CYNTHIANA, Ky. — A crowd filed into the pews of a church chapel in this small bluegrass farming community. Light poured through stained glass windows, falling at Allegra Frazier Schawe-Lane’s bare feet. For good luck, she pulled a pint bottle of bourbon out of her purse and took a nervous swig.

She broke her heels at the last minute, so she abandoned them completely, walking shoeless along the carpeted aisle in front of 50 eager listeners gathered for the church’s monthly LGBTQ+ pride meeting on a summer day in 2024. There, she told them a story — one she hoped they would understand.

“There’s nothing wrong with me,” she said to the crowd. “I am a woman.”

When Frazier Schawe-Lane moved to town in the rolling hills of Kentucky, she didn’t leave the house for four years. As a trans woman i

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