Knoxville’s Unique Community

Recently I was asked to write about what makes Knoxville’s gay community unique. After thinking on this for weeks, I have no conclusive answer. I believe that Knoxville has a great gay/ lesbian (bisexual/ transgender) community but I am not certain what sets us apart from other communities across the country.

Here’s what I do know: Knoxville’s gay community is much, much larger than you might imagine. It seems to many that the gay community here is small and incapable of turning out a crowd at various events. Though the gay pride festival turned out a surprising number of people, on a daily basis, there just don’t seem to be that many of us. The reason for that, in my opinion, is that we are not all working together. We are not a cohesive group.

I have often heard folks question the notion of a “gay community” all together. What do we have in common? A queer sexual identity. That’s pretty much it. Or is it? Some would argue that there is a shared history, a shared language. Others would say that is total bull.

Whatever our similarities, our differences, the Knoxville gay community is most definitely splintered. In experiences in and around Knoxville, I have been introduced to literally dozens of subcategories of queer folks. There are the gays with money (and real estate and, in turn, power); the religious gays; the gays you only see in the clubs and online; the politicos who work with civil rights organizations and voting registrations/ events; the queer people of color; the Lambda kids at UT; the transgendered folks.

In the years that Knoxville was without a Pride festival, I was asked why we didn’t have one. The only reason that I could figure is that we couldn’t decide who would be in charge or who would get the credit. And I am just as guilty as the next person for thinking (and maybe saying), “I’m not going participating if __________ is in charge.”

Whatever, I’m so over that. And I guess that some of you are too. Hence we had a good Pride festival this year. And hopefully we can grow to love (or at least tolerate) one another. Who knows how powerful we could be if we worked together?