Queers in Knoxville, Tennessee?

[Cass]

I'm gay and attending school in Knoxville, TN with my wife in the fall. I was there for an internship and, so far, only had one negative experience. That said, finding other queer people was like pulling teeth and the few that I did manage to find were other transplants. There was also a very eerie feeling of invisibility that was a lot more uncomfortable than I expected (I guess I've been spoiled). 

Any chance there's any other LGBTers in the Knoxville area that would like to chat?

[med latte]

I went to UT-Knoxville 15 years ago, and there was a cohesive community and one or two queer student groups. Is there still a women's center on the second floor of the big student center building? They would have flyers on the student groups and other ways to get connected. The place to hang out was an independent women's bookstore downtown; is that still there?  I remember Tori Amos hung out with us there before doing a concert at the civic center. (yes, I'm old......)  I am blanking on the name of the bookstore, sorry, but it should be easy to look up. Also check out the listing of the campus groups and see if anybody kept the queer student group alive. I hope so! 

[Cass]

Thanks! There is supposedly a queer student group, but I emailed them when I first arrived for the internship and never heard back so I'm not sure how active they are. Or maybe it's more for undergrads? I'll see if I can find out whether there are any others. Do you know where the bookstore was? Market Square area or closer to the Old City or somewhere else? 

[med latte]

It was in Market Square. It looks like a new bookstore may have opened in its place. Sorry; I guess a lot has changed over the years. But ask around; maybe it is still in Knoxville.

 

When I was there I started with The Women's Coordinating Council - http://activities.utk.edu/cpc/wcc/

lots of cool people were on the council, who introduced me to more people....

 

The Council used to have a large room with meeting space and a library just at the top of the stairs in the big student center / student union building (I forgot what its called).