many courtrooms and causing some to call for updates to current laws. In a 2006 custody case, a mother found herself unfit to care for her child and relinquished rights to a queer caretaker. Once the new guardian’s sexuality was discovered the court ruled against the biological mother’s request, stating that "the adoption would not be in the best interest of the child." The court used rurality in their reasoning to reject the request, citing "stigma that the child may face growing up in a small, rural town with two women, in whose case she was placed at the age of six, who openly engage in a homosexual relationship." The court found the state of Georgia a more fit guardian than a rural queer couple.
Despite similar cases, many fights in rural areas are won in state courtrooms. The Iowa Supreme Court struck down the state’s defense of marriage statute, which made it one of the first states to allow same-sex marriage, affecting the predominantly rural population. This action was met with political resistance. The Iowa electorate voted to not retain all three judges, marking the first time in Iowa's history that a judge had not been retained since 1961.
Many rural politicians have cited their reluctance to come out in support of same-sex marriage, for fear of similar political repercussions. Representative Paul Davis, the 2014 Democratic gubernatorial nominee in Kansas, voted against a constitutional ban on same-sex marriage three times in the state legislature, but did not take a definitive stance on the issue in his run for governor. More liberal and urban districts can offer public officials a politically safe place to take stances on issues that are not popular in predominantly rural states.
In recent years, the country has seen a shift in national public opinion on queer issues, which has spread to rural communities. In 2006, 71 Wisconsin counties voted to ban same-sex marriage, while only one county voted against the ban. Opinion has since overwhelmingly shifted. According to a 2014 poll by Marquette Law School, only 35% of voters in the Green Bay media market, a predominantly conservative area, still support the marriage ban, compared to 65% of the population in 2006.
Queer visibility plays a critical role in political activism, though this has not been a viable strategy for many rural queer people. Being openly queer can lead to more discrimination and isolation in rural spaces. Rural queers have had to reimagine how to make political and social progress in their communities. New digital media has opened more political options for rural queers. Social media is a means to expand local communities and allow rural queers to take part in a larger queer community. Access to queers' experiences are available on blogs and websites and provide access to the terminology needed to describe and understand their experiences. New media can give rural queers the political tools and connections to make changes in their own communities.