Logan Lee is on day two of his latest assignment as a traveling nurse in one of the most rural fringes of Kentucky. This time Lee is in Paintsville, Kentucky, a town of a few thousand souls living among the rolling hills of Appalachia, miles away from any sort of big-city life.
Lee is accustomed to rural life and its social mores, having grown up in Lebanon, in central Kentucky (population 6,355). Indeed, despite the conservatism and casual homophobia he experiences, Lee insists he wouldn’t choose to live anywhere else.“Can you force acceptance?
No,” Lee says of small towns like his own that tend to be whiter, straighter and more Christian than the vibrant and diverse populations of dense urban areas. “But can you gradually open the minds of others and allow them to see that it’s OK?
Yes. It’s a very slow, gradual process. It takes time, lots of time. We all want to be treated with respect, no matter who you are.