LGBT and rurality  Throughout history, rural spaces have held multiple meanings and served various functions for LGBT individuals and communities, ranging from sites for political organizing or sanctuary to sites of repression and violence for LGBTQIA+ individuals. Many popular representations of rurality as well as anti-LGBTQIA+ discourse citing "protecting rural values" suggest these communities intrinsically place a heightened value on “traditional moral standards.” Thus, communities in rural areas are associated with a lower tolerance for difference (including non-binary gender expression and queer sexuality) compared to urban environments. Some queer-identified individuals living in rural areas do experience antagonism, oppression, and violence matching the stereotypical representation of what it means to be queer in a rural community. As of 2000, the U.S. Census found that 46 million people (roughly 16% of the nation's total population) live in ares with population densities of 999 people per square mile or fewer. Considering the high number of individuals and the small population densitity, the rural population of the U.S. exists across a wide geographical area. Despite the categorization based upon population density, "the rural population is not the same everywhere except in its distinction of not being urban." The variation within the category of rural is reflected in the multiple, varied experiences of queer-identified people living in rural areas. In popular depictions, rurality is often portrayed as an inherently incompatible, or even hostile, environment for individuals who are not heterosexual and/or cisgendered. While this may be an accurate contrast between some urban and rural settings, there is significant variation within each categorization based on population density. Patricia Nell Warren's third novel, "The Fancy Dancer" (1976), was the first bestseller to explore gay life in a small town and to portray a gay priest. Queer regionalist scholars such as Mary Gray have illustrated that organizing for LGBTQIA+ issues in the post-Stonewall U.S. has centered around a politics of visibility. Within this political framework, publicly claiming a minority sexual orientation is viewed as inherently political. Visibility politics claim that, by making one's own queerness visible, 'out' individuals resist heteronormativity and the erasure of non-heterosexual behaviors and identities as well as illustrate to their local, national, and global communities that queer people exist and need equal rights and protection under the law. Therefore, visibility politics view a public declaration of queer identity as the primary road to political liberation and equality for queer communities.