Our Story
Vision & Mission
Country Queers is a multimedia oral history project documenting the diverse experiences of rural, small town, and country LGBTQIA2S+ folks – across intersecting layers of identity such as race, class, age, ability, gender identity, and religion.
The project aims to
Preserve rural LGBTQIA2S+ histories
through documenting our contemporary presence and historical existence
Complicate ideas about who and what make up rural spaces
and resist the narrative that rural communities are monolithic
Push back against the narrative
that queer people can only thrive in major metropolitan spaces
Connect rural and small-town LGBTQIA2S+ people to one another
across geographical distance in an attempt to help fight the isolation we often experience, and to build rural queer community
Project History
Rae Garringer founded this project in 2013 out of an intense frustration with the lack of easily accessible rural queer stories at the time, and a sense of isolation from queer community. Since then, the project has grown to include a collection of over 90 oral history interviews, a traveling gallery exhibit, a podcast, and a book.
It has been a community labor of love made possible by the generosity of all those who’ve shared their stories, the support of everyone who has donated over the years, the grants and awards we’ve received, the dedication of volunteer transcriptionists and the podcast advisory team, and countless conversations with mentors, friends, and advisors at organizations including: The STAY Project, Southerners On New Ground, Highlander Center, Appalshop, Project South, National Council of Elders, Out in the Open, and more.