Finding Your Queer Family in Small-Town Texas: Is It Even Possible?
Have you ever felt like the only rainbow fish swimming in a vast, homogeneous pond? That was me, three years ago, when I first moved to Sherman for work.
My Sherman Story
Picture this: a twenty-something nonbinary person with blue hair and pronoun pins walking into a local diner off Highway 75. The silence was deafening. I smiled nervously, ordered my coffee, and wondered if I'd made a terrible mistake. But then the server winked and whispered, "Welcome to town. We have a little get-together on Thursdays at the bookstore if you're interested."
The Small-Town Queer Struggle
Finding community here isn't like Austin or Dallas where you have:
- Visible LGBTQ+ spaces and events
- Dating apps actually populated with local folks
- The safety of anonymity in larger crowds
Instead, we face the challenge of visibility in spaces where everyone knows everyone, and the fear of rejection from a community you can't easily escape.
Creating Space Where None Exists
What I've learned is that queer community in small towns isn't found—it's built:
- Start small: Find one ally, then another
- Utilize online spaces to connect locally
- Create the events you wish existed
- Partner with libraries and inclusive churches
You Are Not Alone Here
The beauty of small-town queerness is the depth of connections. When I finally found my people here, they became family in ways my big-city friends never quite managed. Our shared experiences of navigating this space bind us together with unbreakable threads.
What's your Sherman story? Have you found your people yet? Share below and let's keep building this community, one connection at a time.