By Trey Cole

Queer people need space. They need space to live, thrive, and build. Queer communities need room to settle and grow, as traditionally queer people are marginalized and targeted for persecution.

This can be seen in the last century with the queer activism of the Stonewall riots and in the current day with the federal government’s rhetoric attacking the transgender community. Queer people and the communities they make need places away from the attacks and harassment.

Enter Louisville.

Louisville is an old city, dating back to the 18th century, with ties back to the days of French colonialism. Louisville is also a new city, growing every day with new residents from all around the country and the world, forming a unique metropolitan culture.

The city is a melting pot of the new and the old. The queer community is a large part of the city’s overall culture. Anyone can look at how places like the gay bar, Play Louisville, are getting more and more popular to see this.

Pheoby Hazel, who arrived in the city from the less queer-friendly Southern United States, says Louisville has been very welcoming.

“I have been scared to be myself, my authentic self, in other places. Louisville has been different. It has a lot of cool and nice progressive parts,” Hazel said.

The United States prides itself on being a place of true liberty; it is often seen as the guiding light of the nation and has led many to its shores. People idealize American liberty as true freedom backed by moral justice to keep everything.

The real America falls short of this perfect form, and by extension, Louisville does as well.

In the last decade, the hidden inequality has been made bare. The Breonna Taylor protests in Summer 2020 and the Black Lives Matter movement upsurge in the
same year showed this.

BLM’s rise is distinct from the LGBTQIA+ community’s affairs but intertwined. Marginalization is widespread, and affected people are comrades in a shared struggle.

Sebastian Porter, a resident of Indiana close to the Louisville metro area, thinks the city has a lot of room for improvement.

“I love the community that is in and around Louisville, like the drag scene, but the place has problems,” he said. “There is a lot of conservatism that hides around and then pops out in bad ways.”

Louisville is a complicated city. The United States is a complicated nation.

As U of L students navigate this city, they should stay aware of the complex place they live. They need to know how multifaceted it is. Most importantly, they need to be conscious of its successes and its failures.

File photo / The Louisville Cardinal