Research Interest

I visited Indiana in 2019 and came back in 2022 and was based in Indianapolis, but traveled across the state every once in a while, more than some of my friends, I could not help but wonder: why a lot of folks keep saying, that the environment is hostile, that Indiana is awful for queer people – motivating this with the facts, that Republicans were in the government and the state is red. And while I saw with my own eyes and felt with my own body, that in some towns it’s better not to be vocal about my sexuality; or while doing my queer zine and talking to the trans people from Indiana about their experiences; or while studying the case of the homophobic policy at Hope College in Michigan and the local uprising against such policy… I focused on the simple fact – Indiana is pretty much gay. And while the government is doing what it is doing, the communities and nonprofits do even more to fight back.

One of the points of such a battle for visibility is the Pride events.

In the summer of 2025, there were about 37 pride events, according to the Indiana Pride Network poster. All these events are spread across the state and were happening during June 2025, which is considered to be Pride Month in the USA, and in September 2025 (I would assume, because June in these towns was already overbooked by other events, but this is a topic for my research as well). I asked myself, why do those people not report their events to the bigger guidebook? Well, to be in the guidebook, you have to be in the Association. And it looked like the Pride events had their own Association (12 members from Indiana), or at least a local network.

This is the background for my research interests. In general, my goal is to describe the current situation with Pride events and Pride organizations in the state of Indiana. My focus is on the organizers of the Pride events, because the festival and other Pride celebrations are usually the tip of the iceberg. Underneath the glitter and boa, there is a daily labor of dedicated self-organizing groups of caring citizens or a daily labor of professionalized nonprofit organizations that build strategies, develop social services and programming, and advocate for human and LGBTQ+ rights.