#Appalachian queer

[unstablequeerbitch]

I’m still not leaving

Being a Redneck is as much of my identity as being queer. I will not sacrifice one to make someone else comfortable.

Gay people in the American South

[intheholler]

went on a nice long drive through west virginia today. soooo pretty. i never spent much time there.

it was really nice skitterin through small towns and seeing pride flags hangin on the front doors of businesses in these rural areas. like, more than one. *especially* because WV is one of the most heavily and harmfully stereotyped states in the region

tiny things like this show some things are really changing for the better in appalachia, and i'm tired of people pretendin they ain't just so they got more fuel for their hateful narrative about us.

when i was a teenager i never even saw that kinda thing in comparatively progressive western nc. and now here i was today, windin through the hills of west virginia with rainbows blowing everywhere

keep being loud and unapologetic, y'all. it's working

[s1eepingsapphic]

With every part of me, I am pissed.

As a woman, I am pissed as to think someone can just vote away reproduction rights without shame. Do they know the harm they have caused? Will the same future grandparents, who cheered, experience heartbreak when they can't save the mother from miscarriage complications? Do they know the risks, including for the healthiest of pregnancies? Can they hear the snaps of our souls break when they say, "your body, my choice"? Do they not hear the screams of all the women before us, who worked so hard to get us here? Does the majority actually believe women are less than?

As a queer person, I am pissed. Did they not hear us? Surely, they didn't just ignore us? I will not stand by, while my friends and community are subjected to policies meant to isolate and invoke hate. Are we as a country so self-centered, fearing, and complicit in misinformation at the expense of a real human being?

As an Appalachian, I am pissed. Do you know what you have done? Did you read his book? How could you sell out your own people for some constructed mirage? Have we not suffered enough embarrassment from the wild assumptions of everyone else? They are laughing at us, voting against our own wellbeing.

It doesn't end there. It is the loudest parts of myself, grieving together in the courtyard of my mind. With every part of me, I am pissed. And the worst part? There are so many who know what they did and the others... it will be too late once they see the consequences of their own actions. Somehow in my heart, I am grieving for them too.

[powerlineprincess]

☆B&W 35mm☆at the club☆K.E.A Lux Hill 2023☆

[itsbansheebitch]

Great stuff. Awesome to see a YouTuber using their platform for good

[orthopunkfox]

BIG ANNOUNCEMENT! EXCITING NEWS!

Hello my dear friends and siblings! I am so terribly sorry for my absence but I have been working on some big things and I have some VERY exciting news.

As some of you may know, I have been working with an affirming and inclusive parish, Saint Thekla Independent Orthodox Church. The priest and I have been working together for several months now and share a vision of building an inclusive and affirming community here in Indiana. To that end:

ANNOUNCEMENT ONE: I have been granted permission to found an offspring community under the umbrella of Saint Thekla. I am proud to announce the official opening of Holy Protection Orthodox Christian Community! Although we are mostly online currently, Mother Thekla and I will be working diligently to establish in-person meetings locally. That said, our online ministry will continue and I invite you all to participate. Our virtual Coffee Hour is especially great and not to be missed! (links below). Eventually we hope, by the grace of God, to grow into a fully functioning parish with a priest serving weekly Divine Liturgy. Which brings me to my second announcement:

ANNOUNCEMENT TWO: I have been granted permission to begin the process of reading for Holy Orders with the goal of ordination to the priesthood. I will submit my official application later this week but my spiritual director is confident given my ministry experience (and my brief time in Anglican seminary before my transition) my application will be welcomed and granted quickly. This process will take a couple of years. but I'm very excited to finally complete my journey to the priesthood after so many years. Glory to God for all things!

I will try to post here more regularly and consider this blog as an extension of the online ministry of Holy Protection. I invite you all to please participate in our online community and for those of you who live in my neck of the woods, I hope to invite you to in-person meetings soon! In the meantime, please like the Facebook page and join the Facebook group to stay up to date on our development!

Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61563480251752

Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/share/g/ecxTi3GAJ8iZiAa6/

Youtube channel (in development): https://www.youtube.com/@AffirmingOrthodoxy

[sagehaubitze]

Hiking the Appalachian Trail, like... the entirety of it, used to be a bucket list thing when I was a little kid. Dad was an avid hiker, backpacker, white water rafter.. I guess I got it from him. I can only go about seven~ miles of difficult/rough hike before the extra bone in my foot gives me killer tendonitis, so hiking the whole length in my lifetime is probably a little out of reach unfortunately. I'll enjoy what I can though.

[jojo-oliver]

oceans and forests 🌲paintings i did

[morbidwlws]

Hello! Sooo I’m considering writing/publishing a serial horror story this year and I’m thinking of setting up a patreon (or something kind of similar) for it bc truthfully money is so so tight rn and also I’m trying to make writing my career ANYWAY. If I were to set one up there would be updates every 3-4 weeks, as I’d want each chapter to be edited and at its absolute best. It would be a Queer (specifically lesbian), Southern gothic horror story and will be novella length (20k-40k wc) when it’s all published.

The story itself is about a woman who receives a call that her mother has died, and who goes back home to Appalachia to settle her affairs. Her fiancée follows down to stay with her and they soon decide to flip and resell the house. Strange things begin happening once they begin gutting the house — a deer jumping in front of the car on a dark night, dead things in the walls, nightmares that seem to be happening even in wake, rot in the house and in the body simultaneously, deep rooted curses and soil that needs blood.

