Absolutely! As a matter of fact, my own writing is deeply influenced by my life in a tiny village in rural Michigan. My perspective out here in the hostile hinterlands is very different from that of a person living in a comfortable urban bubble.

Out here, gay kids don’t come out in school, trans kids stay closeted, and people don’t fly rainbow flags — not if they want their neighbors to speak to them.

This is a perspective missing from a lot of narrative about LGBTQ equality. People ask me why my writing can sometimes feel negative. Well, it’s because things out here aren’t very rosy. And the answer can’t be, “Move to the big city.”

We’re supposed to be past that paradigm.

I’m not saying we aren’t moving in the right general direction, just that people living in NYC, Chicago, and San Francisco are apt to think we’re further along than we really are.