Interview with Burley Brent Thomas, May 12, 2011
Project: Queer Appalachia Oral History Project
Interview Summary
In this interview, Burley Thomas talks about growing up in Harlan County, Kentucky and the various places he lived after being kicked out by his mother. He talks about how he formed his identity as a queer man while growing up in Appalachia through things like kissing boys, phone sex lines, and sexual experimentation. He discusses peoples' opinions of homosexuality in Harlan County, the terms they use for queer people, and where they may get the ideas that they have. He describes a local man who was openly gay and discusses why he may have been tolerated by the community.Thomas discusses the effects of the lack of gay representation in media on forming a gay identity and why many gay men from rural areas often imitate women when they come out. He talks about the fantasy of leaving rural areas for somewhere more safe and how Harlan County would need to change before he would return.
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Interviews may be reproduced with permission from Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History, Special Collections, University of Kentucky Libraries.
All rights to the interviews, including but not restricted to legal title, copyrights and literary property rights, have been transferred to the University of Kentucky Libraries.
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Thomas, Burley Brent Interview by Zachary Clark Pence. 12 May. 2011. Lexington, KY: Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History, University of Kentucky Libraries.
Thomas, B.B. (2011, May 12). Interview by Z. C. Pence. Queer Appalachia Oral History Project. Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History, University of Kentucky Libraries, Lexington.
Thomas, Burley Brent, interview by Zachary Clark Pence. May 12, 2011, Queer Appalachia Oral History Project, Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History, University of Kentucky Libraries.
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