'Traditional Marriage Parade' divides rural Iowa town

Photo by Sandy Millar, Unsplash

A Baptist pastor of small-town Ottumwa in Iowa challenged the fairness of a city council proclamation to celebrate Pride month while other groups like veterans went unnoticed, Joe Barrett of The Wall Street Journal reported.

When the council members explained they only passed resolutions of this nature that were brought to their attention, Pastor Travis Decker decided to create his own “Traditional Marriage Parade” – and he wanted to get a proclamation from the city for it.

This request led to “weeks of emotional public meetings, social-media battles and questions about whether the council should have proclamations at all,” Barrett wrote. 

Pastor Chris Childs from Grace Methodist Church noted that the conflict highlights the fraught political environment that has divided America everywhere.

And the result? The city council decided that no one gets anything. A new policy was created to prevent controversial proclamations from being passed in the future.

“Pride or traditional marriage proclamations probably won’t make the cut,” council member Cara Galloway told the Wall Street Journal.

Leaving the United Methodist Church can be more harmful for churches in rural communities

Thousands of United Methodist Churches have disaffiliated.
(Photo by Sarah Melotte, The Daily Yonder)

Amid ongoing debate over sexuality and Christian teaching, the United Methodist Church (UMC) faces more member tensions and congregations seeking to disaffiliate from the organization. The effects could be harder on rural communities," reports Sarah Melotte of The Daily Yonder. “Disaffiliation, the complex process a congregation may use to leave the United Methodist denomination, is a sore topic. Most churches that recently split from the UMC did so over concerns that the denomination may adopt a more affirming position on homosexuality."

The Rev. Katie Black had been serving her congregation “for less than a year when a member knocked on her office door and told her the congregation had been praying about withdrawing from the denomination,” Melotte writes. Black told her, “I had heard a lot of stories about churches [disaffiliating] in bigger cities and it becoming a very contentious and ugly fight. But this is a small town. There is no room for us to be breaking up friendships and families.”

Disagreements over whether to allow or not allow gay ordination, gay marriage and LGBTQ+ inclusion have tested the denomination. "Since 2019, thousands of congregations have disaffiliated from the United Methodist Church. . . but many rural churches found hope by offering refuge and reconciliation," Melotte explains. "When a church splits in a tight-knit rural community, the pain can ripple throughout the entire town."

Ken Carter, bishop of the Western North Carolina Conference, told Melotte, "More of the churches that are disaffiliating tend to be rural." Melotte reports, "Bishop Carter said that disaffiliation skews rural because of the cumulative effects of the pandemic and political polarization. Polarization worsened, for example, when debates flared about whether masks should be worn in church and how the church should respond to racism, if it should respond at all."

The Rev. Truman Stagg, a UMC minister in Louisiana, commenting on the division, told Melotte, "We should just stop it and just realize that it’s all about loving people. Whoever you are, your sin might be the same as mine, or your sin might be different from mine or what I call a sin. You might not. But that’s for God to straighten out.”

Some in rural N.C. county wanted out of regional library; Pride Month book display apparently prompted debate

The Yancey County Library in Burnsville, N.C. 
(Photo by Sarah Melotte, The Daily Yonder)

In 2013, Tim Mandell of The Rural Blog wrote, "The public library remains one constant that has something for everybody." But in recent years, which books are showcased or shelved in libraries has become contentious. "Commissioners in rural Yancey County, North Carolina, considered withdrawing their library from the regional system amidst public debate about a Pride Month book display," reports Sarah Melotte of The Daily Yonder. "The debate about withdrawing from the regional system reveals how political divisions can threaten public services in rural communities that need them the most."

"The high elevation usually keeps things cool in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina," Melotte writes. "But temperatures were sweltering by mountain standards on July 10, when hundreds of people gathered in a hot courtroom to show support for their regional library system" at a Yancey County commission meeting. During the public comment period, "Franklin Oldham told the commissioners, 'I am a white, Christian, heterosexual, American war veteran. I peace-kept in Kosovo in 2002. I fought in Iraq in 2004 and 2005. And I am a proud ally of the LGBTQ community.' Fifteen other residents shared their thoughts during the comment period, and all except four echoed Oldham's sentiment about supporting their queer neighbors and the regional system."

Yancey County's library debate began in June when the commission's chair moved to give the county manager authority to take over the library. The motion was tabled, and "backlash ensued," Melotte writes. "Patrons suspected that the motion to consider withdrawal came because someone complained about a Pride Month book display in the library. . . . Pulling out of the regional system would not only result in decreased access to funds, it would put county commissioners temporarily in control of the library until the commissioners appointed a new library board."

