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Entries by Queer Kentucky

Queer Yogi empowers others through inclusivity, love

Elliot, Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky What does the word Queer mean to you? I think to me, queer means unique, not limited to the rules of mainstream society. it’s the freedom to be different from what’s expected. What do you identify as, or do you identify at all? I’m a fat, white, atheist, pansexual, agender spoonie. (The […]

Queer Tarot Card Reader starts Get Read Wednesday

Explain what Get Read Wednesday is? Get Read Wednesday Tarot is an online tarot reading that happens on Wednesday of each week. Get Read Wednesday was initially a way to evolve my understanding of tarot, and to receive feedback on my interpretations. But Get Read Wednesday has a life of its own now and has […]

Flowers In His Hair

Wesley Vaughn, Clay, Kentucky Being gay has given me a more liberated attitude. I don’t concern myself with behaving in a way that is traditionally masculine, nor traditionally feminine. I feel that I can behave and express myself the way I want without any concern of violating some sort of rule about how I have […]

Queer, challenging and free

What does the word queer mean to you? How do you identify? Queer means I am brave enough to try, it means freedom, it means the ability to imagine a world without racism, without sexism, without transphobia, and homophobia and brave enough to practice unlearning to see it come to past. It means that I […]

Kentucky Artist, Joshua Jenkins

My parents have been separated my entire life. I was primarily raised with my mother (along with 5 other siblings) in Poughkeepsie, NY. I spent the Summers with my father in the Elizabethtown, KY area and eventually lived with him permanently during my High School years. I have been a Louisville resident since 2011 and […]

Feminist Friday: The Appalshop Part 1

 by Jordan Roach Tucked back in Whitesburg, Ky., there is a large unassuming, wood clad, building holding a treasure trove of resources, history and culture.  The Appalshop, while it’s been a constant staple of Eastern Kentucky’s culture for nearly 50 years, there is a big chance many people haven’t heard about it. If you are […]

#unstoppable

Queer Kentucky sent two youth mentors from the Louisville, Kentucky community to the Baptiste Foundation’s #unstoppable program. This is a training for anyone who works with youth – school teachers, school counselors, aides, coaches, community center employees, police officers, etc. Our participants learned through personal experience, a set of tools to teach basic yoga poses, breathing, […]

Gender, color, sexuality

Jerika Jones, Kentucky What does the word Queer mean to you? I think Queer means living a life that is otherwise considered different from mainstream and also heteronormative lifestyle. I choose words carefully because gay lifestyles are becoming more “mainstream,” but often tend to fall into heteronormative ideas and I’m reluctant to call all gay […]

A Western Kentucky Queer

Austin Norrid, Hopkinsville The word queer to me is about chosen family. For many queer folks, relationships with our given families can be strained at times, but we have the opportunity to create families of our own within the queer community. What the word queer offers that LGBTQ* doesn’t, is one word for our entire […]

Wordsmith rediscovers home in Queer Kentucky

Sarah Gardiner – Gay/Lesbian, She/Her/Hers Owner of Nanny Goat Books, writer, editor, and small-press publisher Queer is a word I’ve only recently adopted. When I came out at 19, Gay was the umbrella term used for anyone in my LGBTQ+ circle. I was living in DC at the time, and though the community was incredibly […]

Friday Flowers

Kenyatta, 24, Louisville What does the word queer mean to you? The work Queer to me means someone who’s not afraid to be themselves and live free without a care in the world. How do you identify? I identify myself as a non-binary pansexual. I’ve came to a point in my life where where you […]

Pronouns Matter, using them with respect saves lives

Pronouns matter. Apart from name, they are the main way we address other humans in conversation, thought, and identity. So understanding them and getting them right is vital. Let’s start by defining the concept. Pronouns are the words we use when referring to another person. The three sets you will hear most often are: The […]

From Lewis County to Louisville

Kaleb McCane, Lewis County I’m from Vanceburg, KY. I love it in Lewis County, but moving to Louisville was a great decision for me because getting out of the small town environment allowed me to grow as my own person and learn who I truly am. It also taught me how to think independently in […]

Free mom hugs in Pikeville

Marty Wayman, Frankfort I have a son with autism, a gay son, a “son of my heart,” who came out as trans at the beginning of the year. He’s 16, and one of the reasons Free Mom Hugs has been an organization which I choose to support with all of my energy. Free Mom Hugs, […]

Preventing HIV with VOA FIT is easy: Safe sex, PrEP

By Pablo Archila HIV is 100% preventable. We aren’t just limited to condoms and hand jobs anymore, there’s medicine that can prevent HIV infection called PrEP. PrEP, or Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis, is a once daily pill taken to prevent HIV infection. Think of it as the birth control for HIV. Meaning, it only works if you […]

Making an LGBT+ Hub in Appalachia

by Jordan Roach-Calderone   Kyle May has always wanted to help people at some capacity, in college he studied counseling. Now he’s currently working in mental health at the Mountain Comprehensive Care Center, as their Healing Program Clinical director, focusing on getting grant assistance to help people in this region who have survived trauma. That’s […]

QKY Writer Jordan takes on Appalachia

Queerness to me is the ability to talk about a marginalized identity across several cultural lines, it leaves room for identities outside of colonial standards and binaries, even for those of us who don’t have the words in our ancestral languages to talk about them. My identity continues to evolve as I come to understand […]

I Remember Doing the Time Warp

By Remy Sisk In the spring of 1973 at the Royal Court’s Theatre Upstairs, an eclectic bunch of actors and designers were preparing to open an extraordinarily unconventional musical called, “They Came from Denton High.” At the insistence of director Jim Sharman, creator Richard O’Brien’s mashup of glam rock, Steve Reeves muscleman flicks,1950s early rock […]

Gay, not lesbian

Lindsey Norris, Louisville, Kentucky What does the word queer mean to you? To me, it’s an umbrella for anyone who does not identify as heterosexual. How do you identify? Why? Or why don’t you identify as anything at all? I identify as gay, just because that describes that I am interested in people of the […]

Queer Folks

Amelia Pantalos, Louisville, Kentucky What does the word queer mean to you? I like the word queer, it’s expansive to me. It describes the attitude of being indifferent to, dismissive of, or in direct opposition to mainstream expectations of beliefs and behaviors. And “queer” doesn’t have the word “sex” in it, which I like, because […]

Bevin attacks LGBT rights

  By Wesley Whistle, QKY Contributor Governor Matt Bevin is at it again. After calling Kim Davis “an inspiration to American Children” and filing a brief arguing a company shouldn’t have to make Pride shirts, Bevin is attacking LGBT rights again. Now, Governor Bevin is arguing that companies are allowed to fire someone based on […]

Coming back to self

  Jon Tenholder, Louisville Kentucky What does the word Queer mean to you? Queer for me is knowing, existing, embracing that I am part of a minority, outside of the heteronormative stories we have been told year after year about human life, survival, purpose. Being queer is my heart saying my journey is different, more […]

Queer means Power

  Daniel Bond, Kentucky The word queer to me means a lot, but if I had to put it down to a word it’s “power.” Some of the best people I know and love are queer. I identify as pansexual and male. I don’t necessarily care for the gender of the person, just as long […]

“The Welcoming Rainbow Umbrella”

  Andy Aliaga-Mendoza, Kentucky by way of MN What does the word queer mean to you?  It’s the welcoming rainbow umbrella. How do you identify? Why? Or why don’t you identify as anything at all? I like to identify as both bisexual and queer and I use the two interchangeably. I tend to use bisexual […]

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