Coming Out in East Tennessee
Filed by: Patricia Nell Warren
October 15, 2008 10:00 AM
http://www.bilerico.com/2008/10/coming_out_in_east_tennessee.phpSome years ago, gay writer Lee Lawrence contacted me about speaking to a writers' group at his retreat spa. As he told me that his Lee Valley Farm was located in east Tennessee, a chill ran down my spine and I wondered how he got along with the local KKK. When I flew to Knoxville, Lee met me at the airport. He was a lean little guy with salt and pepper hair and a peppery irascible wit. His high energy belied the fact that his health was frail -- he was living with HIV. As we drove out through countryside alive with autumn color, I learned that Lee was a former New Yorker who got fed up with city life. His exodus had led him to rural Tennessee 16 years ago...where he fell in love with the land and proceeded to become a tobacco farmer.