At its core, the debate "revolved around whether LGBTQ displays are political agendas or statements of welcome. . . . Chairman Jeff Whitson finally announced that they would not be pulling out of the regional system," Melotte reports. Yancey County is among a growing number of communities where LGBTQ books have created tensions. "Local libraries faced 1,269 demands to ban books last year, according to the American Library Association. That's more than any other year since they began tracking censorship attempts over 20 years ago."

Rural libraries are not just about books. They are "essential public spaces where people are more likely to have limited access to high-speed internet, an adequate number of healthcare providers and other kinds of infrastructure," Melotte reports. "An American Association of Libraries survey showed that 40% of rural libraries provide subscriptions to health databases that do things like help patrons sign up for health insurance or learn about what benefits they are eligible for. As a part of a regional library system, the Yancey County Library has access to extra grants and state aid resources that libraries run by local governments do not." Yancey County Regional Library Director Amber Westall Briggs told Melotte: "State aid exists to fund regional library systems [to] serve socioeconomic areas that needed more assistance so that they could equalize service to the people across the state."

LGBTQ+ Eastern Kentuckians are refuting Appalachian stereotype of intolerance, creating a regional community

Cara Ellis, left, at Pikeville Pride's booth at the Hillbilly Days
Festival in Pikeville, Ky. (Photo by Ryan C. Hermens, Herald-Leader)

LGBTQ+ Eastern Kentuckians aren't big-city transplants, as you might think; they're native Appalachians reaching out to break stereotypes and form a supportive community, reports Rick Childress of the Lexington Herald-Leader. Childress' visit to the "Pikeville Pride" booth during Hillbilly Days, Pikeville's annual festival "celebrating all things Appalachia," provides a good example. "Members of Pikeville Pride sat at a booth strewn with rainbow flags and banners. The grassroots organization works to highlight Eastern Kentucky's LGBTQ+ community. . . . In a town and region long assumed to be unwelcome to LGBTQ+ people, members were met with honest questions, smiles, thank yous and even a 'grandma' who got their grandson their 'first pride flag,' said Cara Ellis, who is Pikeville Pride's president and a Pikeville native." Ellis said, "I never thought we would have this in this town."

Outreach allows the group to support young people who may struggle. "It's never been necessarily easy to be gay in the mountains, and a ratcheting up of anti-LGBTQ rhetoric and legislation, both in Kentucky and nationally, will make life harder for those who are out in rural communities," Childress writes. "The suicide rate among LGBTQ youth is much higher than their peers. A national survey conducted last year by the Trevor Project, an organization that provides crisis help for LGBTQ youth, found that 45% of LGBTQ youth seriously considered suicide in the past year. . . . But that suicide rate goes down if students come from households that affirm their gender identity, attend an LGBTQ-affirming school or live in an accepting community."

The group's presence at events like Hillbilly Days provides a human face inviting conversations that educate the region. "They also defied a common misconception that Ellis said she's encountered in her work with Pikeville Pride," Childress reports. "Many assume that those in the group have moved in from bigger cities and aren't native Appalachians. Ellis told him, "It's like, no, we've been born here. . . . We've been raised here. We're from here; we stay here." Childress adds, "According to Jonathan Coleman, a historian and co-founder of the Faulkner Morgan Archive, a nonprofit that saves and shares Kentucky's LGBTQ history, the typical narrative about Eastern Kentucky is incomplete. Coleman said: "The story of what it is to be queer in Eastern Kentucky is always a really flattened-out, simple narrative. . . . You leave if you can, as soon as you can. You're traumatized, and then you try to escape. That, of course, is not accurate for lots and lots of folks."

Pikeville's 2020 population was 7,754.
(Sperling's Best Places map)

Pikeville Pride continues to provide a supportive community "especially in a place where an accepting group of people hasn't always been easy to find," Childress reports. "The group started in 2017 as an organized counter-protest to a white-nationalist march in the city's downtown. After that protest, about 20-25 people continued to meet. They decided to put together Pikeville's first pride event in 2018 in an attempt to 'highlight the diversity and inclusion that we actually do have here in Pikeville, that maybe people don't realize,' Ellis said. . . . . Tonya Jones, who, along with her wife, has fostered multiple LGBTQ+ youth in Pike County, was among the original group that started the organization, said they had a free hugs booth at the first event." Jones told him, "I had someone just come up and just wrap their arms around me and just start bawling. Because they said it was the first time anyone accepted them for who they truly were."

