Mary L Gray's Epilogue to her book Out in the Country discusses two things: the vote on Amendment 2 in 2004 to Kentucky's ban on same-sex marriage and what happened to the youth she worked with during her research.
She makes a valid point when she discusses the amendment that passed and banned same-sex marriages in Kentucky, as it has in many states. Often, exit surveys show that voting yes to this amendment has little, if anything, to do with people "hating" or disliking gays or lesbians and more to do with money (surprise, surprise)! Rural citizens in particular often have no access to the most basic of social or medical services, like health care. So when people begin to discuss same-sex marriages that would offer benefits that are normally only available to married people, rural folk, and others, begin to get defensive. As Gray notes, "rural voters who reject recognition of LGBT rights telegraph their own feelings of economic vulnerability, lack of access to social-welfare benefits, and reliance on the material more than symbolic preciousness of marriage to span the gaps in a woefully threadbare social safety net" (3559-3576). When looked at in this light, it begins to make sense as to why these amendments are continually voted into states' constitutions.
The rural youth that Gray spoke with concerning marriage noted that they wanted to have the chance to get married, but they did not seem to care whether or not these marriages would be seen as legal. I would attribute this attitude to their youth, but Gray does not comment on it.
As for what happened to those Gray followed in her research, most have moved on. The Boyd County High Gay-Straight Alliance became defunct once those who began it graduated. The one responsible, in large part, for the Highland Pride Alliance also moved on, and when I attempted a google search, no website was found by that name. Again, I would think that all of these changes are just a product of youth growing and investing their time and energy into different things.
Gray ends her text with many questions for where this research might go from here, such as "what place will young women and trans rural youth find in this field of identity?" (3624-3639). But the story does not end here, and there will be one more post before we call this book quits.
She makes a valid point when she discusses the amendment that passed and banned same-sex marriages in Kentucky, as it has in many states. Often, exit surveys show that voting yes to this amendment has little, if anything, to do with people "hating" or disliking gays or lesbians and more to do with money (surprise, surprise)! Rural citizens in particular often have no access to the most basic of social or medical services, like health care. So when people begin to discuss same-sex marriages that would offer benefits that are normally only available to married people, rural folk, and others, begin to get defensive. As Gray notes, "rural voters who reject recognition of LGBT rights telegraph their own feelings of economic vulnerability, lack of access to social-welfare benefits, and reliance on the material more than symbolic preciousness of marriage to span the gaps in a woefully threadbare social safety net" (3559-3576). When looked at in this light, it begins to make sense as to why these amendments are continually voted into states' constitutions.
The rural youth that Gray spoke with concerning marriage noted that they wanted to have the chance to get married, but they did not seem to care whether or not these marriages would be seen as legal. I would attribute this attitude to their youth, but Gray does not comment on it.
As for what happened to those Gray followed in her research, most have moved on. The Boyd County High Gay-Straight Alliance became defunct once those who began it graduated. The one responsible, in large part, for the Highland Pride Alliance also moved on, and when I attempted a google search, no website was found by that name. Again, I would think that all of these changes are just a product of youth growing and investing their time and energy into different things.
Gray ends her text with many questions for where this research might go from here, such as "what place will young women and trans rural youth find in this field of identity?" (3624-3639). But the story does not end here, and there will be one more post before we call this book quits.
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