Joshua, Meade County, Kentucky I’m here, I’m queer, and I’m just trying to find balance. I think it’s important to find balance with queer identity because it can’t be your soul self. It’s an aspect of who I am but it doesn’t need to rule my entire life.
Ricki Redman, 23, Shively by way of Buffalo, LaRue County, KY I live with my mom and take care of my grandma. My mom’s side of the family is from West Virginia. I’m a mixture of central Kentucky culture and Appalachian coal mining culture. I grew up on all the classic country gold. Willie, …
Zach, 24, Kentucky Placing my sexuality and identity on a scale for me has gotten to be wrong. I’ve found that my best self is the one who dresses how I want to dress, saying what I want to say, and doing what I want to do. I spent way too long trying to …
Kelsie, 25, Bardstown I didn’t know I was a lesbian when I was growing up in Bardstown. It was one of those battles I fought in my head; I had convinced myself I was straight. Being straight was the norm and none of my friends were gay; they were all stright. When I moved …
Tessa, 24, Kentucky This poem gave me a voice for my family to hear. The first time I spit that piece they had never heard it. Me being gay was a taboo issue. It was a way to force my family to listen. They couldn’t scream at me from the audience and my struggle was …
José, Louisville/Lexington, Kentucky I moved here a month before the 2016 presidential election…and moved back to Portland, Ore. for six months after the election before returning. I think everybody felt very devastated, my partner and I felt devastated and we didn’t have a community to fall back on because we didn’t know anyone in …