Voters expand Medicaid in S.D., reject abortion restriction in Ky., approve recreational marijuana in Mo. and Md.

Among the many referenda on Tuesday's ballots, Kentucky voters rejected a proposal that would have kept state courts from finding a right to abortion in the state's constitution. That clears the way for the state Supreme Court to hear arguments next week in a lawsuit by the state's two abortion clinics against some of the nation's most restrictive abortion laws, one of which kicked in when Roe v. Wade was overturned. Both clinics are in Louisville, so rural access to abortion is difficult.

Voters in Michigan added abortion rights to their constitution. Voters in California and Vermont approved similar measures that would have little effect on existing law in those states, Lou Jacobson reports for U.S. News and World Report.

Voters in South Dakota expanded Medicaid to an estimated 42,000 people under the provisions of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. "The Republican-controlled state, where lawmakers have long resisted Medicaid expansion, is the seventh in the last five years to do so at the ballot box — and likely the last to do so for some time," reports Megan Messerly of Politico.

"A different health care proposal, in Oregon, was losing narrowly in early returns," Jacobson reports. "This measure was more vague.” It would add language to the constitution that says the state will "ensure" that every resident "has access to cost-effective, clinically appropriate and affordable health care as a fundamental right."

Missouri voters approved a constitutional amendment to legalize recreational marijuana, while those in Arkansas and the Dakotas defeated similar measures. Voters in Maryland also approved the idea, which carried every county except Allegany, at the state's western end.

"By a 2-1 margin, Iowa approved adding language to the state constitution affirming the right to own and bear firearms and require strict judicial scrutiny of any alleged violation, Jacobson reports. "Oregon voters were on their way to approving a measure to keep state lawmakers from running for reelection if they had 10 or more unexcused absences. The minority party – most recently Republicans – had used the state’s two-thirds quorum rule to shutter chamber business by not showing up for sessions. The measure was winning by a 2-1 margin. In Michigan, voters approved by a 2-1 margin a measure that would set 12-year term limits for state legislative service, as well as stiffen financial disclosure rules for legislators and statewide elected officials. And in North Dakota, voters approved an eight-year term limit for the governor and eight years in each legislative chamber. The measure passed with nearly two-thirds of the vote."

Nebraska and Nevada voters raised their states' minimum wages. "One blue state and one red state went their expected directions on ballot measures affecting labor unions," Jacobson reports. "By a 3-2 margin, Illinois appears to have passed a measure that would create a state constitutional right to collective bargaining. But in Tennessee, a right-to-work measure that makes it illegal for workplaces to mandate labor-union membership passed with 70%."

Voters in Jonesboro and the rest of Craighead County, Arkansas, cut the local library's property-tax rate in half. The vote "stemmed from protests over a gay pride book display in the library last year and a transgender author’s visit there earlier," Kenneth Heard writes for the Arkansas Advocate.

This story may be updated.

Rural queer communities connect via oral history project

Rae Garringer
(National Geographic photo by Annie Flanagan)

Rae Garringer grew up on a sheep farm in West Virginia, but felt isolated as a queer person in Appalachia. So Garringer, who uses nonbinary them/them pronouns, set off on a cross-country trip in the summer of 2014 to interview other rural LGBTQ+ rural residents, a la StoryCorps. They interviewed 30 people in 30 days, recording more than 45 hours of tape. That became the seed of an oral history project called Country Queers, which has recently begun a podcast sharing those interviews and more, Nicole Blackwood reports for National Geographic.

The new podcast, which includes a 2018 interview with author Silas House, seeks to amplify "often unheard stories of rural queer experiences across intersecting layers of identity including race, class, gender identity, age, religion, and occupation," according to the website. The website also includes written transcripts and photos from over a dozen more interviews. 

Garringer and other project collaborators want the project to help preserve rural queer histories, show the broader world that rural Americans are not all straight and white, push back against the popular narrative that queer people only thrive in cities, and help queer rural residents to feel connected and build community even though many are geographically isolated.

But, "Even as the project grows, the goal remains the same: figuring out what the future can look like," Blackwood reports.

"As much as this project has been about amplifying people’s stories and raising our visibility, there is such a personal piece for me ... like, how do we do this?" Garringer told Blackwood. "How do we thrive in these places?"

Quick hits: USDA says don't plant random seeds from China; what rural hospitals can teach their urban peers

Here's a roundup of stories with rural resonance; if you do or see similar work that should be shared on The Rural Blog, email us at heather.chapman@uky.edu.

