Real Queer America: LGBT Stories from Red States

by Samantha Allen

Ten years ago, Samantha Allen was a suit-and-tie-wearing Mormon missionary. Now she's a senior Daily Beast reporter happily married to another woman. A lot in her life has changed, but what hasn't changed is her deep love of Red State America, and of queer people who stay in so-called "flyover country" rather than moving to the liberal coasts.

In Real Queer America, Allen takes us on a cross-country road-trip stretching all the way from Provo, Utah to the Rio Grande Valley to the Bible Belt to the Deep South. Her motto for the trip: "Something gay every day." Making pit stops at drag shows, political rallies, and hubs of queer life across the heartland, she introduces us to scores of extraordinary LGBT people working for change, from the first openly transgender mayor in Texas history to the manager of the only queer night club in Bloomington, Indiana, and many more.

Capturing profound cultural shifts underway in unexpected places and revealing a national network of chosen family fighting for a better world, Real Queer America is a treasure trove of uplifting stories and a much-needed source of hope and inspiration in these divided times.

• ISBN10: 0316516031
• ISBN13: 9780316516037
• Publish Date: 28 March 2019
• Publish Status: Out of Print
• Out of Print: 24 July 2023
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Little, Brown & Company
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 320
• Language: English

Reviews

[lovelybookshelf]

Samantha Allen's book Real Queer America is an inspiring, optimistic, heartfelt letter to fellow queer folks living in red states in the United States. But it's also incredibly informative (and gently corrective) to cishet liberals living in blue states. You know, the people who tend to look down from their high horse, putting us on their personal "no travel" lists, making assumptions about what life is like in conservative areas of the country.

Allen's book offers a more realistic perspective on queer life in Red State America than the media prefers to show (and for that matter, a more honest perspective on life in blue and swing states, too). She shows us how these places and the people in them are so much more than a headline. It was a joy to take this road trip with her—to read about her own experiences as a trans person in all the places she's lived and traveled, and the connections she's made with others along the way. 

I love how she spoke to so many different people! There's a wonderful message throughout that your identity is valid, period, and it just felt like a big hug. Allen shows readers that, when your numbers are small and you only have each other, a deep, authentic, diverse queer community is created—and this community gets things done.