First Advisor

Miriam Abelson

Date of Award

6-2025

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) in Social Science and University Honors

Department

Social Science

Language

English

Subjects

rural queer identity, metronormativity, LGBTQ+ visibility, queer spatial theory, belonging, qualitative research

DOI

10.15760/honors.1696

Abstract

This thesis explores how LGBTQ+ individuals in rural America navigate identity, visibility, and belonging amid the pressures of metronormativity--the dominant cultural narrative that equates queerness with urban life. Through qualitative interviews with five queer adults who lived in rural settings, the study shows that rural queer life is shaped by not only structural erasure and limited resources but also adaptive strategies, emotional labor, and creative community-building. Participants described environments where queerness was often unspoken or denied, yet they developed contingent forms of visibility, online belonging, and grassroots kinship to survive and thrive. Although all participants had migrated to urban areas, their reflections revealed nuanced and ambivalent relationships with both rural and urban environments, complicating the binary that casts cities as liberatory and rural areas as inherently repressive. Drawing on queer spatial theory, this research challenges dominant narratives of queer migration and highlights the complex realities of rural queer existence. The findings contribute to a growing body of rural queer studies and emphasize the need to rethink where and how queer life is imagined, recognized, and sustained.

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Persistent Identifier

https://archives.pdx.edu/ds/psu/43801

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