Commentary: lack of indoor plumbing in marginalized communities is a too-often neglected environmental justice issue. Read more here.

A popular Instagram account raises funds for LGBTQ+ people in Appalachia, but it's not clear where the money actually goes. Read more here.

USDA warns people not to plant any random unsolicited seeds they get from China. Read more here.

What rural hospitals can teach their urban counterparts about patient engagement. Read more here.

Commentary: researchers need to use a combination of measurements to get the clearest picture of broadband's impact on the economy. Read more here.

Virginia governor signs sweeping gun-control laws

Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam signed sweeping gun-control measures into law Friday, realizing the fears of many rural constituents.

The newly signed package requires background checks on all firearm sales; allows law enforcement to temporarily take someone's guns away if they're deemed a danger to themselves or others; limits Virginia residents to buying one handgun a month; requires people to report lost or stolen guns in 48 hours; and increases the penalty for leaving firearms out around children, according to a press release.

Northam proposed an amendment to a bill that would allow local governments to regulate where firearms are allowed; his amendment clarifies that colleges and universities would be exempt from local laws. He also proposed an amendment to a bill that would require people with protective orders against them to turn over their guns; the amendment would allow judges to hold the person in contempt of court if they fail to comply.

Some of the gun-control bills were watered down to pass the state Senate, Gregory Schneider reports for The Washington Post. Though Democrats control both chambers of the legislature, the Senate has been more concerned about the repercussions for rural constituents: a bill banning "assault weapons" died in the Senate in February. but House Speaker Eileen Filler-Corn worked with senators to find a happy medium. Seven of the eight gun-control bills passed the legislature in some form. 

"Guns became a divisive issue in Virginia after Democrats won full control of the state's General Assembly in November, and Northam, a Democrat, promised to pass the host of restrictions," reports Ryan Miller of USA Today. "The signing comes almost three months after more than 20,000 gun owners descended on the state capitol in Richmond to protest the measures. It's also been almost a year since the deadly Virginia Beach shooting left 12 people dead plus the shooter."

Rural Virginia has acted, too. In the months after the election, most rural counties declared themselves Second Amendment sanctuaries, asserting that local law enforcement would not comply with state laws. And in January, Liberty University President Jerry Falwell Jr. and West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice invited conservative Virginia counties to secede and join West Virginia.

Gun sales are at an all-time high in Virginia (and in the U.S. overall) in recent weeks. Most of that is attributed to the pandemic, but in Virginia some of it was probably because of fears about gun legislation, Mark Bowes reports for the Richmond Times-Dispatch. 

In addition to gun-control laws, Northam also expanded protections for LGBT Virginians, loosened restrictions on abortion, made it easier to vote, and decriminalized possession marijuana (those caught with the drug would pay a $25 civil fine).

Retired Vanderbilt dean, now a farmer, lauded for helping the LGBTQ community at the Nashville university

K. C. Potter

K.C. Potter lives on a farm in rural Tennessee these days, but the 80-year-old retired college professor and administrator has been seeing some excitement lately. Potter, the dean emeritus for residential and judicial affairs at Vanderbilt University, was recently declared a Trailblazer by the college for his longtime efforts to help LGBTQ students, Brad Martin reports for The Hickman County Times.

Potter, who is gay, created a policy at the school that protects LGBTQ students from harassment and mentored gay students. In 2008, the college established the K.C. Potter Center, which houses the university's Office of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer and Intersex Life, Martin reports.

"I was humbled," Potter told Martin. "And I felt maybe it should have been named for somebody else, or a group. . . . There were a lot of courageous students that I dealt with over the years." He was featured in the 2015 documentary "A Secret Only God Knows", which chronicled the lives of LGBTQ residents who reflect on life in Middle Tennessee before 1970.

A native of Eastern Kentucky who attended Berea College, Potter said he began advocating for LGBTQ students' rights because he saw how homophobic the culture was during much of his 33-year career, which began in 1965. It was so toxic that Potter didn't come out of the closet for years. But after a string of suicides from gay students, he began holding weekly support meetings for LGBTQ students in the late 1970s and from that, the drive to create a policy protecting them was born. After several years of dogged pursuit, Potter convinced the faculty senate to approve the policy in 1993.

Potter says he continues to mentor those who need support. "There is no greater reward in the world, as far as I'm concerned, than to help somebody grow," Potter told Martin.

