'Common Ground' Dinner to Highlight LGBTQIA+ Identities
An upcoming event organized by the Industrial Commons will examine LGBTQIA+ experiences in Burke County.
MORGANTON, North Carolina—At present, there is limited institutional support for LGBTQIA+ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, and asexual) folks living in Burke County.
Adventure Bound Books with its prominent display of works by LGBTQIA+ authors and Pride flags, and Moondog Pizza with its regular drag show performances produced by Just Two Guys Productions are, perhaps, the most prominent allies in the local business community.
There are but a few.
However, an upcoming community engagement event may bolster further sympathy, if not, at least, increase understanding between a frequently targeted and maligned minority group and a region struggling to accommodate gender fluidity and sociocultural innovations.
How Many Burke Residents Identify as LGBTQ?
Truthfully, it’s hard to say.
Some 7% of Americans identify as lesbian, gay, or bisexual, while roughly 1.6% of adults are transgender or non-binary, according to a June 2023 report produced by the Pew Research Center.
If those figures were applied to the 87,573 Burke residents counted by the 2020 U.S. Census, you might expect roughly 7,531 of our neighbors to identify as LGBTQ.
Nonetheless, given the lack of social acceptance or inclusion toward queer folks, and the significant number of Burke residents who hold to more so-called “traditional” views on gender and sexuality, there’s reason to believe the number of people who identify as LGBTQIA+ are much lower in the Foothills region.
After all, it’s not uncommon for them to move to larger cities or more socially progressive (and inclusive) locales as soon as they graduate high school—if not earlier.
This is certainly a significant contributing factor to why so few young people want to remain in Burke County or return after college.
Just consider the numbers.
The 65+ age demographic (including Boomers) makes up 22% of the county’s population. Not only do Boomers remain more hostile to gay marriage than younger generations, but 68% of white evangelicals (a sizeable proportion of our neighbors) believe “society has become too accepting of transgender people.”
In contrast, more than 31% of Gen Z (those born 1997-2003) and millennials (those born 1981-1996) identify as LGBTQ, according to a 2021 Gallup poll.
Here’s the picture.
Burke’s older population remains mired in fixed notions of gender and sexuality while its younger generations either acquiesce to their elders or leave, seeking less stultifying social conventions.
The ‘Gay Index’ Informs Morganton’s Future
This dynamic doesn’t bode well for a county seat that‘s perennially described by locals as ”charming and full of potential“ but always a few energetic restaurants and fabulous storefronts shy of gaining critical mass.
Urban theorist Richard Florida‘s ”Gay Index“ comes to mind, a measure that correlates robust economies closely with the general openness of a given area.
Made popular by his 2002 best-seller, The Rise of the Creative Class, Florida explains that thriving municipalities or metropolitan areas are catalyzed by having a large LGBTQ population, a proxy figure connected to a city’s ability to generate cultural, economic, and technological advancements—in short, be alluring for “creatives.”
In simple terms, the more LGBTQ-friendly your city is, the more dynamic or resilient it’s going to be, as evidenced by the many young professionals that have been flocking to these places for the past few decades.
Cities that attract and retain “the creative class” prosper while less tolerant ones stagnate or decline.
Now, Morganton isn’t a creative-class Mecca like Austin, Seattle, Washington D.C., or Boston; nor does it need to be. (Even the Hickory-Morganton-Lenoir triangle is far too small to warrant that kind of conversation.)
Generally, I love its size, human scale, and pace of life (though we certainly need to revive passenger rail).
Most of us are, in fact, here for “small-town living.” But that doesn’t mean our small town wouldn’t benefit from a rise in tolerance and inclusion.
After all, Morganton’s future probably depends on it.
Just glancing at attitudinal trends, it’s clear views on gender and sexuality need to evolve if Morganton is to avoid the economic (and cultural) depression experienced by so many rural Appalachian counties and become a more vibrant and welcoming community.
Morganton has some way to go, but there is cause to indulge in a bit of hope.
An Evening Examing LGBTQIA+ Identities in Morganton
In an effort to nurture more understanding between the LGBTQIA+ community and the Foothills region, the Industrial Commons (TIC) is hosting a program on Monday evening, December 4th from 5:30 to 7:30 at the Morganton Community House.
TIC is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization dedicated to fostering employee ownership, eradicating generational poverty, and rooting local wealth.
These egalitarian-oriented efforts are also buttressed by social initiatives meant to support and elevate the voices of marginalized groups in southern Appalachia.
This dinner is part of TIC’s Common Ground initiative, a speaker and panel series designed with that very purpose in mind.
Previous Common Ground topics have addressed mass incarceration (a present-day form of slavery), racial justice, Cherokee history and culture in western North Carolina, and building bridges with the Deaf community.
Titled “Understanding LGBTQIA+ and Identities,” this event will feature Susan Cato-Chapman as both guest and co-facilitator. She describes herself as a Burke native, a mother of two boys, and is presently a fourth-grade teacher at the Morganton Day School.
Cato-Chapman has earned a BA from UNC-Asheville and an MFA from Florida Atlantic University. Her current research interests center around trans perspectives and language, where she investigates the availability of structural and supplemental support for individuals who identify as transgender or gender non-conforming.
As the evening will be anchored by efforts to establish a shared vocabulary among attendees around the meaning of LGBTQIA+, there are sure to be some challenging but important conversations.
People are invited to RSVP to this highly anticipated event. Attendance is free, while an optional dinner is available for $15.
In an email sent out by TIC Values and Culture Director Tea Yang, she informs potential attendees that “the amount of food ordered will align with the number of RSVPs indicating a meal purchase via the STRIPE link in the RSVP form or at check-in. We will have a QR code and paper copies for the post-event evaluation at the end of the program. We are actively refining our approach and appreciate your patience and ongoing support.”
