Deeply Queer: Lesbian Connections and Spaces in the South

Deeply Queer Queer Experiences in the Deep South

Issue N°1

A Letter From the Editor

Having been born and raised outside of Houston, Texas, the South has always been a part of my life. I grew up running through bluebonnet fields, visiting my grandfather’s ranch, riding horses, wearing cowboy hats that fell off my head, squeezing my feet in and out of boots, attending the rodeo, and so much more. And as odd as it is for me to admit, there is just something about the air down south.

As I made my plans for college, there was nothing I wanted to do more than leave my small hometown in search of somewhere I would fit in. A place where I could be myself without fear, and so I came to Boston. I resented the South for so long, but now I yearn for it. I miss it. This zine is almost my love letter to the South because while dysfunctional, I do love it.

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Emily Hamer

I hope as you read through this zine, you gain a new perspective on queer life in the South. I hope you see the importance of facing these issues instead of running from them (something I am still working on as well). For those of you there now, I hope you look to your community and find places to gather, to hold hands, to be with each other.

To recognize identities and celebrate them.

If you are not in the South right now or have never been, I want you to keep an open mind. I promise we are not all gun-slinging maniacs, and if you visit we will provide the best food you have ever tasted.

Enjoy y’all, Emily Hamer

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Issue N°1

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Emily Hamer

Table

of

Contents

Notes on Queer Southern Queer Life

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Historically Forming Connections:

8

The ALPHA Omegas Currently Forming Connections:

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Lesbian Bars Southern Lesbian Anecdotes

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on Safe Spaces “unnatural”: an original poem

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Playlist

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More to Explore

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References

15

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Issue N°1

Notes on Southern Queer Life:

The Past & the Future

When one imagines Southern Queer life, the images that come to mind are often violent, or even nonexistent. However,

queer expression has always

existed in the South, and to my personal surprise, has flourished in certain towns along the bible belt and beyond. In fact, “35 percent of the LGBTQ population in the U.S. lives [in the South] (the Northeast is home to only 19 percent). In the Deep South—Alabama, Mississippi, Florida, and Louisiana —almost 40 percent of [the LGBTQ population] identify as people of color; In Texas, that figure is over 50 percent. In most Southern states, 20 to 30 percent of [the LGBTQ population] are raising children” (Pratt, 2020).

While there is such a diverse and dense population of queer southerners, there are few spaces for groups to come together, especially for Lesbians. While Drag performances, ballroom groups, gay bars, and GSA groups in high schools exist, there are few spaces dedicated to specific identities. I chose to focus on Lesbian life in the South because oftentimes, Lesbians are left out of the conversation, and I hope to expand voices and interest in the lives and works of Southern Lesbians.

Furthermore, even though some places do exist, there needs to be more spaces for people to come together, celebrate their identities, and form connections that are safe and open to all. Thanks to the internet, more and more people are understanding

their

identities

at

younger

ages

and

looking

for

guidance,

especially in the South where they may feel less accepted by their families, churches, schools, etc. Therefore, I look to explore what spaces already exist and the South and how we can expand to have more spaces.

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Emily Hamer

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Issue N°1 Historically Forming Connections:

The ALFA Omegas

One way lesbians found connections during the 20th century, and continuing into the current day, is softball culture. One of the most prominent examples is the Atlanta Lesbian Feminist Alliance’s (ALFA) softball league, which was most popular in the 1970s into the early 1980s. One source on ALFA mentions that: “Noting a lack of inclusion in both gay and feminist spaces in Atlanta, lesbian activists in a June 23, 1972 meeting articulated the need for an organization that was distinctly lesbian and feminist. And so ALFA began” (Gelfand, n.d.).

ALFA wanted to have a racially integrated space for lesbians in the Atlanta area to come together. They even made a point to keep the games

egalitarian,

giving

each

player equal opportunities on the field.

The

same

source

notes

“[ALFA was] proud of their first season not only as an athletic accomplishment but also for the way they had connected political organizing & recreational sports” ALFA Omega games were not only a safe

space

for

lesbians

of

all

backgrounds to come together, but they were also a space of political activism— Making

the

experience

unique

for

Atlanta’s (and the Deep South’s) queer history. This form of acivism continued and “softball in particular became an organizing tool for lesbian feminists across the South. Out-teams sprung up in cities such as Memphis, Tennessee; Lexington, Kentucky; Columbia, South Carolina;

and

(Gelfand, n.d.).

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Athens,

Georgia”

(Gelfand, n.d.).