As a resident of rural Hickman County, southwest of Nashville, Potter also told Martin that all  LGBTQ residents in the county, not just students, need more support. Many fear they'll lose their jobs if they come out of the closet, which Potter attributes partly to religious beliefs and unfounded fears that gay people are pedophiles. It's important for LGBTQ people to find acceptance and support in their community, Potter said, noting that the "overwhelming majority" of people who attempt but fail to complete suicide are gay.

Quick hits: 'Why I stay in Appalachia,' rural noir fiction increasingly popular, book explores rural political cynicism

Here's a roundup of stories with rural resonance; if you do or see similar work that should be shared on The Rural Blog, email us at heather.chapman@uky.edu.

In "Why I Stay in Appalachia," an LGBT+ young adult talks about why they moved back to their rural hometown of Gadsden, Alabama, after graduating from Harvard University. Read more here.

When people think of noir fiction, they frequently call up images of hard-boiled urban detectives. But the growing popularity of rural noir, exemplified by books and films such as "Winter's Bone," is bringing new life to the genre, Laura McHugh writes for Crime Reads. Read more here.

"U.S. senators from states with large rural populations are pushing a bipartisan bill to research maternal mortality rates in rural America and develop solutions to improve care for pregnant women who live far from hospitals," Emma Coleman reports for Route Fifty. Read more about the Rural MOMS Act here.

A new book, We're Still Here: Pain and Politics in the Heart of America, zeroes in on a declining coal town in central Pennsylvania and explores why exasperated locals, tired of politicians' promises, were increasingly cynical about either party's ability to help their community. Read more here.

Quick hits: New poet laureate is first Native American for the post; Pride event at small-town Ky. library draws opposition

Here's a roundup of stories with rural resonance; if you do or see similar work that should be shared on The Rural Blog, email us at heather.chapman@uky.edu.

Can we move away from fossil fuels without destroying communities that rely on them? Sam Adler Bell looks to the devastated coalfields of Appalachia: https://newint.org/features/2019/04/09/life-after-coal

Joy Harjo has been named the U.S. poet laureate, making her the first Native American to fill the post: https://www.npr.org/2019/06/19/733727917/joy-harjo-becomes-the-first-native-american-u-s-poet-laureate

Some residents in small Kentucky town opposed a LGBTQ+ "Pride Panel" at a local public library. https://www.courier-journal.com/story/news/2019/06/19/lgbtq-pride-panel-kentucky-library-stirs-controversy/1497484001/

LGBTQ+ Pride celebrations spring up in rural areas

Pride parade in Murray, Ky. (WKMS photo by Matt Markgraf)

Rural towns across the country are increasingly putting on, or allowing, LGBTQ+ Pride celebrations.

"Advocates say it’s a hopeful sign of shifting public attitudes toward gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender residents in Kentucky and other parts of rural America, where more than 2.9 million LGBTQ residents live," Chris Kenning reports for the Louisville Courier Journal.

In Kentucky alone, Pride festivals have sprung up in nearly 20 towns and rural communities across the state in recent years. Murray held its first ever Pride march last Saturday, timed to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall riots. The event was peaceful and well-attended, though there were a few protesters, Matt Markgraf reports for WKMS-FM.

M.C. Lampe, the LGBT coordinator at Murray State University, told Markgraf that it's important for people to see that "there are people here that are LGBTQ-identifying and are supportive, because it can feel very lonely in a small town." Lampe, who moved to Murray from Louisville two years ago, said "I've been so impressed with the work being done on a rural level. More, honestly, than I ever did in a city."

Athens, Ohio, recently held its weeklong Pride Fest for the third year in a row, Keri Johnson reports for The Post, a student-run publication of Ohio University in Athens. Chris Nevil, an Athens native and assistant executive director at Southeastern Ohio Rainbow Alliance, said Pride "used to be a big city thing . . . So it's important now to see pride in smaller, more rural areas."

Franklin County in western Massachusetts is also holding its third annual Pride festival this year, Melina Bourdeau reports for the Greenfield Recorder. The first one was fairly small and quickly organized, but this year the event is larger and has more support from local businesses.

In La Grande, Oregon, near the northwestern corner of the state, student organizers from the Mountain Queers club at Eastern Oregon University are organizing the town's second annual Pride festival, Andrew Jankowski reports for Willamette Week in Portland, Oregon. "I think people who aren't from more rural areas don't realize that it's not necessarily outright homophobia that we have to deal with so much as just feeling invisible," the club president, who goes by C, told Jankowski. "We've got queer people, of course, but the sort of thing that Mountain Queers is doing where we're just out there, not being subtle, celebrating our existence, is something you don't really see in Eastern Oregon much, and that's why we're doing it."

