WATCH: With an uptick in antigay legislation, these queer families fight for their homes in the Midwest

When we talk about the idea of an LGBTQ+ community, we tend to think of those queer-friendly cities and gay neighborhoods that so many of us find ourselves gravitating to.

But there are so, so many more of us that live outside those bubbles, those safe spaces and havens—yes, some queer folks actually choose to build their lives somewhere other than New York City and Los Angeles, believe it or not!

We Live Here: The Midwest is a powerful new documentary film the explores the lives of LGBTQ+ families (of all shapes and sizes) who happen to live in parts of the country frequently—and unfairly—referred to as “flyover states.”

“Midwestern culture has an over-all resistance to change,” says one of the doc’s many subjects. “We’re just people living in a community… altering what defines a nuclear family.”

In Iowa, we meet a trans/queer family with five children in search of a new community after being expelled from their church. In Nebraska, a gay Black couple with a young daughter navigates a neighborhood where no one looks like them. In Kansas, a pair of lesbian farmers decides to homeschool their son who’s been bullied in class. In Ohio, an out, gay teacher tries to create a safe space for LGBTQ+ students in his classroom. And, in Minnesota, and older couple tries to rebuild their family after they’ve both transitioned.

Also featured is Minnesota State Representative Heather Keeler, a queer Indigenous woman and mother who faces frequent threats as she works to put human faces to the causes her colleagues are actively fighting against.

We Live Here comes at a crucial point when, after years of progress, it feels like anti-queer legislation and sentiment is on the rise, no doubt having on outsized impact on those of us not living in “Blue States” or in cities where our freedoms are protected.

“Do we stay and fight, or do we go?,” asks another queer Midwesterner. “But, where do you go where there’s stability and safety? because it does feel like at any moment, anywhere, it could change.”

Related:

Make the Midwest Gay Again: Saugatuck is a small town with big Pride

Although gays seem to migrate to the corners of the US map, this getaway in Michigan has welcomed LGBTQ+ tourists for over 100 years.

From filmmakers Melinda Maerker and David Miller, We Live Here: The Midwest is set to stream on Hulu beginning December 6—perhaps not coincidentally around the holiday season, when quite a few of us are anxiously stepping outside our bubbles to visit friends and family back home.

Check out the brand new trailer for We Live Here: The Midwest below: