Queer in Appalachia
17th Annual Queer in Appalachia COMING SOON
Past Guests
Spring 2019
The LGBT Faculty & Staff Caucus Executive Committee is saddened and shocked to hear about the alleged misappropriation of funds by Mamone, who was the featured speaker at the Virginia Tech Queer in Appalachia event in 2019. In no way did we nor the QIA planning team know this was occurring at the time of their presence during QIA 2019. Furthermore, since the Washington Post article published their expose in August 2020, Mamone has been removed from all affiliations with the Queer Appalachia organization and social media accounts. We will continue to advocate for queer and trans* folx living and working in Appalachia and work to ensure that all representatives enlisted by the Caucus represent our mission and values.
The information presented below is for historical record. We believe that is important to keep queer identity in Appalachia as public as possible and feel that removing it would cause further erasure of our historically marginalized group. We wanted to provide the event as it occurred while also being clear about recent events.
Website: queerappalachia.com
Instagram: @queerappalachia
Twitter: @queerappalachia
Facebook: @QueersnAppalachia
The LGBT Caucus of Virginia Tech presents the
14th Annual Queer in Appalachia
featuringMamone of @QueerAppalachia
Tuesday, April 2, 2019
Squires Student Center
290 College Ave.Blacksburg, VA 24061Keynote | 6:30 - 8:00 p.m. | Colonial Hall
A conversation with Mamone, one of the creators behind the Instagram account that's building a queer community of over 150,000 online and expanding representation of queer people in Appalachia and the South.
Reception | 8:00 - 9:00 p.m. | LGBTQ+ Resource Center (Squires 227)
A reception for the community beginning immediately after the keynote.
Open Recovery Meeting / Processing Space | 8:30 - 9:30 p.m. | Squires 342
One of the topics that Queer Appalachia routinely broaches is that of substance abuse in the queer communities of Appalachia. This is a space for those in recovery to gather in support and community following the keynote.
We're more than excited to have Mamone join us to provide the Keynote for this year's Queer in Appalachia and hope that all members of our LGBTQ+ community will come out to see them. Please invite your friends, coworkers, family, or a perfect stranger to join you for our events this year!
"When mainstream media writes about Appalachia—stories about the declining coal economy, for instance, or the opioid crisis, it regularly uses language that conjures regional stereotypes of white, straight, rural, and patriarchal people and culture. This framing and stereotyping, while business as usual, ignores so much else in Appalachia: drag queens reading stories at the local library, a zine-maker who combines art and environmentalism, writers and poets traveling the region to share their art, students standing up against pipelines, a long history of labor organizing, queer farmers, and so much more. The collective known as Queer Appalachia is highlighting these stories; promoting art, activism, and culture in the region; building community; and changing how the rest of America thinks about Appalachia and the South."
-Introduction to an article by Kristina Gaddy on bitchmedia
Find out more about Pride Week 2019 at: https://ccc.vt.edu/calendar/Pride_Week.html