The increase in rural Pride events reflects changing attitudes. A recent Pew Presearch Center report "showed sharp increases in support for LGBTQ people and issues since 2004 among many groups," Kenning reports. "Nationally, about 52% of rural residents support same-sex marriage (compared with 64% of urban residents)" according to a 2017 Public Religion Research Institute survey.

Quick hits: Cycling helps rural economies; Maine islands get health care by boat; rainbow tailgate goes viral

Here's a roundup of stories with rural resonance; if you do or see similar work that should be shared on The Rural Blog, email us at heather.chapman@uky.edu.

Health care comes by boat to Maine's most remote islands, Modern Healthcare reports.

Last week thousands of cyclists from all over the world "set off on a grueling 200-mile race across gravel roads in Emporia, Kansas. The sport has grown to such a level that there are now 600 such events across the country — and they're lifting rural economies," Jay Price reports for WUNC FM in North Carolina.

Check out "This Land," a true-crime podcast from journalist and Cherokee Nation citizen Rebecca Nagle, about a high-stakes murder investigation that triggered big questions about Native American land rights and sovereignty: https://deadline.com/2019/05/crooked-media-this-land-1202621176/

A group looks to mountain biking to give rural New England an economic boost:
https://bangordailynews.com/2019/05/27/news/new-england/group-looks-to-mountain-biking-to-give-rural-new-england-an-economic-boost/

Here's a viral social-media post from a rural Oklahoma man who decorated his truck's tailgate with a duct tape rainbow in honor of Pride Month:
https://journaltimes.com/news/national/how-a-duct-taped-tailgate-from-rural-oklahoma-touched-people/article_6ee011bf-2bbe-57e1-bdc7-ba7233ed6440.html

Could returning to sheep farming help the Appalachian economy? Read more here: https://www.saveur.com/appalachian-sheep-farmers-lamb/

What it's like to be LGBTQ in rural U.S. may surprise you

USA Today map defines 'majority rural' as states in which people in a 
 majority of counties live in rural areas (click the image to enlarge it)

Pop culture frequently depicts rural LGBTQ people as miserable and eager to leave for the city. Real life is a bit different, according to a newly published study of the 2.9 to 3.8 million LGBTQ people living in rural areas, Susan Miller reports for USA Today. The report was conducted by the Movement Advancement Project, a think tank that examines LGBTQ issues.

"Rarely do we see images of LGBTQ people in rural areas, and when we do they are portrayed as the only one there and stick out like a sore thumb or a target of violence," said report author Logan Casey. "It’s a stereotype that’s not the case."

LGBTQ people like living in the country for the same reasons others do, according to MAP Executive Director Ineke Mushovic: connection to the land, family roots, or love of the country life, Miller reports. But life can still be harder for them in rural areas.

"When an LGBTQ individual does feel the sting of rejection in a rural setting, the repercussions can be amplified in ways not seen in big cities, the report notes. For example, if people are excluded from their faith community for being gay, they could face difficulty finding work in a tight-knit town if a church member is a potential employer," Miller reports. "And religious exemptions laws – which let someone cite a religious belief as a reason not to enforce a law – can loom large in smaller settings with fewer services. That is why the passage of non-discrimination protections for work, housing and public accommodations is so crucial, Mushovic said."

Rural LGBTQ people can face health care obstacles too; according to an American Association of Retired Persons survey cited in the MAP report, only 11% of LGBTQ people age 45 and older have access to an LGBTQ health center in rural areas, compared with 57% in urban areas, Miller reports.

On the other hand, Casey said, the tight-knit nature of rural communities can work in an LGBTQ person's favor: when someone stands up for them, others are more likely to follow, Miller reports. Read the full report here.

Attempted Vatican 'coup' rooted in accuser's setup of pope's meeting with clerk who refused to issue same-sex licenses

Pope Francis and County Clerk Kim Davis (Images from CNN)

For an archbishop whose accusations are splitting the Roman Catholic Church, his unhealable breach with Pope Francis began when he arranged for the pope to meet the rural county clerk who had gone to jail for contempt of court after she refused to issue same-sex marriage licenses, reports Jason Horowitz of The New York Times.

"An abuse survivor with whom Francis has spoken at length said the pope recently told him" that Archbishop Carlo Viganò, then the papal nuncio (ambassador) to the U.S. "nearly sabotaged the visit" of the pope in 2015 by arranging a meet-and-greet with Kim Davis, the clerk of Rowan County, Kentucky, the Times reports. Davis said Francis told her, "Thank you for your courage." But the Vatican said later that the meeting shouldn't be considered an expression of support for her stand. Davis, a former Democrat, is running for re-election this fall as a Republican.

