Nearly 4 million LGBTQ people live in rural America, and 'everything is not bias and awful'
Source: USA Today
Nearly 4 million LGBTQ people live in rural America, and 'everything is not bias and awful'
Susan Miller, USA TODAY Published 7:00 a.m. ET April 3, 2019 | Updated 4:36 p.m. ET April 3, 2019
Pop culture often paints LGBTQ people living in rural areas as outsiders eager to bolt for more dazzling and diverse hubs such as New York or San Francisco.
A report out Wednesday upends that assumption: 2.9 million to 3.8 million in the LGBTQ community call rural America home, data shows and, for many, thats exactly where they want to be.
The report by the Movement Advancement Project puts a spotlight for the first time on a sizable segment of the 19 million LGBTQ people in the USA or 4.5% of all adults and 10% of youths who dont congregate on the coasts or in major cities.
Rarely do we see images of LGBTQ people in rural areas, and when we do, they are portrayed as the only one there and stick out like a sore thumb or a target of violence, said Logan Casey, author of the report by MAP, a think tank that researches LGBTQ issues. Its a stereotype thats not the case.
LGBTQ people want to live in the country for the same reasons others do, MAP Executive Director Ineke Mushovic said, whether its a connection to the land, family roots or the sheer allure of pastoral life.
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https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/04/03/lgbtq-lesbian-gay-transgender-rural-america/3282217002/