ABSTRACT
The activist in Memphis, Darci McFarland, posted the first call for submissions to Bible Belt Queers in October 2019, digitally piecing the gifted pages into an independently printed anthology of poetry, essays, and visual art. Scholars have thankfully begun recognizing the cultural memory constructed through the zines, especially those formed collectively. And as more issues of the Bible Belt Queers zine series are published and as more zines are hosted and circulated online, this chapter looks forward to discovering the continued ways this material practice benefits from the digital and how virtual communities can come together to take physical action. The focus on Bible Belt Queers “Queer in the Time of COVID” is deliberate in this regard because examining its collaborative structure and deeply personal yet visual and material form against the backdrop of COVID-19 presents the ways even the most marginalized groups can perpetuate alienation among each other.