Abuse victim Juan Carlos Cruz quoted Pope Francis as saying of Davis and Viganò, “I didn’t know who that woman was, and he snuck her in to say hello to me — and of course they made a whole publicity out of it. And I was horrified, and I fired that nuncio.” Actually, as CNN reports, "Two years later, Francis quietly accepted Viganò's resignation. . . . During his trip to the United States, the pope had tried to stay above the country's culture wars. Viganò foisted Francis right into the fray."

Viganò (Pool photo by Rex Arbogast)

Last week Viganò wrote a 7,000-word letter that called for the pope's resignation, "accusing him of covering up sexual abuse and giving comfort to a ' homosexual current' in the Vatican," Horowitz notes. "The letter exposed deep ideological clashes, with conservatives taking up arms against Francis’ inclusive vision of a church that is less focused on divisive issues like abortion and homosexuality. But Archbishop Viganò — who himself has been accused of hindering a sexual misconduct investigation in Minnesota — also seems to be settling old scores. . . . Known for his short temper and ambition, Archbishop Viganò has clashed with superiors who stunted his ascent in the church and has played a key role in some of the most stunning Vatican scandals of recent times."

Francis said, "I will not say a single word about this. I believe the statement speaks for itself. And you have the sufficient journalistic ability to make your conclusions. It's an act of trust." CNN Religion Editor Burke writes, "While journalists dig for the truth, and the pope keeps silent, Vigano's letter has emerged as a sort of Rorschach test for Catholics: Many conservative Catholics say the pope must go. Liberal Catholics accuse the archbishop of launching a coup d'etat against his boss."

UPDATE, Sept. 2: Viganò is contradicting the pope's account of the Washington meeting, saying "The pope knew very well who Davis was, and he and his close collaborators had approved the private audience." At the meeting, Viganò wrote, Francis "embraced her affectionately, thanked her for her courage and invited her to persevere."

New novel by Silas House, Southernmost, examines religious faith and gay rights in rural America

Since the 2016 election, journalists have published countless pieces on what makes rural America tick. And so have authors, in the slower cycle of book publishing. Kentucky writer Silas House's new novel, Southernmost, is a provocative entry in this wave of Trump-era literature, examining not just the faith of rural evangelicals, but their works.

The book centers on Pentecostal preacher Asher Sharp, who is horrified when his wife insists they turn away a gay couple after a catastrophic flood, one in which the couple saved some church members. Sharp, who had rejected his own gay brother years before, realizes how much his heart has changed and leaves his wife, which puts him in danger of losing custody of his beloved son. So Sharp kidnaps his son and takes off for Florida, to find his brother and evade his ex-wife.

"What follows is a fast-paced page-turner, a story of redemption with many twists, turns and surprises. It also is a well-written exploration of the complexities of faith, humanity and how hard it can be to change long-held beliefs," Tom Eblen writes for the Lexington Herald-Leader. Southernmost is more than a good tale; it's a rebuke of modern evangelical Christianity and a scream of frustration at "faith without works."

Quick hits: the history of hillbilly TV; a photo essay of life in former coal boomtowns; supporting rural LGBTQ seniors

Hubie Bobo Lane, Chauncey, Ohio (Rich-Joseph Facun photo)

Here's a roundup of stories with rural resonance; if you do or see similar work that should be shared on The Rural Blog, email us at heather.chapman@uky.edu.

Photojournalist Rich-Joseph Facun brings us a stark, breathtaking photo essay in The Washington Post chronicling life in former coal towns of Appalachian Ohio. See the project here.

For The Bitter Southerner, Gabe Bullard writes a thoughtful essay about the history of television portrayals of rural America, from Andy Griffith to "Duck Dynasty." "When the newscasts were full of footage from My Lai and Saigon, from Selma and Birmingham, Americans looked for laughs in Hooterville. They sought them in Cornfield County, Pixley, and Mayberry. These were fictional rural places full of carefree, unencumbered country folks. There was no racial strife in these burgs because everyone was white. In these worlds, the sheriff didn’t carry a gun, a man could join the Marines and never talk about the war in Vietnam, and nobody even thought about the War on Poverty."  Read more here.

Life in rural areas can be isolating, especially for LGBTQ senior citizens. A new report from The John A. Hartford Foundation outlines strategies employed to help such seniors feel connected to national and local LGBTQ communities as well as how to ensure rural health providers are qualified to care for their needs. Read more here.

