For queer people like me, the desire to move to a different country often stems from a deep curiosity about what lies beyond what we are allowed to embody here in the U.S. a restlessness, as one interviewee told me, to understand ourselves uninhibited by the weight of social expectations.

Others leave out of fear, scrambling to find a safer haven where theyre not treated like political pawns. With an election marked by an abundance of anti-queer rhetoric from conservatives and even silence from Democrats on trans rights, moving abroad may soon become a reality for many queer Americans.

Navigating the world as queer individuals involves questions that many take for granted: Would I find community? Is the health care affirming? If parts of America do not feel like a queer haven, is there a promised land awaiting somewhere else? As Ive learned, so many LGBTQ Americans of all ages have found their home abroad and some of their overseas journeys began with a spontaneous swipe.

When Bill McKinley, 64, matched with a Spaniard named Ricardo on Big Muscle Bears, a dating website, 14 years ago, the Indiana native had no idea his Midwestern life was about to be upended forever.

Growing up between Indianapolis and Muncie, Indianaa place he describes to me as the most average town in America McKinley was forced into conversion therapy for several years, a life chapter he detailed in a 2022 HuffPost article .

While his parents later converted to The Church of Christ, a more queer-welcoming denomination, their earlier parenting was shaped by their profoundly devout Catholicism. His experiences led to advocacy work as a young adult and he eventually found his support system and became a gay-rights activist, actor and performer.