FORGING THEIR OWN WAY: Queer Visibility, Identity Politics, and Cultural Change On Minnesota’s Iron Range A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF THE UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA BY Andria Jean Strano IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Advisors: Kathleen E. Hull Rachel A. Schurman December 2016 © Andria Jean Strano 2016 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS AND DEDICATION First and foremost, thank you to all of the amazing people who were willing to share their souls, experiences, and fears with me. Without your trust and honesty, this project would not be what it is. Through our conversations and experiences, I learned so much about both the Iron Range and myself. Projects like this are the culmination of many efforts and I have been most fortunate to work directly with phenomenal scholars at the University of Minnesota who provided friendship, inspiration, and constructive support. The sincerest thank you to my committee: Drs. Kathy Hull, Rachel Schurman, Ron Aminzade, Teresa Gowan, and Zenzele Isoke – I was extremely privileged to have had the opportunity to learn from you. From the very beginning, your excitement about my topic served as fuel that both helped me start off strong as well as continue pressing on during the multiple rounds of edits. Kathy and Rachel – I have greatly appreciated the ways you have challenged both this project and me as co-advisors. I have treasured your advice about life and guidance in crafting this project into what it is today. Thank you for reading multiple versions of this lengthy document and providing such helpful feedback. Ron and Teresa – some of the most inspiring and productive conversations I had were during meetings in your offices and homes. Zenzele – you have provided invaluable guidance and insight as an outside committee member. Thank you for the many hours you spent guiding my project. I will forever appreciate your collective support and assistance in finding a clear analytical voice and better understanding the role of activism through intellectual pursuit. Drs. Cawo Abdi and Penny Edgell – I am extremely appreciative of the time you i spent sharing insights regarding sociology, feminism, academia, and life. Penny, your insights into cultural sociology pushed this project in productive ways. Kathy and Penny, thank you for the working group you hosted – the feedback I received from the group was priceless. Cawo, your encouragement and writing tips were very appreciated. Drs. Vania Brightman, Erika Busse, Maureen Clark, Danielle Docka, Kyle Green, Meg Krausch, Rachael Kulick, June Msechu, and Sarah Whetstone – thank you. In your own ways, you helped me keep my head on straight, feet steady, and eyes forward during graduate school. You still inspire me daily. Meg and Sarah – thank you also for your feedback on Chapter 4, specifically. Additionally, Drs. Diane Maluso, Martha Easton, and Andrea Rosati – you collectively challenged me in so many ways as an undergraduate. This document wouldn’t exist without your support. The time I spent learning with and from you are some of my most cherished memories. I am eternally grateful to my wife, CJ Strano, for the seemingly endless support you have provided during this project. Thank you for being my tireless editor and sounding board. You have kept me sane, inspired, fed, and productive during this challenging process and many life changes. I am also incredibly thankful for the generous and invaluable funding provided by the Richard and Beverly Fink Fellowship and the University of Minnesota’s Department of Sociology. Lastly, but certainty not least, thank you to my current colleagues for providing an intellectually engaging atmosphere and for your steadfast encouragement. This is dedicated to my mother, Gerianne Stawarski, who taught me the importance of education, hard work, and tenacity. ii ABSTRACT This is a study of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people on Northern Minnesota’s Iron Range. Minnesota’s important history of LGBT rights activism extends into contemporary times. The Iron Range is notable for many reasons, including strong Nordic influences, geographical remoteness, and historical extractive mining and logging economies. I utilized ethnographic fieldwork, participant observation, and semi-structured life history interviews. In total, I spent thousands of hours of fieldwork and interacted with over 100 people in the Iron Range’s LGBT and ally communities. I conducted 30 formal interviews with participants aged 19-78 years old. This dissertation argues that positive and restrictive regional norms and narratives impact LGBT Rangers’ understandings of self, as well as collective LGBT identities and communities in specific ways that, in turn, construct