Hey Queer Kentucky readers, I’m Jules Crawley! I will be joining the team as an intern for the duration of summer 2025. I am a 23 year old undergraduate student of Media Studies at the University of Kentucky. I’m excited to join this team for so many reasons, but I’ll try to condense it into a summary for now. 

I am a queer, nonbinary person. I was on Hormone Replacement Therapy for around six years, and can speak to the truth that HRT saves lives! I also was lucky enough to get top surgery as a late teenager, and this exponentially grew my confidence after struggling a lot as an adolescent. 

I grew up in the small town of Georgetown and while it has grown over the years, I was once one of the only openly queer people among my peers. Being queer in a small town wasn’t an easy experience to have, and I experienced bullying and isolation for a lot of my youth. While those experiences were incredibly difficult, I am excited to get to use those struggles to further my work on this team. 

photo provided by Jules Crawley

I will be focusing a lot of my writing on what it means to be queer in a rural area, how we find connections as LGBTQ+ people in Kentucky, and the importance of pride in rural areas such as those of our state.  I hope that these topics will be able to reach queer people like myself, both youths desiring to be seen for who they are, and adults who want to learn more about queer experiences or find more to relate to. 

These topics are important to discuss, particularly in relation to rural queer people that aren’t always at the forefront of conversations. Often, LGBTQ+ people in rural areas report feelings of isolation, and organizations such as Queer Kentucky are bringing our voices further into the world. 

Through this expansion of visibility, we can find more ways to initiate changes needed politically, and celebrate our historical accomplishments as queer people up to this point. I’m beyond excited to work with a team where I can contribute information based not only on my experiences, but of the experiences of queer people all around Kentucky. 

I’ll be writing stories over the upcoming few months, and you may hear from me on our social media platforms as well! Thanks for taking the time to read about me and what I hope to learn from Queer Kentucky. 

— Jules