Small-Town Gays
A Messy Meditation for Midweek
I receive a lot of DMs from gay men who share with me the loneliness and frustration they feel for living in a small town away from the normal resources for connection with other members of our tribe. Yesterday, in response, I sent one of these men a reel from a gay therapist I follow on Instagram that outlined ways to get connected: LGBTQ+ sports leagues, board game nights, volunteering opportunities, and the local gay men’s chorus. He immediately wrote back that he was in a small, rural town and didn’t have access to any of those options. I urged him to watch the therapist’s video all the way to the end, where he said he’d make a second video for gay men in small and more remote communities. “Keep an eye out for that. That’s why I sent it,” I said.
I’ll be interested to see what the therapist has to suggest for men like him, who experience incredible isolation and disconnectedness. As we near the beginning of Pride Month, I’m sure that the High Homo Holidays don’t spark nearly as much excitement for men like him as it does for gay men in the big cities.
