Real Queer America

LGBT Stories from Red States

By: Samantha Allen

Narrated by: Samantha Allen

LAMBDA LITERARY AWARD FINALIST
A transgender reporter's "powerful, profoundly moving" narrative tour through the surprisingly vibrant queer communities sprouting up in red states (New York Times Book Review), offering a vision of a stronger, more humane America.
Ten years ago, Samantha Allen was a suit-and-tie-wearing Mormon missionary. Now she's a GLAAD Award-winning journalist 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.

Critic reviews

"Real Queer America is a book necessary for anyone in -- or allied with -- the queer community, especially those of us who see the bad news day after day. [Allen is] sharing the beauty of the spaces that LGBTQ+ people have carved out for themselves, and she's giving credit where credit is very much overdue, because it's the queer folk who live and stay in red states -- whether by choice or due to a lack of options -- who have to survive there and work to make them better."—Los Angeles Times

"Samantha Allen's America is filled with buoyant queer people in supposedly red states living their lives with resilience and joy. This moving journey starts out in Utah--but Allen's road ultimately takes the reader to the center of her heart. Surprising, inspiring, and thoughtful."—Jennifer Finney Boylan, author of SHE'S NOT THERE and LONG BLACK VEIL

"A powerful book of memoir and reportage...It is difficult to capture universality in a way that also celebrates uniqueness. Allen does so through the diversity of the individual stories she uplifts, giving any reader an entry point into LGBTQ lives... [She writes] with a vulnerability and humility as approachable and accessible as it is profoundly moving."—New York Times Book Review

"It's kind of like a trans Travels with Charley in Search of America, but without Steinbeck's lightly misogynist depictions of women and meandering, stream of consciousness. As Samantha Allen travels across the country's reddest states and perhaps the most unsafe for queer people, she unearths a humanity that the midwest and south are rarely afforded. Queer people exist everywhere, not just cities, and this book is a fierce testament to that."—Out Magazine

"Allen argues that queerness thrives everywhere, perhaps even more so in states like Indiana, Texas, and Tennessee, precisely because there's still so much advocacy work to do. Allen's openness about her personal story--including growing up Mormon, living an angst-filled double life in Provo, coming out as transgendered, meeting her wife in an elevator at the Kinsey Institute, and undergoing surgery to get a vagina--invites respect. She writes with loving curiosity about other people in the LGBTQ community and blends this with national-level reporting on political and historical LGBTQ issues."—Booklist (Starred Review)

"I love Samantha Allen! Her voice is an essential part of the movement and a new brand of queer hero for these dark times. In the face of the alt-right and crypto fascists, I say- Queeros Assemble!"—Lilly Wachowski, co-writer andco-director of The Matrix trilogy and co-creator ofthe GLAAD Award winning Netflix series Sense8

Exceptional!

Satisfying curiosities you didn't know you had about diverse people you want to know by the end of the story. Samantha is an incredible storyteller, nourishing the senses throughout and make you ache for the foods, smells and sights enough to consider moving to a red state. I hope Samantha writes more books like this one.

Shout-out to a queer hero for an excellent job!

The narrative of life as queer people know it is much different than what is reflected in a very small slice of lgbtq+ friendly national outlets and by a who's-who list of prominent people under the broad, inclusive and expansive queer umbrella. Queer life in the heartland is much more fulfilling and diverse than what it is depicted to be. Of course there are major challenges and everyday threats to our very existence and to the safety of our community but that does not mean that a conclusion to arise from that fact should be to pack up shop and leave town for metropoli where queer life can become uninspiring, people can become jaded and the very real connections that makes our relationships prosper at a deeper level can become flimsy threads. This book is an eye-opener for everyone who does not know enough about the queerness of red america. Humanity of people trumps indecency of everyday brinksmanship that we see from depraved politicians and anyone who has both the courage and the time to invest in real relationships with actual people will open up their heart and dispel any seed of prejudice and bias which basically is the result lack of information and connectedness. Terrific stories and inspired narration!

So good!!

I loved this book! It's well written and thoughtful representation of the closeness of queer communities made me proud to be part of my own red state queer world ❤️

Informative

Books like these can be hard for me to review. It's a quick dive into various cities across the country. I prefer books that take a deeper dive in general, but I knew what this was going into it.

It is presented as a part memoir/part travel log. In general, I thought this was well done. I think there were a lot of insightful comments throughout. A fascinating project.

Critical Commentary On Life Outside the Coasts

One thing I’ve always noticed growing up in the Midwest is how little my experience is reflected in the national media. Samantha Allen does an excellent job exploring the different facets of a full LGBTQ+ experience in America, in what can only be her voice. You have not read or listened to a book like this before and history will thank her for writing it.