“The Kentucky Gent” Serves the Bluegrass and Bourbon with Spirited Love
Josh Johnson is a Kentucky gentleman. That’s how he put it to fashion industry leaders from New York to Los Angeles while working as a clothing buyer more than a decade ago. Folks followed the phrase with confused looks and questioning glances at Johnson’s long hair and tattooed skin. “You’re not really what we expected someone from Kentucky to look like,” they’d say.
While fried chicken, barley and bourbon have space in his heart, Johnson represents Kentucky in a way only he can, by being himself. To him, that’s what a Kentucky Gentleman is.
“People assume something about someone based on locality or sexual orientation or identity and pigeonhole people into a monolith,” he said.
Johnson, better known for his digital alter ego “The Kentucky Gent,” runs a men’s life and style blog by the same name. He acts as a gateway to the south, just like his hometown of Louisville. It also doesn’t hurt to remind the world that Southern boys have taste.
Like most Kentuckians, Johnson has a thing or two to say about Bourbon. “It’s legacy and connection, something to be proud of,” Johnson said. He went on to describe the bourbon renaissance we’re seeing in the Commonwealth; renewed interest in a classic spirit driving the state’s economic development while bolstering tourism in towns big and small. He said, “I think the only way to improve that would be to show more inclusivity and more people that drink bourbon versus it just being kind of pigeonholed into, ‘It’s a man’s drink.’”
Let’s be clear, bourbon is not just a man’s drink. It’s Kentucky’s spirit, it belongs to all of us and none of us. Its unique and celebrated flavor is the product of local ingredients and time spent aging in the bluegrass.
Like Kentucky bourbon, Johnson’s lived experience as a gay man blends with Southern style and culture to create the perfect cocktail of a blog. Queer people aren’t new to Kentucky, but their representation is, and Johnson takes that to heart when sharing his stories.
“That was never really shown for me,” he recalled, describing his religious upbringing in Southern Indiana. Christian Satellite TV, a service that is still around today, was Johnson’s main source of media as a child, reaffirming the lessons he learned from his parents. The religious lessons he learned at home and through media only supplemented the teaching of his family church.
Those teachings came to a head when Johnson’s family discovered he was gay. At the age of fourteen, an online love interest outed him to his preacher. His life, both online and at home, would never be the same.
In time, he moved to Kentucky for the space he needed to grow. Like barely and bluegrass in the summer sun, he received the nurture and care he needed from his community and from himself. Now, he shares his experience with the world, one post at a time.
In the same way he hopes to introduce the world to Southern culture, he hopes to introduce young queer people to a new world of opportunities. Through his own story, he shows youth that it’s possible to hold space in their communities without being subjugated to stereotypical identities and roles.
In a December 2014 blog post titled “Coming Out,” Johnson wrote, “It’s my wish that as time goes on I can be a positive role model for young people, especially young gay men and that this site will serve as inspiration for them. A source of inspiration that shows that they can be anything that they put their mind to, be whomever they wish to be, and be bigger than any labels placed on them by others.”
In the time since that post, Johnson has led by example, not just for Kentucky, but also for towns big and small across the country. From South Carolina to Texas and Illinois, he tells stories of exciting attractions and refreshing oases with a sense of charred charm that only Ketnucky’s bourbon and gentleman can offer.
So, who is the Kentucky Gentleman? He’s a son working to build a relationship with his family while maintaining healthy boundaries. He’s a gay man who watches Star Wars, plays video games, and drinks Old Fashions in his Germantown home. He’s a marketing professional who spends his days empowering communities across America to reach new audiences and support LGBTQ+tourism.
When you think of the Commonwealth, leave the stereotypes and fried chicken behind and remember, Kentucky – and its gentlemen – have more to offer.
… Okay, maybe remember the fried chicken too.