A review by vyhurz
Real Queer America: LGBT Stories from Red States by Samantha Allen

4.0

I’ve wanted to read more queer stories for a long while, so picking up this travel memoir was very refreshing. It’s about queer people in “red states,” where many people probably don’t think queer people are. Or if they do, they think they’re miserable and oppressed. That’s not an invalid idea, but Real Queer America shows that there are queer communities thriving in red states. Utah, Texas, Georgia. I’ll be honest: I don’t want to visit these places. But there are people there working hard for inclusion, community, and the right to just live. This book made me teary in many places, and I enjoyed reading it. It was an easy read, and though the writing felt disjointed in some places, I liked how Allen connected the lives she was learning about and the places she was exploring to her own life. That made it feel connected to me, that somehow I am also connected to these red state queer communities. I’m nonbinary, I’m queer, and I’ve been looking for community. It’s hard to find for lots of reasons, but this book helped me see that it’s out there. People are working for it. In the end, this book changed my perspective on queer people in red states. I don’t want to just give up on red states altogether. I want to help them change and be more accepting. I want to help the people there who are already doing the work.

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