Mural by Rafa Tarín and visiting artists –  Peñasco Theater – Peñasco, NM – July 2014

ART PROJECTS / FARMS / BUSINESSES / ORGANIZATIONS of Country Queers we’ve interviewed:  

Help country queers survive and thrive in rural communities by supporting the art, farms, creative projects, and businesses of country queers we’ve had the pleasure of meeting along the way!

• Jonah from Connecticut made a great film documenting queer farmers in the U.S. called Out Here and now farms full time at Milkweed Farm in Guilford, Vermont.
• Sam from Southwest Virginia is a wonderful musician and educator.  You can find out more about his music here.
• Candace owns and operates the delicious Ed’s Sno-Cones in Angleton, Texas.
• Courtney and her family are the hardworking farmers at Homestead Ranch in Lecompton, Kansas.
• Crisosto Apache is the Director of the Two Spirit National Cultural Exchange, based in New Mexico, and the author of a book of poems Genesis.
• Mattie owns the historic Hotel Ritchey in Alpine, Texas which she has renovated and re-opened as the Ritchey Saloon.
• Rafa and Al run the Peñasco Theater Collective in Peñasco, New Mexico.
• David and his partner Joshua run Country Q’s Farm in Lane City, Texas where they make goat milk soap.
• Elandria from east Tennessee is the executive director of The People’s Hub  which helps build organizing skills for folks all over through online trainings.

ORAL HISTORY PROJECTS:

• LGBTQ Oral History Hub  hosts an AMAZING list of links to dozens of queer oral history projects compiled by the Digital Collaboratory.
• The Digital Transgender Archive The purpose of the DTA is to increase the accessibility of transgender history by providing an online hub for digitized historical materials, born-digital materials, and information on archival holdings throughout the world.
• The Tretter Transgender Oral History Project (TTOHP) is committed to collecting, preserving, and making available oral histories of gender transgression, broadly understood through a trans framework. Check out their new podcast Transcripts – about how trans people are remaking the world!!!
• Louisiana Trans Oral History Project entirely trans-led oral history project! Check out their audio excerpts online.
• Invisible Histories Project is designed to be a repository of LGBTQ+ history in Alabama and the southeast.

 iiORGANIZATIONS:

• Southerners On New Ground (SONG) building a political home across race, class, culture, gender & sexuality in the South
•  The STAY Project (Stay Together Appalachian Youth) : regional network of Central Appalachian youth, 14-30, working towards a more sustainable and inclusive future in the mountains
• Kansas Queer Youth Network (KQYN) a Kansas statewide GSA Network 
• Two Spirit National Cultural Exchange dedicated to the positive development of two-spirit people and culture       
• Out in the Open based in Brattleboro, Vermont supports rural LGBTQ+ communities in becoming stronger, healthier, and more visible .
• Rural Organizing Project the Rural Organizing Project uses values-based organizing to advance a progressive vision of democracy in Oregon, with a focus on Democracy & Civic Participation, Immigrant Fairness, LGBTQ Justice, Economic Justice, and the Cost of War.
• Appalshop and WMMT 88.7fm – Appalshop is a 50 year old art, media, and culture center in the heart of central Appalachia. The organization includes a youth media training program, community theater branch, archive, filmmakers union, community organizing efforts, and a community radio station broadcasting the voices of mountain people. 
• The Highlander Center  is a catalyst for grassroots organizing and movement building in Appalachia and the South. They work with people fighting for justice, equality and sustainability, supporting their efforts to take collective action to shape their own destiny.
• Scalawag Magazine just go read everything they publish about the South because it’ll be incredible.
• Press On a Southern collective for movement journalism.