When singer-songwriter Morgan Karr noticed his rural Tennessee county wasn't hosting any pride events, he decided to create his own.
On Sept. 19, Karr — who goes by the artist name MORGXN — and his husband, Gabriel Starner, hosted Affirming Sumner, a grassroots LGBTQ+ pride festival on their farm in Bethpage, a small town about 45 minutes from Nashville.
On the very hot afternoon, attendees flanked to Karr's farm to enjoy a lineup of LGBTQ+ musicians, more than 30 local vendors and art projects, from painting to bracelet-making.
"Small towns are where pride matters most and where it's hardest to hold," said Karr, a 39-year-old Nashville native.
Nearly 6.3% Tennessee adults identify as LGBTQ+, according to 2023 data from the Williams Institute.
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Local venues and businesses in Sumner County backed out of hosting a pride event last year after being targeted online with threats, Karr said.
In response, he opened up his property, a 24-acre agroforestry farm called Fruity Farm, to create a space for community gathering.
His first Affirming Sumner event took place in 2025, and this year, it's grown even bigger.
Nearly 1,000 people RSVPed to the event, which took place in a town of only 300 people. High-profile guests even made their way to the farm, like actress Kimberly Williams-Paisley and politician Gloria Johnson.
"Pride is all year," he said. "There is no official city support or any organization support to have Pride here. So if we didn’t do it, it wouldn’t exist."
A woman in her 70s shared with Karr the courage it took for her to come to her first pride event this weekend at Fruity Farm, he said, adding that communities like his need more access to "affirming events."
"This kind of local rural event and events like it helps LGBTQ+ people and allies feel celebrated and honored inside of their specific context," Karr said.
"It’s also a response to the feeling of loneliness that seems pervasive in America in the rural South, especially for queer and trans people."
To commemorate the event, attendees worked together to paint a mobile mural on a canvas.
The finished mural will be loaned to Human Rights Campaign later this year to be displayed at their Washington headquarters in celebration of local small town pride events.
To learn more about Fruity Farm, you can follow them on Instagram at @fruityfarmtn.
To learn more about MORGXN, visit morgxn.com.
Audrey Gibbs is a music reporter at The Tennessean. You can reach her at agibbs@tennessean.com. Follow her on Instagram at @audreyraegibbs.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Sumner County had no pride event, so this Nashville singer hosted one