[anarchypumpkincowboy]

I just started listening to old gods of Appalachia and y’all it is so nice hearing my accent and like that familiarity has gotten me hooked quicker than any other podcast I’ve tried listening to

[maybemockingbird]

Hey y’all! My upcoming cannibalism romance novella Lover, Thy Name Is Pestilence is now on GoodReads and can be added to your shelves! I’m starting the formatting process this week and am hopeful that I’ll have it done soon, which means I’m opening up applications for ARCs! This is my first time doing ARCs for a self pub book, so I’m going to be selective and only send out a handful of copies, but if you want to sink your teeth into this devilishly delicious story, head to the link above to sign up on the Google Form! Applications close on 10-30-24 so I can begin sending them out hopefully starting on Halloween (I'll probably send out some earlier)! And as a reminder, Lover is available now for preorder on my site for anyone who wants a physical copy come December!

I’m so excited for this book!

🪓

Synopsis: Dakota and Ed Hollander have lived quiet, isolated lives deep in the Smoky Mountains for nearly a decade without much trouble despite the pious locals who scrutinize their way of life. Everything changes overnight as a brutal civil war decimates the United States, leaving behind a wasteland of decay and ruin in its wake. The country is shaken to its core for nearly nine months before all falls silent…

Now, in a world recovering from famine and war, Dakota and Ed fight to prepare themselves for the harsh winter that will soon arrive on their doorstep. But Dakota’s sense of safety is rattled when lost travelers come knocking, and everything Ed told them about the world post-disaster is scrutinized when the secrets hidden in the cellar desperately claw their way to the surface.

The carnage of Ed’s devotion is strewn across the snow in blood red streaks, and Dakota finds themself making Drastic choices that threaten strip away their humanity like flesh off a carcass. At the end of the world, love is written with the blade of an axe, and the most haunting plague of all may just be man’s own hubris…

Apply to be an ARC reader here!

[intheholler]

Donations for Appalachian/Southeast USA Queer Organizations

Here lies the sister post to my resource list.

Under the cut, you'll find a list of regional, primarily queer-focused groups to donate to, if you have the means.

If you've ever accused us of being beyond help, or have ever said we should be sawed off into the ocean, here's your chance to help the many helpers trying to make the southeast a better place--those that always go conveniently ignored in such conversations.

General Regional Links

Appalachian Outreach

STAY (Central Appalachia)

Help suspected transgender John and Jane Does regain their identities

Southern Trans Youth Emergency Project (STYEP)

Southerners on New Ground (SONG)

Campaign for Southern Equality

Trans Health Project

Alabama

AIDS Alabama

The Knights & Orchids Society

Magic City Acceptance Center

Medical Advocacy and Outreach

Prism United

Shoals Diversity Center

T.A.K.E.

Thrive Alabama

Georgia

Carrollton Rainbow Inc.

Emmaus House

Feminist Women’s Health Center

First City Network

Georgia Equality

Kentucky

AIDS Volunteers of Lexington

Arbor Youth Services

Lexington Pride Center

Louisville Queer Youth

Louisville Youth Group

Kentucky Fairness

Kentucky Health Justice Network

Kentucky Youth Law Project

Sweet Evening Breeze

Louisiana

AcadianaCares

Louisiana Trans Advocates

OUTnorthla

PACE Louisiana

Shrevepride

Mississippi

Capital City Pride

Gulf Coast Equality

LGBTQ Fund of Mississippi

The Spectrum Center in Hattiesburg

Violet Valley Bookstore

North Carolina

Charlotte Transgender Healthcare Group (CTHCG)

Down Home NC

Guilford Green Foundation & LGBTQ Center

Pitt County Aids Service Organization

Tranzmission

Triad Health Project

Triangle Empowerment Center

South Carolina

Alliance for Full Acceptance

Charleston Black Pride

Harriet Hancock Center

Palmetto Community Care

T-Time

Uplift Outreach

We are Family

We are Family Trans Love Fund

Tennessee

CHOICES

Launch Pad

Metamorphosis

Mountain Access Brigade

My Sistah’s House

Pride Community of the Tri-Cities

Trans Empowerment Project

Youth Villages

Virginia

Justice 4 All

Nationz

Side by Side VA

Virginia Home for Boys and Girls

West Virginia

Harmony House West Virginia

Fairness West Virginia

Holler Health Justice

WVFREE

[oldedo]

Sunday Selfie

Censored of course.

[oakflavoredraspberry]

ahhh idk i felt cute soo hiii 😝🙈

[bumblebeeappletree]

Dulé Hill meets the Grammy-nominated, Appalachian musician, Amythyst Kiah. Amythyst discusses the Black community’s contributions to American traditional music, and how she processed her grief over her mother’s suicide.

Amythyst Kiah is redefining the sound of traditional music in Appalachia through her lens as a queer, Black woman in America. When Amythyst’s parents gifted her a guitar as a child, she spent hours playing, copying training cd’s and popular artists she heard on the radio, but it wasn’t until she took a bluegrass guitar class that she discovered the African contributions to the music of Appalachia. As a teen, Amythyst remembers feeling alone as her father battled drug addiction and her mother eventually committed suicide. Turning to alcohol nearly cost her a shot at a musical career, but through her father’s intervention, Amythyst began to re-channel her sorrow into song. She earned a 2020 Grammy nomination for Best American Roots Song for her tune “Black Myself," and today, Amythyst is continuing her journey of self-discovery through music.

[woahpip]

Appetite by Aaron Smith