our practices
Locations
We're both passionate about creating positive representations of LGBTQ people living full, joyful lives in the South. It was important to us to represent communities that don't often receive recognition in the media for being home to a thriving LGBTQ community -- places that looked a little bit like our hometowns.
There's a common conception in the U.S. that LGBTQ people who grow up in small towns or rural areas must move to a big city like New York or San Francisco to be happy, or even to survive. That's just not the experience that so many queer Southerners have, and we wanted to speak to LGBTQ people who are making it work in the place they live.
Many of our interviewees have a complicated relationship with their hometowns, and we wanted to explore these feelings of tension. We're particularly curious about what it means to choose to stay and work to make your home a safer place for LGBTQ people rather than moving away.
We started our search by making lists of all pride events in June with websites or a strong social media presence in each Southern state, excluding Texas and Florida. We then narrowed down our list to cities and towns with a population around or under 40,000. Our list was fairly small.
We chose our final three sites in Huntington, West Virginia, Salisbury, North Carolina, and Florence, Alabama, by reaching out to organizers of each event and prioritizing groups that were excited to participate in an audio documentary project and happy to engage.
However, there are many, many more equally wonderful and groundbreaking pride events happening all over the country. Our project highlights just a few of these stories.
There's a common conception in the U.S. that LGBTQ people who grow up in small towns or rural areas must move to a big city like New York or San Francisco to be happy, or even to survive. That's just not the experience that so many queer Southerners have, and we wanted to speak to LGBTQ people who are making it work in the place they live.
Many of our interviewees have a complicated relationship with their hometowns, and we wanted to explore these feelings of tension. We're particularly curious about what it means to choose to stay and work to make your home a safer place for LGBTQ people rather than moving away.
We started our search by making lists of all pride events in June with websites or a strong social media presence in each Southern state, excluding Texas and Florida. We then narrowed down our list to cities and towns with a population around or under 40,000. Our list was fairly small.
We chose our final three sites in Huntington, West Virginia, Salisbury, North Carolina, and Florence, Alabama, by reaching out to organizers of each event and prioritizing groups that were excited to participate in an audio documentary project and happy to engage.
However, there are many, many more equally wonderful and groundbreaking pride events happening all over the country. Our project highlights just a few of these stories.
Accessing full interview audio
We're happy to share copies of our full interview audio. Just send us a message.
more resources
The Southern Oral History Program (SOHP) at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill informed much of our project design. We began our project by reading the SOHP's Practical Guide to Oral History. The SOHP offers many other helpful resources here.
The Campaign for Southern Equality (CSE), a regional nonprofit advocating for legal and lived equality for LGBTQ people across the South, provided expert analysis and commentary for our radio stories, in addition to advising us on our work throughout the project. CSE provides an incredible array of resources for LGBTQ Southerners, including the Southern Equality Fund offering grants to projects and organizations benefiting LGBTQ folks. CSE also runs a Community Health Program, a Legal Equality Project, and an LGBT Rights Toolkit. We're big fans.
During our travels, we visited Appalshop, a media, arts, and education center based in Whitesburg, Kentucky. Appalshop provides support for documentary work across Appalachia, plus much more.
The Campaign for Southern Equality (CSE), a regional nonprofit advocating for legal and lived equality for LGBTQ people across the South, provided expert analysis and commentary for our radio stories, in addition to advising us on our work throughout the project. CSE provides an incredible array of resources for LGBTQ Southerners, including the Southern Equality Fund offering grants to projects and organizations benefiting LGBTQ folks. CSE also runs a Community Health Program, a Legal Equality Project, and an LGBT Rights Toolkit. We're big fans.
During our travels, we visited Appalshop, a media, arts, and education center based in Whitesburg, Kentucky. Appalshop provides support for documentary work across Appalachia, plus much more.