r/LGBTriangle • u/voidang3l • Aug 09 '25

Homophobia in rural NC mountain towns

Hey y'all! My girlfriend and I love to hike and enjoy visiting NC/VA State Parks. Sometimes we pick Air Bnbs in small, rural towns neaby. We've found that some are quite welcoming while some have seemingly very hostile vibes where we have felt pretty unsafe holding hands, etc. etc... We are curious to know other's experiences (and perhaps recommendations, besides your more obvious Boone/Asheville) Any insight would be appreciated >:)

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u/LizBert712 29d ago

We noticed pro-LGBTQ flags at businesses in Sparta and I think also west Jefferson.

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u/voidang3l 27d ago

We'll have to check out some hikes near Sparta! I'm surprised though, we were recently spending some time in West Jefferson and felt we experienced a lot of homophobia (cars honking at us downtown, mean looks, etc. when we held hands) which was what inspired this post.

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u/voidang3l 27d ago

also didn't see any flags but I'm sure we could have missed them!

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u/LizBert712 27d ago

We saw two Abide no hatred rainbow flags at businesses in Sparta. The places where we went in Sparta felt very diversity friendly. But we didn’t go in everywhere, so it may have just been those places.

West Jefferson I honestly can’t remember the details. We just liked it, and places that feel homophobic/close-minded/racist are places I don’t usually like. I’m disappointed to hear that people gave you shit in West Jefferson.

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u/voidang3l 27d ago

we were pretty surprised. Aside from that, it was a nice town to be in. I think it would've been our vibe for sure if we felt safer haha