As rural areas become more conservative and cities more liberal, conflict between them increases

"The United States is coming to resemble two countries, one rural and one urban," says The Atlantic, over a story by David A. Graham that puts the initial onus on the city folks but soon focuses on rural legislators' moves to rein in the cities.

"American cities seem to be cleaving from the rest of the country, and the temptation for liberals is to try to embrace that trend," Graham writes. "Americans are in the midst of what’s been called “The Big Sort,” as they flock together with people who share similar socioeconomic profiles and politics. In general, that means rural areas are becoming more conservative, and cities more liberal."

Graham notes "Democrats are turning to local ordinances as their best hope on issues ranging from gun control to the minimum wage to transgender rights. But if liberal advocates are . . . overlooking a big problem: Power may be decentralized in the American system, but it devolves to the state, not the city." He cites growing battles over pre-emption, the right of a state to tell cities and other creations of state government what they can and cannot do.

"Common examples involve blocking local minimum-wage and sick-leave ordinances, which are opposed by business groups, and bans on plastic grocery bags, which arouse retailers’ ire," Graham writes. "Some states have prohibited cities from enacting firearm regulations, frustrating leaders who say cities have different gun problems than do rural areas. . . . Nowhere has this tension been more dramatic than in North Carolina," where the legislature nullified a Charlotte ordinance banning LGBT discrimination, banned similar laws in other cities and make other pre-emption moves, some of which courts struck down.

The increased rural-urban divide has caused role reversals, Graham reports: "The GOP has long viewed itself as the party of decentralization, criticizing Democrats for trying to dictate to local communities from Capitol Hill, but now Republicans are the ones preempting local government. Meanwhile, after years of seeing Democratic reforms overturned by preemption, the party of big government finds itself championing decentralized power."

N.C. leaves transgender bathroom law as it is

The North Carolina Senate on Wednesday voted down a repeal of the state's controversial transgender bathroom law, Bruce Henderson and Jim Morrill report for The Charlotte Observer. "The state House adjourned without voting on repeal of the bill that has cost North Carolina millions of dollars in lost jobs, sports events and boycotts. With that, the hope of compromise between legislators and Charlotte, which enacted the ordinance that gave rise to HB2, dissolved."

Republican Senate leader Phil Berger blamed Democratic Gov.-elect Roy Cooper for the repeal failing to pass, reports The Observer. He told reporters, “I think Roy Cooper tried to do everything he could to sabotage a reasonable compromise." Berger claims that Cooper "called Democratic senators and urged them not to support Berger’s bill, which would have coupled HB2’s repeal with a months-long moratorium on city ordinances" like the one Charlotte repealed this week, allowing transgender people to use the public restrooms of the gender with which they identify.

Cooper, who beat Republican Gov. Pat McCrory in November partly on his stance against the law, told reporters Wednesday "that Republican leaders 'broke the deal' to fully repeal HB2 in return for Charlotte’s action," reports The Observer. He said, “I told (Democratic legislators) to stick to this deal. What (Republicans) were trying to do was tack on something that wouldn’t work. They didn’t have the guts to put the (repeal) bill out on the floor by itself.”

Outgoing N.C. governor calls legislative session to repeal of controversial transgender bathroom law

Outgoing North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory, who in May filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Justice Department to save North Carolina's controversial transgender bathroom law, has called a special session for today to consider repealing the law, Jim Morrill and Steve Harrison report for The Charlotte Observer. HB2 has been "seen by critics as an anti-LGBT measure, prompted boycotts and cost the state millions of dollars as well as lost jobs." It was a factor in Republican McCrory's narrow loss last month to Democrat Roy Cooper. The state Senate and House remain under Republican control.

A few hours after the Charlotte City Council voted 10-0 "to rescind the LGBT ordinance that prompted HB2," McCrory said in a video: “This sudden reversal, with little notice after the gubernatorial election has ended, sadly proves this entire issue, originated by the political left, was all about politics at the expense of Charlotte and the entire state of North Carolina."

"Cooper, who lobbied for the council action, announced earlier that GOP legislative leaders had promised to repeal HB2," the Observer reports. He said in a statement: “Senate Leader Phil Berger and House Speaker Tim Moore assured me that as a result of Charlotte’s vote, a special session will be called for Tuesday to repeal HB2 in full. I hope they will keep their word to me and with the help of Democrats in the legislature, HB2 will be repealed in full.”