Katrina’s Story

Gender: genderqueer

Sexuality: bisexual

Pronouns: she/they

Current home: Morgantown, West Virginia

From:  Buckhannon, West Virginia

Cultural background/identity: I grew up poor and queer in a town of 5k people in the middle of the only state completely encapsulated in Appalachia.  

Interests: Music, movies, art, writing, and supporting local businesses.

A lot of my upbringing was very repressive and authoritarian.  Until I was 15, my family went to a fundamentalist church, where shame was heavily promoted, and that was something deeply pushed onto me.  I don’t remember the moment when it finally clicked for me to loudly come to terms with who I am, but I have never looked back. 

I came out to my friends as bisexual in 2000.  The closet really only existed at home, and some of that was out of a need to survive.  My mother was always a supportive force in my life, and I’m grateful for her protection.  When I turned 18 in 2001, I was bound and determined to never live in shame again, and I feel like my mother gave me to tools to help me love myself enough to always be authentic.

When I came out as genderqueer in 2015, it seemed to surprise no one who knew me well, but I was in my 30s.  The internet helped me discover that there are other people like me.  I’ve always just done what feels right.  For me, I never felt like an either/or person.  

Androgyny was a large part of my life before I ever knew there was a word for it.  This was the experience for a lot of my friends, and it wasn’t until we got much older that we realized we really gravitated towards each other because most of us were going through the same self discovery.  

As a Xennial living in Appalachia, I try to reach out to others struggling with their own journey, and remind them that they matter, especially in tiny little towns like the one I grew up in.  We’ve always been here, and community is so important. 

October 2024