so today I want to talk to you about two
things that are currently at risk in our
country one is LGBTQ youth and the
America other one is the American small
town now
not only do you think LGBTQ community
and rural America typically they’re at
odds politically they would rarely align
as allies but I believe that by working
together and engaging and embracing one
another they can actually help save each
other and not only make each other
survive but thrive LGBTQ youth are four
times more likely to commit suicide than
their peers social stigma often they’re
being bullied rejection of being kicked
out of their house from their parents
from their families from their entire
support systems these are just some of
the reasons that causes for hrithik
statistic likewise the American small
town has seen a 59% population decrease
as Americans move into larger cities
eight and ten Americans now live in
metropolitan areas and the people that
are staying in small towns they’re aging
Millennials are moving away seeking jobs
diverse environments creative economies
and in the wake guess what they’re
leaving behind depressed economies high
unemployment a bleak outlook in that
some small towns you can even lead to an
opioid crisis according to The Wall
Street Journal small-town America is so
ravaged by drugs
unemployment and hopelessness that the
journal is actually called rural America
the new inner city and guess who by the
way has a long and proven track record
of revitalizing revamping run-down and
often forgotten inner-city
yep the LGBTQ community Gator for
patient has been raising property values
bringing in businesses creating jobs and
sneaky economic development in
inner-city neighborhoods for decades not
only is a big property’s values rise the
diversity is good for economic growth
Gaber hoods as they are often called has
helped revise parts of New York Chicago
Boston Washington DC and let’s not
forget about the tourist towns Asbury
Park right down the road from here or
what about Miami Fort Lauderdale
Key West so much so that a leading
economic development Florida said that
gays and lesbians are actually the
Canaries to the creative economy and in
two SEC’s 2017 according to the real
estate website truly up people paid 37%
more to live in neighborhoods that have
had a higher share of LGBTQ residents so
again this has been proven that this is
working and not only got some hot tech
hotspots and hubs also follow the
neighborhoods and let’s not forget it
says sure sign the jennife ocation
overall is not far behind so if it’s
working and some of the most rundown
neighborhoods in our cities I couldn’t
work in some America small towns now I
know what I’m saying they sound like
and it could never work especially since
I’ve grown up in a small Christian
conservative rural town in Kansas I
graduated with 16 kids in my high school
class the same eight girls and equally
since kindergarten
there was zero diversity so much so that
my white Protestant family sometimes
felt like outsiders because our lineage
didn’t go back to 300 years like
everybody else in the town and then I
started to figure out my sexuality and
then I realized not only was a outsider
but it’s every other people in that town
knew I would also become an outcast of
course those are 1980s times have
changed America’s evolved LGBTQ rights
have come a long way but I still know in
certain small towns there’s the fear of
the other and the fear of being
different and has a main reason wonder
becoming extinct for me growing up LGBTQ
in a place where the f-word was
president where smear the queer maybe it
was just a game when I knew the
underlying context where whispers were
heard loudly if the female was too
masculine or male was too feminine and
God forbid if you were over the age of
30 and not married because then the
rumor really started now I felt tight to
my secret knowing and fearing that
everybody I knew and loved in my entire
world would end up hating me so much so
I began eating myself and that
internalized homophobia and often
isolationism mr. billete ting but they
also knew that it takes a village
to raise a child and I didn’t want to
let down that village that raised me and
sometimes it caused excruciating pain so
if you’re in one of those towns what can
you do what can you do to be more
tolerating accepting and also not just
in tolerate accepting engaging and
activating for different populations
that are diverse and different than
yours I think one place to start
is where the division often begins these
organizations if you have affirming
churches that welcome everyone to
worship and believe that we are all
God’s children and should be create so
be treated as such then you’re creating
an environment of exclusivity and
diversity in any community and often
churches are the bones of small towns if
you can get them on board sending a
welcome message that you’re willing to
take a culture shift and be more
inclusive and invite that diversity in
another study came out that actually
pulled people that lived in rural areas
that identified as LGBTQ one of the
things excited as a top concern was
safety so if you’re not focused on being
serious about safety and that includes
legal protection then you’re not serious
about diversity currently in the u.s.
