Finding a Partner in Logan’s LGBTQ+ Community Darcy Ritchie
that dating can be hard, but it’s even harder for members of the small LGBTQ community in Logan, Utah. IT’S NO QUESTION
Henry Fye, a gay freshman at Utah State University, described his overall dating experience in Logan so far as negative. “I feel like the LGBT community in this area is really small, so there’s not really any options,” Fye said.
“It’s nonexistent pretty much.” When asked how many openly gay men he had met so far at USU, he answered that he could count them on one hand.
hitched / 2020
Another student, Nat Skousen, who identifies as pansexual questioning and nonbinary trans-femme, expressed similar experiences dating in Utah. “Dating is hard here simply because it’s hard to meet people in the LGBTQIA+ community who are visible, single or willing to date,” Skousen said. “That, coupled with the challenges of dating in general, it’s difficult to be in a relationship.” Skousen also expressed Utah’s conservative culture causes visibility to be difficult for members of the LGBTQ community. “We live in a very conservative area, and while we have Pride and organizations dedicated to deconstructing stigma and discrimination,”
Skousen said, “it still definitely occurs -and from anybody.” Finding open and visible members of the community is a struggle for most students in the area, and while dating apps help with visibility, opinions on the apps are mixed. Brinleigh Cahoon, a bisexual USU student, has found dating apps to be helpful. “Dating sites have definitely helped. Tinder is alright, but for my gay side, I like the site Her,” Cahoon said. Even with the dating apps, Cahoon still identified finding people to date in Utah as her biggest challenge. “The sites definitely make it easier, but
