LGBTQ people are breaking the queer-equals-urban-only stereotype all over the US, from Montana ranchers to Green Mountaineers, and Vermont is leading the way. This according to a new report from the Movement Advance Project, reported in USA Today this week.
The report “upends that assumption: 2.9 million to 3.8 million in the LGBTQ community call rural America home, data shows—and, for many, that’s exactly where they want to be,” reports USA TODAY. It “puts a spotlight for the first time on a sizable segment of the 19 million LGBTQ people in the USA—or 4.5 percent of all adults and 10 percent of youths—who don’t congregate on the coasts or in major cities.”
As for the Green Mountain State:
Vermont leads the country with the greatest concentration of rural residents—93 percent of counties are majority rural—and has the highest proportion of LGBTQ adults living in any rural state, at 5.2 percent, according to the Williams Institute.
The state is regarded as one of the most LGBTQ-friendly in the USA—it was the first state to allow civil unions for same-sex couples in 2000.
The report notes that “rural LGBT people are less likely to have explicit nondiscrimination protections, are more likely to live in areas with religious exemption laws that may allow service providers to discriminate, and have fewer alternatives when facing discrimination.”
It details “how many LGBT people live in rural areas and why they live there; the experiences of LGBT people living in rural communities; and the social and political landscape in rural America” and provides “a robust set of recommendations for improving the lives of all rural residents, including LGBT people.”
For more, check out the full report: “Where We Call Home: LGBT People in Rural America.”
