By Bennet Goldstein for Wisconsin Watch.
Broadcast version by Mike Moen for Wisconsin News Connection reporting for the Wisconsin Watch-Public News Service Collaboration

Shannon and Eve Mingalone avow that their farmers market booth is "very gay."

They hang strings of pride flags and sell rainbow stickers to help pay for gender-affirming care, like hormone replacement therapy, for Eve.

Sometimes, when parents and their teenagers pass the booth, the adults glance, then speed ahead. The kids pause for a second look. Shannon, 34, hopes it means something for them to see LGBTQ professionals out and succeeding.

People often share stories. The middle-aged woman who confided that her daughter is transgender. The teen who stood in the middle of the Mingalones' booth and said, "This makes me feel safe."

"That means everything to me," Shannon said.

Now in their second season, she and Eve, 35, grow more than 45 varieties of vegetables at their business, Ramshackle Farm, in Harvard, Illinois.

Lettuces and Asian greens emerge on stacks of hydroponic troughs and spinach in a warm hoop house. Outside, Shannon and Eve tend to arugula, broccoli, peas and radishes using intensive planting and heavy rotation techniques - never pesticides or synthetic fertilizer.

Their operation is an exception to the sprawling corn and bean fields that dominate the landscape. Shannon and Eve work to feed people, not livestock or cars.

Shannon wears her politics on her coveralls. Her favorite jean jacket includes patches that declare "End monoculture" and "Save the earth. Bankrupt a corporation."

The Mingalones are among a multitude of LGBTQ farmers who draw connections between their identities and agriculture, including their adoption of sustainable practices.

"We're not just raising food," Shannon said. "We are creating safe spaces for people."

Like many, they used to have a specific image of a "typical farmer:" white, male, heterosexual, Christian and conservative. Excluded from that vision - or perhaps myth - is a space for them.

So they are creating one.

The presence of LGBTQ people in agriculture challenges stereotypes of who can, or should be, interested in farming. But the community is not a monolith, interviews with 16 Midwestern LGBTQ producers indicate. Some use restorative techniques in hopes of reducing environmental destruction and social inequity. Others run conventional operations, which industry representatives and policymakers say are key to feeding the world's growing population.

Nonetheless, as LGBTQ farmers navigate common hurdles, ranging from land inaccessibility to federal lending restrictions to social isolation, they rely on creativity and resilience to survive, much like they do in other arenas of their lives.

USDA doesn't count LGBTQ farmers

No definitive figures measure how many LGBTQ people farm in America. The U.S. Department of Agriculture asks respondents to identify their sex in its five-year censuses, not their sexual orientation or gender identity.

But the department is considering adding those questions to the 2027 Census of Agriculture. It conducted a pilot study in late 2021 to gauge whether their inclusion would affect response rates.

Responses decreased significantly when the questions were inserted, despite the survey's confidentiality. The study lacked possible explanations for the findings.

But when word of the survey reached U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., he accused the USDA and President Joe Biden of advancing a "woke agenda." Hawley claimed in a tweet that a farmer sent him a copy of the document. The lawmaker questioned, facetiously, the relevance of "such important" questions to the farming profession.

The National Young Farmers Coalition likewise encountered pushback from outside of the LGBTQ community to a survey that included similar demographic questions.

But a failure to acquire demographic information about LGBTQ people prevents improvements to services, said Katie Dentzman, a rural sociology and public policy assistant professor at Iowa State University.

"If you're completely unaware that these people are out there, then their issues are completely being ignored," she said. "In a way, that is perpetuating violence in a system."

Dentzman jimmied a statistical workaround using the USDA's 2017 census, finding that 8,302 farms were overseen by men married to men and 3,550 by women married to women. That was about 1.2% of all dually run farms nationwide.

Dentzman found that many same-sex couples farmed conventionally. But same-sex married men were more likely to have organic land and grow products intended for human consumption than farms run by men married to women. Likewise, women married to women more often engaged in alternative farming practices like intensive grazing and the production of value-added products.

Might LGBTQ people's unique vantage draw them to sustainable farming?

It's possible, Dentzman said, but as other sociologists have proposed, the economic and social disadvantages queer people face also might funnel them into alternative agriculture. That is, they lack the expansive resources and capital necessary to farm conventionally.

Statistically, LGBTQ people experience higher rates of poverty and food insecurity compared to non-LGBTQ people. They also earn less dollar-for-dollar and disproportionately experience homelessness.

Then add the upfront costs of farming.

Land access remains a top obstacle to entering agriculture, and attempting to do so without the backing of family can be a Herculean task.

Fifty-nine percent of respondents to the 2022 National Young Farmer Survey said finding affordable farmland to purchase is very or extremely challenging, while 45% said the same of finding any farmland at all.

Meanwhile, the cost of cropland is rising nationwide.