you can still be fired in 28 states for
being LGBTQ and many of those states
don’t offer housing protection either
but if you are a small town in one of
those states there’s something you can
do about it
you can pass city ordinances to protect
your citizens take Bay st. Louis
Mississippi for example Mississippi has
some of the harshest anti-lgbt laws in
the country they just passed a religious
freedom
that basically makes it legal to
discriminate for religious reasons the
Bay st. Louis a town around 10,000
people made up of fishermen shrimpers
farmers and every kind of occupation in
between and of every race and every
religion got together in pass the city
ordinance and said not in my town they
made sure that it was illegal to
discriminate based on sexual orientation
they didn’t just pay lip service to say
300 versity we want a diverse place they
actually passed a law to make sure it
happened along those same lines you need
to look at your small businesses in your
town
do they have their hiring practices are
they not really just a little btq
friendly but are they friendly towards
all minorities you have to make sure
that your employment laws don’t
discriminate and the small town small
business wants to come into your town or
a small business wants to be created the
same standards and merits need to apply
again demonstrating that you understand
the value of bringing in outsiders that
can help revitalize your small town
schools also a very key component of
making sure that you have an inclusive
environment schools need to be a safe
place where people are learning the
reasons behind wanting a divisive
diverse population the reasons the high
believing in equality for all a good
place to start is a gay lesbian
education straight network it teaches
the value of everyone working together
it also teaches
generations of people in your town not
just appreciate diversity but to
celebrate it because ultimately you can
be something that saves your town I also
look at local politics your school
boards your city councils your law were
Spaniards the ones that are making the
laws and also the ones that are
enforcing the laws they have to have
diverse representation again being LGBTQ
friendly and for our purposes of our top
today we’re specifically talking about
LGBTQ we mean open to all and that means
every minority because that’s what’s
gonna save the town I believe that it
can also stop the brain drain and what
the brain drain is is that you’re losing
some of your best youngest and brightest
talented people because they want to be
in diverse environments they want
diversity commodities they want to have
a creative economy class and culture for
me I love growing up in that small town
I loved my small-town values being a
good neighbor
having hometown pride understanding that
that when you look hard work but I
believe those values can coexist in a
diverse population in a community that
celebrates those differences and doesn’t
hear them if small towns do not make
that culture shift they will not be able
to retain their young professionals they
will not be able to mix up their economy
they will not be able to offer diversity
that many people crave and they will
stay at an increased risk of dying and
if the LGBTQ community in rural America
is not embraced supported and welcomed
they too will also stay at an increased
risk of dying
I believe these unlikely allies can come
together to save each other and I also
think that tiny shift and viewing a
human a little bit differently it may be
different in your town has for years and
generations and your forefathers before
can not only save a town but it can save
lives thank you [Applause]
things that are currently at risk in our
country one is LGBTQ youth and the
America other one is the American small
town now
not only do you think LGBTQ community
and rural America typically they’re at
odds politically they would rarely align
as allies but I believe that by working
together and engaging and embracing one
another they can actually help save each
other and not only make each other
survive but thrive LGBTQ youth are four
times more likely to commit suicide than
their peers social stigma often they’re
being bullied rejection of being kicked
out of their house from their parents
from their families from their entire
support systems these are just some of
the reasons that causes for hrithik
statistic likewise the American small
town has seen a 59% population decrease
as Americans move into larger cities
eight and ten Americans now live in
metropolitan areas and the people that
are staying in small towns they’re aging
Millennials are moving away seeking jobs
diverse environments creative economies
and in the wake guess what they’re
leaving behind depressed economies high
unemployment a bleak outlook in that
some small towns you can even lead to an
opioid crisis according to The Wall
Street Journal small-town America is so
ravaged by drugs
unemployment and hopelessness that the
journal is actually called rural America
the new inner city and guess who by the
way has a long and proven track record
of revitalizing revamping run-down and
often forgotten inner-city
yep the LGBTQ community Gator for
patient has been raising property values
bringing in businesses creating jobs and
sneaky economic development in
inner-city neighborhoods for decades not
only is a big property’s values rise the
diversity is good for economic growth
Gaber hoods as they are often called has
helped revise parts of New York Chicago
Boston Washington DC and let’s not
forget about the tourist towns Asbury
Park right down the road from here or
what about Miami Fort Lauderdale
Key West so much so that a leading
economic development Florida said that
gays and lesbians are actually the
Canaries to the creative economy and in
two SEC’s 2017 according to the real
estate website truly up people paid 37%
more to live in neighborhoods that have
had a higher share of LGBTQ residents so
again this has been proven that this is
working and not only got some hot tech
hotspots and hubs also follow the
neighborhoods and let’s not forget it
says sure sign the jennife ocation
overall is not far behind so if it’s
working and some of the most rundown
neighborhoods in our cities I couldn’t
work in some America small towns now I
