Ry is a junior at NC State University majoring in Political Science and Plant Biology. They plan to be a politician and policy analyst working with low income rural counties. Since they were little, they have had dreams of being the president and they hope that being a member of this fellowship will be the first step in achieving this goal.
Breanna is a lesbian who grew up in Stokes, NC and currently works as the Suicide Prevention Coordinator at ECU Health Medical Center in Greenville, NC. Through her work, Breanna strives to promote affirming allyship, encourage mental wellness, and cultivate community for LGBTQ+ individuals across Pitt County. As someone who grew up in rural Eastern NC, Breanna is passionate about advocating for improved social inclusion and resource equity for rural LGBTQ+ southerners.
Molly is a student at UNC-Chapel Hill where she studies Religion and Sociology. She is a passionate coach and advocate for queer youth, working to ensure that all students are loved, supported, and respected as they are. Outside of work, you can find her running through the mountains or reading under the trees.
Avery is a Master of Social Work student at Appalachian State University who is passionate about serving the unique needs of rural Appalachians. Avery's professional interests are guided by a commitment to the pursuit of intersectional justice as well as a firm belief in the power of community. They are currently focused on the expansion of queer-affirming services for individuals in the High Country.
Timothy Moore is a senior at UNC Pembroke. His major is business administration with a concentration in management. Working with the office of Community and Civic Engagement, Timothy, is familiar with the poverty, food insecurity, and housing instability that affect rural communities. He also understands these issues disproportionately affect the LGBTQIA+ community. Timothy’s project aims to help address these issues as well as create an LGBTQIA+ safe space within the community.
Eric is a senior Political Science major at Wingate University. As the Vice President of Wingate's Prism Club (an LGBTQ alliance organization), founder and President of Wingate's first debate club, with 2 years of experience as a federal government fellow for the Department of Defense and Treasury's offices of diversity and inclusion, he has remained committed to fighting for LGBTQ people's inclusion, safety, and equity in many places. Eric plans on attending law school after graduation in hopes of becoming a Constitutional expert, continuing to advocate through Constitutional interpretation.
James Michael is a middle school math and social studies teacher. He teaches middle school at a public school in Western NC. He graduated from Chapel Hill with a degree in history and a Master's in History Education. James Michael teaches in the same school he attended. His goal is to be an out mentor for my LGBTQ students. His project includes starting a middle school club that allows Queer youth and allies to participate in team building activities, social emotional skill building, creating art project, and learning about marginalized communities.
Safi is an advocate for queer students’ rights around Greenville and Pitt County. She has lived in the area her whole life and is dedicated to bringing support and love to younger LGBTQ students, especially in high school. She also has a love for the arts, cats, nature, and all things green (sustainability and color-wise)! Safi’s project will include a needs assessment for queer students in Pitt County Schools.
Devin is a transmasculine junior at UNC-Pembroke where he is a political science major (pre-law concentration) and a member of the Honors College. Devin plans to attend law school in the Fall of 2022 to pursue a career as a civil/human rights attorney. He also wants to be a congressman, directly advocating for equity under the law. Devin has been doing activism since he was 12, lobbying and fighting for criminal justice reform, LGBTQ+ rights, women’s rights, etc. Outside of activism, Devin enjoys playing instruments and watching documentaries.
Project Details
Devin’s project is dedicated to making the overall campus environment at UNC-Pembroke more inclusive by bridging the gap between campus administration and LGBTQ students. It will involve goals such as working with Housing & Residence Life to add 10 gender-neutral bathrooms across the residence halls and create gender-inclusive housing, working with Police & Public Safety as well as Counseling & Psychological Services to retrain police officers and counselors on LGBTQ-specific issues, and working with the Office of Student Inclusion & Diversity to create an LGBTQ resource center.
Cassius is a Neurobiology student at the University of North Carolina at Asheville. His project focuses on building a more inclusive and accessible sexual education to supplement the current curriculum. This will be done by creating YouTube videos that center subjects that are often left out of the sexual education curriculum to give youth a better understanding of sex, identity, and the intersections of the two. Though outreach for the project will be focused in Chatham County where Cassius hails from, he hopes that the format of his project will allow his videos to be accessible to queer youth everywhere.
Project Details
The objective of this project is to document the experiences of rural LGBT+ youth, understand their experiences and struggles with the current sexual education curriculum, and explore how that impacted their relationship with sex. The sexual education program will be free-to-access on YouTube and provide a comprehensive understanding of puberty, anatomy, consent, contraceptives, STI’s, sexuality and gender identity, disability and other factors that play into gaining a full understanding of the body, sex, and how different identities intersect with having safe and communicative sex.