Corbin Scholz, 27, operates Rainbow Roots, an organic farm "rooted in queerness" on 6 acres of rented land north of Iowa City, Iowa. She does not come from a farm family and works two other jobs to support herself.

Scholz's lease expires after the 2024 growing season and she doesn't know whether she will be able to renew.

"I'm not sure I'll be able to ever afford a farm," Scholz said, "and moving everything I've built to another one-to-five-year lease really limits my growth opportunity."

Bennet Goldstein wrote this article for Wisconsin Watch.


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Some New Hampshire businesses and educators say legislation targeting LGBTQ+ students is harming both kids and the state's economy as it faces a critical worker shortage.

More than two hundred businesses recently signed on to a letter to Gov. Chris Sununu saying the steady drumbeat of bills targeting transgender youths in particular is tarnishing the state's reputation.

Michelle Veasey, executive director of New Hampshire Businesses for Social Responsibility, said the bills are shortsighted.

"When our families don't feel comfortable and aren't happy, our employees are moving to other areas," Veasey pointed out. "We felt it was important to help them to understand the economic side of these decisions."

Veasey argued discriminatory policies make it harder for companies to recruit new workers to the state or convince young people to remain in New Hampshire to pursue their careers.

The New Hampshire Senate has advanced legislation to ban transgender girls from playing on girls' sports teams as well as a measure requiring teachers to inform parents about their child's behavior at school.

While the bill does not single out LGBTQ+ students, educators say it would require them to share information regarding a student's gender identity or sexual orientation.

Linds Jakows, communications and digital director for Granite State Progress and 603 Equality, said too often, such students are forced into homelessness by disapproving parents.

"This bill could have really dangerous consequences for students for whom home is not a safe place right now," Jakows emphasized.

Jakows pointed out it meant the world to have a teacher in high school to come out to when it wasn't possible at home and schools should be a safe space for all students. Jakows added forcing teachers to record what they see and hear in the hallways erodes trust among students and could drive more teachers from the profession.

A new study suggests laws in New Mexico and 22 other states to protect school-aged LGBTQ youth are having a positive impact.

According to research by the Trevor Project, suicide attempts in states with specific protections for LGBTQ youth were 18% lower, and physical violence reported by those youth was 3% lower.

Katalina Hadfield, a member of Equality New Mexico's board of directors, said she believes the state's progressive protections are due to a community-centered culture.

"Where folks are really willing to help each other out, and look out for one another," said Hadfield. "And I think that is part of what helps students in a lot New Mexico schools feel more included."

In recent decades, New Mexico has seen prominent advances in gay and lesbian rights, where same-sex sexual activity has been legal since 1975.

Last year, a bill passed in the New Mexico Legislature to remove loopholes - and explicitly include local entities and counties to prevent discrimination and human rights violations.

The Human Rights Campaign says in 2023, more than 550 - a record number - of anti-LGBTQ bills were introduced across 43 states, and more than 80 were passed into law.

Both Florida and Texas are among the top ten for introducing and passing hostile laws.

Hadfield, who grew up in New Mexico, knows several people who have left those states because they feel unwelcome and scared.

"And when you travel there," said Hadfield, "even if you run into some nice people - if you get for some reason wrapped up in the criminal justice system there, or even something as simple as a speeding ticket, you get sucked into this government system that has legislated and made a policy choice to not respect trans people."

Results from the Trevor Project were published in the online journal LGBT Health. The findings are based on responses from more than 27,000 students ages 13 to 24, in 44 states.

After 30 years of championing the rights of LGBTQ+ people, Equality New Mexico has its finger on the pulse of supportive legislation and has made its earliest endorsements ever for the 2024 election.

Marshall Martinez, executive director of the group, said the advocacy organization has come out early for candidates he calls equality "rock stars," those who have demonstrated proactive leadership in the fight for LGBTQ+ issues. He believes New Mexico and a handful of other states serve as models in supportive legislation.

"Queer and trans people deserve to be happy and healthy in the community they live in," Martinez pointed out. "But until we can make that happen at the national level, we want to make sure that those in New Mexico can have that life, and that others folks could consider coming to New Mexico for that life."

Last year the New Mexico Legislature passed the Reproductive and Gender Affirming Health Care bill, protecting individuals who seek such care from discrimination by public bodies.

In addition to LGBTQ+ issues, Martinez said Equality New Mexico also makes endorsements based on legislators' positions on economic policies such as paid family and medical leave. Another issue is abortion access, which he noted has become especially important since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned abortion as a constitutional right in the 2022 Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization decision.

"First and foremost, we can't rely on the federal government to uphold our protections," Martinez contended. "We will continuously point to the Dobbs decision as an indication that the federal judiciary is no longer the backstop that we used to think it was."

Martinez added the LGBTQ+ rights organization has endorsed 15 candidates for New Mexico's House and Senate seats and expects a second round of endorsements before November.