Country Queer

Lifting up LGBTQ+ voices in country and Americana.

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‘Queer Americana’ Pt. 17: Bonnie

By James Dillon III & Bonnie

We reached out to Maine-based photographer James Dillon III earlier this year about running their ‘Queer Americana’ series on CQ and we’re proud to finally be able to bring it to you.

Photographed on a road trip across the country, Dillon’s series pushes buttons by setting up curious contrasts and juxtapositions, sometimes subtle and sometimes not. It’s a reflection of how queerness feels in our own personal spaces versus how it feels in the larger world around us—it is simultaneously familiar and foreign.

‘Queer Americana’ is a reminder of how one size doesn’t fit all. And yet, each of us must find ways of being in the world and ways to feel comfortable in our own skin. It is, at times, challenging.

Welcome to #queeramericana

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A Honky-Tonk of Our Own

Please read Dillon’s primer for the series, visit their website, or consider becoming a Patreon subscriber.

To enjoy the latest from this series, subscribe to the Queer Americana YouTube channel, where you can view episodes of the new Queer Americana docuseries from James Dillon III and Ryan Vachenzo.


“I think in the beginning I believed I couldn’t be queer and have spirituality at the same time. That was a very traumatic experience for me when I was young. Traumatic is the correct word.

I know that my trans experience, my ability to start my transition, and to really fully embrace all I can be created to be, is a direct result of my relationship with the seeking of a creator. The more spiritual I become, the more I seek purpose, the more I live with grace, the more my transness comes out on the outside.

Before, I was not allowing myself to find where I was. I’ve grown into trying to just be honest with myself with what sits right and feels right for me. Not what the world is telling me, not what a label is telling me, not what femininity or masculinity is telling me, but what is true for me.

That can be a really hard thing because there are so many influences. I was letting the world and everything create me, instead of me being a co-creator. I was a product of everything else, instead of me just being me.”

-Bonnie


James Dillon III is an artist living in Portland, Maine. A self-styled Renaissance Queer, they use photography, writing, and performance art to explore, celebrate, and challenge the world around them.