Ruby is passionate about the intersection of art and activism. Through the RYE Fellowship, Ruby’s project will create a collaborative zine that forges a safe space for LGBTQ folks (with a focus on youth of color) to express themselves in the forms of poetry, visual arts, photography, creative writing and many other embodiments of art. Ruby seeks to establish a connection with those in the Clayton community and, in general, wants this invitation to extend to the LGBTQ community in the South. Ruby is here for those that exist in spaces that weren’t meant for them. We belong here and we’ll thrive here. This zine is a love letter to the Clayton community and to the South in its entirety.
Project Details
Ruby’s project is a collaborative zine: "Queer Gone South." It includes a digital and published platform centering queer individuals of all ages in the Clayton community, the South and other Rural Areas. This zine strives to unearth our queer history, present and future in the South. Queer Gone South makes every effort to amplify the voices of the LGBTQ+ community and honors the intersections of race/ethnicity/and so on. It strives to carve out a space for black/brown/and indigenous queer youth by recognizing the multifaceted-ness within the community. "Queer Gone South" pays homage to the ones that came before this moment, to those who have arrived now and the ones that will come after this moment. The project does so by tailoring a zine that belongs to all of us. Ruby’s hope is that every individual within the Queer community to find a piece of themselves on these pages, in the art, in the writing and in the narrative. Participants of "Queer Gone South" will feel seen and heard, as part of something important and worth sharing. The outcome consists of gathered resources, of the sharing of information, our individual experiences, our queer history in the South, empowerment through digital/visual art, poetry, other forms of writing, comics and whatever else makes you feel seen. Ultimately, Ruby hopes to create a source and platform that belongs to and made by Queer individuals in the South. Something to give LGBTQ+ youth (especially) the things necessary to empower, lead and heal.
Social Links
Submission Links
Gray is an MPH student at Gillings School of Global Public Health at UNC Chapel Hill in the department of Health Behavior. Their research interests include LGBTQ adolescent mental health, LGBTQ peer support and LGBTQ aging. Growing up in a rural area of North Carolina, Gray appreciates the need for accessible, queer spaces. Their project focuses on connecting younger and older queer folks in the community and addressing the needs of the aging LGBTQ population. Gray thanks their family (biological and chosen) for supporting this project and encouraging them to live their truth loud and proud!
Project Details
The WISE Project will address ageism in the local LGBTQ community by creating more accessible intergenerational spaces and fostering intergenerational relationships. The program will connect LGBTQ folks from all generations to share their stories, wisdom, and lived experiences through community receptions, an organized peer support program, and story-telling events across the triangle. The WISE Project will launch with a community reception hosted by SAGE on February 29th in Chapel Hill (details to be announced and included soon). Aims of the WISE Project include reduced social isolation, increased LGBTQ peer support, increased knowledge of LGBTQ history, and increased mental health outcomes among participants. For more details or interest in participating in the WISE Project contact Gray at grodgers@email.unc.edu.
Andrew is a former teacher invested in building greater support for rural queer youth in Western NC.
Project Details
For The Queer Resiliency Project, Andrew collaborated with YouthOUTright and local queer youth artists to create an engaging resource teaching resiliency skills. This can be shared to support any LGBTQ+ youth needing to build resources within themselves to manage the challenges that are still experienced in a homophobic and transphobic society. The finished resource will be viewable online & printable from Equality NC’s platforms.
Liam is a United States Air Force veteran who is deeply passionate about issues of inequity. He separated from military service to pursue a career in Social Work. He is now a Social Work Student at Appalachian State University who is focused on advancing LGBTQ+ liberation with an intersectional lens in North Carolina.
Project Details
Liam's project will center building an LBGTQIA+ community organization in Boone, North Carolina alongside members of the community called Radical Kindred. Radical Kindred will work to create space for LGBTQIA+ individuals with an intersectional lens in the High Country via monthly meetings, autonomous spaces, educational workshops, and social events.
Asher is a passionate young person interested in Queer Liberation. He has found his place in documenting and preserving queer history that is often ignored.
Project Details
Queer Life Appalachia (QLA) is an archival project determined to document the lives and experiences of LGBTQ2IA+ folks located in the Appalachian Mountains. Through submissions of newspaper articles, flyers, posters, music, t-shirt, pins/buttons, oral histories and more, this project aims to show that Queer lives are not synonymous with metro areas but that rural queer lives are beautiful and possible. QLA is partnered with Radical Kindred, a collective of queer organizers in Boone, North Carolina to build intergenerational connections that allow the past and present to be remembered and protected. You can connect with QLA here.