Emily Hamer Currently Forming Connections:

Lesbian Bars

Looking from a more current perspective, another way Lesbians in the South find community is through nightlife. While this may seem like a simplistic avenue for Lesbians to find a safe space to connect, there are actually relatively few bars dedicated solely to Lesbians in America (less than 20)—let alone in the Deep South. However, these spaces are essential for queer life, especially in the South, and thus many have gone out of their way to fund these establishments to help them stay afloat post-pandemic. The Lesbian Bar Project is a perfect example of this.

The Project supports and amplifies the voices of the few remaining bars and encourages inclusive note

environments.

that

“The

They

Lesbian

Bar

Project believes what makes a bar uniquely

Lesbian

is

its

prioritization of creating space for

people

genders, (regardless trans),

of

marginalized

including if

they

non-binary

women

are

cis

folks,

or and

trans men.

As these spaces aim to be inclusive of all

individuals

across

the

diverse

LGBTQIA+ community, the label Lesbian belongs to all people who feel that it empowers them” (The Lesbian, n.d.). Here is a key quote from Erica Rose, an owner of Herz, a Lesbian bar in Mobile, Alabama: “We say it in the film, down in the South it’s fucking hard, to be gay sometimes. You need these bars as a safe haven... they make it a priority that not just lesbian women feel safe at Herz, but all people feel safe at Herz” (Saxe, 2021).

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Issue N°1 Southern Lesbian Anecdotes on

Safe Spaces

Dorthy Allison in My Mama’s

Dead Squirrel: Lesbian Essays on

Southern Culture

“When I went to my first Southeastern Gay and Lesbian Conference in Chapel Hill in 1977, I headed directly for the session on lesbian literature. There sat a whole roomful of lesbians, including two novelists…the editors of a lesbian magazine in, of all places, Charlotte, North Carolina. It was like coming home” (Allison, 1985, P. 101).

Bonnie Ruth Strickland in Leaving the Confederate

Closet: A Southern Lesbian’s Journey

“I was in luck. I found a mostly lesbian softball team...Homosexuality was a taboo topic, a perversion. No one wanted to be known as outing a vulnerable teenager to a life of sin and suffering. I simply gloried in having found a place where a group of women accepted me as I was and let me be part of their softball life. I was around people I cherished; dare say loved, where women dressed as they pleased and found joy in their play and in each other…I still have [a hat from the team] packed away with the memories of strong women, who by opening their hearts to me opened mine.

Throughout my adulthood, softball was to remain a treasured sport and wherever I was, I tried to find a team to join” (Strickland, 2021, p. 56-58).

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Emily Hamer Audri, Age 15, Laurel, Mississippi in “A Southern

Lesbian Tells Her Story”

“I came out at, like, 12-years-old, first as bisexual. I thought I liked guys a little bit but I really did like girls a whole lot. I came out to my mom before I came out to everyone at school. I was like, "I have something to tell you..." and I couldn't get it out. And she said, "You're not sexually active, are you?"

And I'm like "God no. I'm kind of bisexual." She's like, "You're 12. You don't know what you're talking about. Go back to sleep." But now my mom is a PFLAG mom and has rainbow stickers all over her car.”

“I got involved with gay activism last year. I watched LOGO a lot and I saw a movie, I can't remember what it was about, but they mentioned PFLAG in it.

And I was like, "I wonder if that's real?"

So I went and googled it, and I found a chapter in Laurel. Then at the second meeting at PFLAG, the Mississippi Safe Schools Coalition came. I wanted to get involved more and help people not have to go through what I went through. I want other kids to be able to go to football games and pep rallies and have the high school experience.”

“I want to stay in Mississippi for college. There’s a gay flight in Mississippi because everyone thinks it’s so horrible, so they leave. And nothing ever changes when all the gay people leave. And conservative people will never be used to a butch lesbian holding another girl’s hand or two guys holding hands if they don’t see it. There’s lots of work that needs to be done, and it really makes me happy to get to do it”

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Issue N°1 “unnatural”

an original poem by Emily Hamer “unnatural”

in the summer my fingers would brush through her hair, pulling strands into braids that transcended down her back. exposing freckles that resembled the stars in the Southern sky, unobscured by city lights. “unnatural”

her eyes as golden as the sunset over the rolling hills, the same hills that carried the cows home. her skin as soft as the petal of a magnolia flower, the same petals whose fall signified summer’s birth. “unnatural”

white cotton bedsheets, porcelain faces of religious figures collecting dust on shelves, the soft scent of warm biscuits in the morning partnered with the sweet smell of peach slices at night.

“unnatural”

young naivety that allowed for such passions, the soft caress of fingertips along arms, stolen kisses finding their way to the forehead wrinkles, two hands intertwined under tables, away from those who found it unnatural.

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Emily Hamer

Playlist

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Issue N°1

More to Explore

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Emily Hamer Refrences

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