regionally-specific sociocultural modes of strategically navigating their lives, relational power dynamics, and affiliations with others. I make three important contributions to existing sociological and interdisciplinary scholarship on gender and sexuality, identity and community development, and place. First, challenging scholarship limited by a static understanding of the relationship between heteronormativity, sexuality, and gender, I illuminate how different cultural discourses and blurred regional gender norms create flexible, socially-condoned gender expressions and (mis)readings of these performances. Additionally, Iron Range culture creates the possibility of valued masculinity in both heterosexual and non- heterosexual women and strategic maneuvering within the hegemonic gender order. Second, through my introduction of the glass closet, I provide rich empirical examples demonstrating how iii the combination of place-based norms and narratives (i.e. strong personal boundaries, heteronormative assumptions, and desire for conflict avoidance), as well as presumed heterosexuality enables strategic and sagacious maneuvering. I illustrate highly nuanced visibility politics and how same-sex desires and behaviors are not recognized (or are misrecognized) due to place-specific factors. Finally, I introduce the disidentified sexual identity culture, complicating discussions about motivations for and possibilities of assimilation within contemporary society. I demonstrate how rural LGBT people strategically and pragmatically balance community-based and sexual identities; actively (symbolically and physically) distance themselves from other LGBT people; and utilize silencing to their advantage. Keywords: Rural, LGBT, allies, gender, sexuality, female masculinity, closet, visibility, identity iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Acknowledgements And Dedication i Abstract iii List Of Tables vii List Of Figures viii 1: INTRODUCTION 1 A Socially Constructed Battle: Queer Theory versus Sociology 16 Constructing, Performing, Living, And Regulating Gender And Sexuality 27 Theorizing Place and Making Space for Rural Queerness 41 Assumptions Regarding Rural Places and Myths about Rural LGBT People 48 Minnesota’s Importance in LGBT History 56 2: METHODOLOGY 64 Mixed Method Approach 68 Ethnographic Fieldwork and Participant Observation 70 Life History Interviews 73 Ethical Considerations 75 A Few Notes on the Data and My Analysis 78 3: THE RANGE MENTALITY, PAPER PITCHFORKS, AND GLASS CLOSETS: PROTECTIVE AND RESTRICTIVE REGIONAL NORMS AND NARRATIVES 81 Be Nice and Avoid Conflict 83 Print It Like You Mean It 92 The Range Mentality and Other Place Narratives 95 A Mix of Underground/Unsafe and Out/Welcome: Competing Narratives 100 It’s Impolite To Ask: The Glass Closet Created By Regional Culture 104 People Are Queerer When They Are Strangers: Protective Regional Narratives 109 Resisting Urban Migration Narratives: Why Rangers Stay and Return 116 Conclusion 120 4: COMPETING SEXUAL IDENTITY CULTURES AND VISIBILITY POLITICS 122 It’s Different Being Queer Here: Identity Politics and Nuanced Rural LGBT Scripts 127 Underground is Our Normal: East Range’s Disidentified Sexual Identity Culture 141 Rainbow Flags And Antiquing: West Range’s Identity and Integrationist Mix 149 Impact of Varying Family Responses and Increasing Support 154 If You Don’t Know, You Don’t Need To: Competing Visibility Politics 160 Why Iron Range Sexual Identity Cultures Are Different 163 Conclusion 179 5: DIFFERENTLY GENDERED (DYK)OTOMIES, REGIONAL FEMININITIES, AND VALUED MASCULINITY IN WOMEN 182 Doing Gender and Identity In a Queer Space and Time 186 The (Mis)Reading of “Butch” Within Iron Range Culture 200 Conclusion 208 v 6: RAGING, AMBIVALENT, AND BENEVOLENT ALLIES 209 Promise and Perils of Principle-Based Allies 210 Ally Expectations of Representation, Visibility and Assimilation 231 Conclusion 238 7: CREATING CHANGE - STRATEGIC VISIBILITY AND ALLY CONNECTIONS 241 Shifting the Narrative about LGBT Rangers 242 LGBT Organizing on the Range 246 Names, Logos, and Intended Members 257 Conclusion 265 8: THIS IS DIFFERENT - THE MARRIAGE EQUALITY MOVEMENT 267 Gaining Momentum Via “Conversation Campaigns” 270 City Folks Don’t Understand Who We Are Or What We Need 285 Conclusion 295 9: LOOKING FORWARD: THE RANGE IS CHANGING 297 Project Review and Summary of Findings 297 Broader Sociological and Interdisciplinary Implications 303 Limitations of This Study and Avenues for Future Research 313 REFERENCES 320 APPENDIX A: SEMI-STRUCTURED INTERVIEW GUIDE 342 APPENDIX B: CONSENT FORM 344 APPENDIX C: BREAKDOWN OF STATEWIDE RESOURCE LIST BY AREA 347 vi LIST OF TABLES Table 1: Demographic Factors on the West And East Range 127 Table 2: Perceived Local Diversity and Support From Broader/Lgbt