Rural Trans Livelihood in West Virginia

• In Event: Out-Rooted and Rural: Research at the Intersection of Rural Education and Queer Identities

Abstract

Objective
Rural transgender and nonbinary youth in West Virginia can experience fear and exclusion in religious and politically conservative communities, turning to online spaces for information, affirmation, and belongingness. The purpose of this critical narrative research is to understand how postsecondary rural trans students traverse the increasingly blurred lines between spatial and online environments.

Theoretical framework
The study simultaneously uses critical trans theory and critical race theory as two pillars to support and understand the experiences of rural trans students and how they navigate their place and gender identities.

Methods
Using critical narratives of three West Virginia trans students, this study explores how rural trans students navigate harmful norms of their rural communities in a state where legislators actively engage in transgender erasure. Each participant partook in a series of interviews to develop individual narratives. The narration developed from semi-structured narrative interviews. Semi-structured interviews provided a flexible but guided approach to the interviews that allowed both researcher investigation and participant reflection. Using the semi-structured interview approach allowed the conversation to vary when needed based on individual context and experience. In addition to individual interviews, participants participated in two focus groups that bookended the individual interviews. The purpose of these groups was to promote more authentic discussion and to compare experiences, cultural norms and expectations, and institutional supports. Interview questions explored the experiences of rural trans students across different contexts. Interview questions discussed gender and geographic background, participants’ intersectional identity, perspectives and experiences regarding cultural norms across multiple contexts, and their perspectives on institutional supports.

Data sources
Participants in the study were recruited from a large public four-year higher education institution in West Virginia and its branch campuses. Students were eligible to participate if they came from a West Virginia community and identified as transgender, nonbinary, or identified outside the typical cis-gender social norms.

Results and substantiated conclusions
Narratives suggest that negative home contexts and experiences create mistrust, pain, and fear, compelling trans students to mask gender identities even into college. Negative experiences at home lead youth to turn to online resources as they socially distance themselves from peers in physical proximity, creating complex feelings of affirmation and danger. The online “community in isolation” that trans youth often turn to, can be both the key to providing access to support/information, yet also be the very experience that creates more confusion and dangers. The vulnerability of the LGBTQIA+ community makes the dangers of online communities more concerning. While access to information, community, and informational resources can support LGBTQIA+ youth, it can also lead them to unsafe and unsupervised spaces where they could be targeted and bullied.

Scientific and scholarly significance
There is a small, but growing, pool of research that focuses on sharing trans youth experiences: this pool gets smaller when considering the intersection of place and gender. This work advocates for rural-serving educational institutions to serve as spaces for affirmation, support, community, and advocacy.

Authors

• Jessie O'Quinn, Potomac State College

• Erin McHenry-Sorber, West Virginia University