Rural Stories

Which is a better place to live for queer and trans folks - the city or the country? Turns out it depends on who you ask. Rae thought that the rural Appalachian town they grew up in would be hostile to LGBTQIA+ folks and opted to live in Austin for a decade before realizing they missed the mountain air and wanted to increase queer visibility back home. Levi, meanwhile, realized that his hometown - which had an active KKK - wasn’t the right place for a queer man and so instead relocated to a more urban city where he could find the supportive community he needed. In this episode, Phil and Alex listen to Rae and Levi’s stories and discuss how both urban and rural locations can be queer-friendly (or not), their shared belief that people should ultimately go where they can find the fullest version of themselves, and touch on a little bit of queer and trans rural culture.