But it is, Balay notes, and this book reflects that. She interviewed hundreds of drivers, with 66 willing to go on the record and be included in the book.Ī common theme, she found, is that most of those interviewed have children, usually through traditional methods, which is not what many in society consider the norm. What she found was more of the gay/trans/black truckers willing to tell their stories. In essence, anyone who did not fit the stereotype of a white man driving a truck. This included disabled truckers, Muslim truckers and more minority populations. “There’s this popular model of transness popularized by Caitlyn Jenner, but these people don’t fit that model.”įor the book, Balay began seeking input from “non-traditional truckers,” not necessarily just gay and trans truckers. “The movement of the truck, in the way in which you are always shifting through space is to the way they live their lives,” she says. At the same time, she says, there are some parallels that can be drawn between driving a truck and the gay/trans lifestyle.
One of the differences Balay says she noticed in her research for her first book, about steel workers, and this one, is how much more accepting the trucking community is of gay, trans and black drivers than the steel workers were.
“They are much more focused on surviving and being connected to a community is important to them.” “They think they are getting things done,” she explains. The narratives of minority and queer truckers underscore the working-class struggle to earn a living while preserving one’s safety, dignity, and selfhood,” the description reads.īalay says that there is something empowering about driving a truck, especially for minority populations.
“A licensed commercial truck driver herself, Balay discovers that, for people routinely subjected to prejudice, hatred, and violence in their hometowns and in the job market, trucking can provide an opportunity for safety, welcome isolation, and a chance to be themselves – even as the low-wage work is fraught with tightening regulations, constant surveillance, danger, and exploitation.
In both cases, lives are heavily influenced by others and their perceptions.Īccording to the book’s description on Amazon, Semi Queer is as much about the working-class struggled to survive, as it is about gay or trans truck drivers. In life, it may be family or societal pressures in trucking it’s the clock and the regulatory restrictions that tell you when and how long you can drive. In some ways, driving a truck mirrors life for some gay, trans and blacks today. “ what was it about this particular lifestyle that made it ?” “When I was, there were just queers out everywhere, trans everywhere, and I was just charmed by that,” she explains. While a truck driving career didn’t work out for her (she didn’t like the regulations and the paperwork requirements), it provided the impetus to explore the topic in more detail. The idea for this new book came to her when she was driving herself in Wisconsin. The two books share some commonality beyond the subject matter, and that is they focus on blue-collar careers and the lives these workers live. In 2014, she published her first book, Steel Closets: Voices of Gay, Lesbian, and Transgender Steelworkers. She is currently coordinator of Gender and Sexuality Studies at Haverford College. … It was really important to me to write about that, to tell the story.”īalay herself has experienced an interesting life journey, including time spent as a mechanic, a truck driver (she still has her CDL), and a visiting professor at several universities. “It’s as if all the people who write about trucking don’t know the population of trucking is changing. “There has been a lot of stories about trucking, but almost all of the truckers portrayed in these are straight, white men,” Balay tells FreightWaves. The book is now available on Amazon and currently ranks number 1 on Amazon’s Gay Studies book list as of Aug. Their stories, though, are rarely told, which is what drove author Anne Balay to spend 3 years researching truck drivers for her new book, Semi Queer: Inside the World of Gay, Trans, and Black Truck Drivers. For gay, lesbian, transgender and black truck drivers, life on the road can be a comfort and provide a level of safety and security, in part because of the way the trucking community has accepted them. Yet it is a life that some populations find attractive, even consoling to some extent.
The life of a truck driver can be a lonely one, away from home for days or weeks on end hours upon hours sitting in a cab, focused on the horizon with only your own thoughts and maybe a radio station to keep you company.
Author Anne Balay poses with her new book, Semi Queer: Inside the World of Gay, Trans, and Black Truck Drivers, available now on Amazon.