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Greenville

Spectrum South Snapshot #3: Shane Farmer

Posted on January 15, 2018
A photo of queer South Carolinian Shane Farmer

I think most people would look at me and believe that I am a plain boring boy next door. I identify as a white, gay, cisgender male. However, I find that my skin features sometimes throw a lot of people off—my darker complexion and other characteristics cause many people to mistake me for Hispanic/Latin (I’ve literally been asked if I’m “like white white”). I grew up in a working-class family where my mom dropped out of high school to take…

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Queer Southern Staples: Where Did All The LGBTQ Bookstores Go?

Posted on October 31, 2017
A photo of LGBTQ bookstores.

For a brief time beginning in the 1970s and stretching up to the 2000s, a new species of community institution sprinkled the southern landscape—the LGBTQ bookstore. Once prolific, these stores are now endangered. While LGBTQ visibility and community participation has expanded exponentially, economic changes have forced nearly all small bookstores to either close or shift their retail focus. Yet a few determined LGBTQ and feminist bookstores—from the funky Faubourg Marigny Art and Books in New Orleans to feminist stalwarts such…

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Love is Love is Love: Producing Queer Theatre in the Deep South

Posted on October 9, 2017
A photo from Glow Lyric Theatre's production of Love is Love is Love

I booked a venue for the evening of Valentine’s Day, and asked 10 LGBTQ singers, actors, dancers, poets, and artists from the community to help me jump-start the project. We all gathered together. Unsure of how to start, I asked everyone what message they wanted the piece to convey. At this question, the room bubbled over with stories of young love, first times, heartbreak, and the loss of love. Their vulnerability reminded me that the feelings and situations surrounding love…

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