know what I’m saying they sound like
and it could never work especially since
I’ve grown up in a small Christian
conservative rural town in Kansas I
graduated with 16 kids in my high school
class the same eight girls and equally
since kindergarten
there was zero diversity so much so that
my white Protestant family sometimes
felt like outsiders because our lineage
didn’t go back to 300 years like
everybody else in the town and then I
started to figure out my sexuality and
then I realized not only was a outsider
but it’s every other people in that town
knew I would also become an outcast of
course those are 1980s times have
changed America’s evolved LGBTQ rights
have come a long way but I still know in
certain small towns there’s the fear of
the other and the fear of being
different and has a main reason wonder
becoming extinct for me growing up LGBTQ
in a place where the f-word was
president where smear the queer maybe it
was just a game when I knew the
underlying context where whispers were
heard loudly if the female was too
masculine or male was too feminine and
God forbid if you were over the age of
30 and not married because then the
rumor really started now I felt tight to
my secret knowing and fearing that
everybody I knew and loved in my entire
world would end up hating me so much so
I began eating myself and that
internalized homophobia and often
isolationism mr. billete ting but they
also knew that it takes a village
to raise a child and I didn’t want to
let down that village that raised me and
sometimes it caused excruciating pain so
if you’re in one of those towns what can
you do what can you do to be more
tolerating accepting and also not just
in tolerate accepting engaging and
activating for different populations
that are diverse and different than
yours I think one place to start
is where the division often begins these
organizations if you have affirming
churches that welcome everyone to
worship and believe that we are all
God’s children and should be create so
be treated as such then you’re creating
an environment of exclusivity and
diversity in any community and often
churches are the bones of small towns if
you can get them on board sending a
welcome message that you’re willing to
take a culture shift and be more
inclusive and invite that diversity in
another study came out that actually
pulled people that lived in rural areas
that identified as LGBTQ one of the
things excited as a top concern was
safety so if you’re not focused on being
serious about safety and that includes
legal protection then you’re not serious
about diversity currently in the u.s.
you can still be fired in 28 states for
being LGBTQ and many of those states
don’t offer housing protection either
but if you are a small town in one of
those states there’s something you can
do about it
you can pass city ordinances to protect
your citizens take Bay st. Louis
Mississippi for example Mississippi has
some of the harshest anti-lgbt laws in
the country they just passed a religious
freedom
that basically makes it legal to
discriminate for religious reasons the
Bay st. Louis a town around 10,000
people made up of fishermen shrimpers
farmers and every kind of occupation in
between and of every race and every
religion got together in pass the city
ordinance and said not in my town they
made sure that it was illegal to
discriminate based on sexual orientation
they didn’t just pay lip service to say
300 versity we want a diverse place they
actually passed a law to make sure it
happened along those same lines you need
to look at your small businesses in your
town
do they have their hiring practices are
they not really just a little btq
friendly but are they friendly towards
all minorities you have to make sure
that your employment laws don’t
discriminate and the small town small
business wants to come into your town or
a small business wants to be created the
same standards and merits need to apply
again demonstrating that you understand
the value of bringing in outsiders that
can help revitalize your small town
schools also a very key component of
making sure that you have an inclusive
environment schools need to be a safe
place where people are learning the
reasons behind wanting a divisive
diverse population the reasons the high
believing in equality for all a good
place to start is a gay lesbian
education straight network it teaches
the value of everyone working together
it also teaches
generations of people in your town not
just appreciate diversity but to
celebrate it because ultimately you can
be something that saves your town I also
look at local politics your school
boards your city councils your law were
Spaniards the ones that are making the
laws and also the ones that are
enforcing the laws they have to have
diverse representation again being LGBTQ
friendly and for our purposes of our top
today we’re specifically talking about
LGBTQ we mean open to all and that means
every minority because that’s what’s
gonna save the town I believe that it
can also stop the brain drain and what
the brain drain is is that you’re losing
some of your best youngest and brightest
talented people because they want to be
in diverse environments they want
diversity commodities they want to have
a creative economy class and culture for
me I love growing up in that small town
I loved my small-town values being a
good neighbor
having hometown pride understanding that
that when you look hard work but I
believe those values can coexist in a
diverse population in a community that
celebrates those differences and doesn’t
hear them if small towns do not make
that culture shift they will not be able
to retain their young professionals they
will not be able to mix up their economy
they will not be able to offer diversity
that many people crave and they will
stay at an increased risk of dying and
if the LGBTQ community in rural America
is not embraced supported and welcomed
they too will also stay at an increased
risk of dying
I believe these unlikely allies can come
together to save each other and I also
think that tiny shift and viewing a
human a little bit differently it may be
different in your town has for years and
generations and your forefathers before
can not only save a town but it can save
lives thank you [Applause]
Please follow and like us: