Gay farmers

Tell it stories. Finally, Breckbill called her friend one afternoon in tears, wondering where she would find queer community in a town, which seemingly had none.

“She said, ‘Here’s what we’re going to do about it. "I was tied hands above my head [at the side of the barn], my pants were pulled down, and I was beaten with his wide belt until blood oozed from my back, buttock, and thighs.

“And we did!”

This is the origin story of Queer Farmer Convergence (otherwise known as QFC), a three-day conference that takes place every September on Breckbill’s farm, Humble Hands Harvest. “Members of the cooperative have an ownership stake in the land; they have a say in how it’s operated and what is done with the profits or the business.

If I’m making medicine I need to learn how to stay in my lane and know my boundaries as a guest. Nonprofits like Out in the Open, Cultivating Change Foundation and Lesbian Natural Resources, as well as projects like Idyll Dandy Arts, The Quinta and Country Queers are all dedicated to building community in rural and agricultural spaces: “It’s really important to me to craft a gathering where everyone is welcome and comfortable and there’s a sense of belonging,” Breckbill says.

Agriculture in the United States has historically been a white, male-dominated industry.

Many queer farmers fall into the latter category, continuously questioning the system even as they participate in it—and dreaming up alternatives in the process. 

“For me, queering the systems of capitalism means that, when I have a farm, making sure people are being paid a living wage, versus just minimum wage,” says Coco Faria, a queer farmer in Washington State.

"But how was I going to work around it? That same boy who raised livestock also took up embroidery as a child."One time I told a kid from school that I would let him see my embroidery if he promised he wouldn't tell," he said. "I knew I was gay but I didn't enjoy the banter, I wasn't into style, I wasn't into the things they did."Ebmeier knew he wasn't alone, though.

Fellows, however, retained final control of each story in part to prevent subjects from softening harsh words or weakening strong emotions that showed through in the interviews."I have viewed this inquiry as 'research' only in the broadest sense of the word," he said. This is especially true when compared to city living, where folks live in close quarters and you’re much more likely to live near a gay or lesbian bar.

Sing to the land! "I showed it to him and the next day in school he told everybody, which was disastrous."Perhaps a livestock-raising embroiderer and others like him are too much diversity for country-dwellers or perhaps country life was too much for many of Fellows' subjects, because most of the almost forty men whose stories are found in Farm Boys eventually left farms to move to larger cities.

This is a space making those resources available.

If you want to go far, go together. Allinee “shiny” Flanary of Scrapberry Farm, Letty Chichtonyolotli Martinez of Flying Dogheart Farm and Xóchitl Garnica of Chalchi Farm form the three-person collective. 

“People started saying to me, ‘You look more whole, more healthy, more happy.

For queer farmers, however, it’s essential.

“If we acknowledge that the systems are working in the way they were designed, then I don’t want to leave people with no way forward,” Flanary says. We’re on a mission to provide a platform for this community to grow and thrive for positive change.