‘Creating the community I want to be part of’: Affinity-based organising in a small, progressive rustbelt city

Abstract

This article explores a small city’s response to the inauguration of Donald Trump in January 2017. Love, Resilience, Action Ypsilanti (LRAY) focused on community-building and the social justice history of Ypsilanti, Michigan to create a queer-affirming feminist event that intentionally referenced and diverged from national Women’s Marches. In exploring intersectional social justice organising by a queer-dominated feminist group, I argue that organisers’ emphasis on communal care in combination with direct action reflected an affinity-based understanding of community characteristic of this particular small progressive rustbelt city. This example demonstrates the importance of including small cities in urban LGBTQ research.

“Take It Out on the Floor”: Experiences of Violence Among Black LGBT House and Ball Community Youth in a Rust Belt City

“…Rustbelt cities, such as Pittsburgh, have often included private social clubs and after-hours bars which created a safe space for queer and trans subcultures (Apple, 2015). LGBT individuals have been responsible for making their own safe spaces in the region for decades; however, only recently has this culture of space-making been studied (Apple, 2015(Apple, , 2021Currans, 2021).…”

A Research Agenda for Small and Medium-Sized Towns

“…Interesting examples that focus on the reception and socio-economic integration of refugees and other forced migrants despite obstructive national migration policies can be found in Riace (Italy) (Driel, 2020) or in rural communities in Norway, Sweden, and Denmark (Søholt et al, 2018). Another interesting example of progressive social policies can be found in the small rustbelt city of Ypsilanti (United States) where an LGBTQ community was formed beyond an urban centre (Currans, 2021). These inclusive social policies are often developed and pushed forward by social movements, the civil society, or individual residents.…”

The place of transversal LGBTQ+ urban activisms

“…Finally, whilst work has begun to explore the ways that 'sense of place' can ground connective activisms (Currans, forthcoming;Long, 2013), further research is required to consider the particular spaces that facilitate transversal LGBTQ+ activisms. Put another way, 'placing' transversal urban politics reminds us that movement building is also about the buildings where movements happen.…”

“…Second, several of the articles dedicate attention to the particular geographical formations that shape connective LGBTQ+ activisms. Reflecting the crucial contribution that the special issue makes to exploring sexual landscapes beyond the familiar list of global gay cities, the connective dimensions of suburbs and small cities are foregrounded in articles by Bain and Podmore (2021b) and Currans (2021). Together, these complicate the longstanding claim that it is the urban population's characteristic diversity, along with the existence of a critical mass of LGBTQ+ people, which renders cities particularly fecund sites for activisms.…”