When did you know you were Queer, on purpose? I think the first time I realized it was the first time I hosted one of our ALP Workshops — standing for Ask.Listen.Plan. These are our Suicide Prevention and Awareness workshops for LGBTQ+ young adults in rural areas. We host them online, and frankly, I wondered if college kids would take time out of their lives to learn about suicide prevention?

But at that first workshop, over 30 students showed up! Many of them had struggled with suicidal ideation themselves, and just like me, didn’t want any of their friends and family to live on that edge like we had. There’s something about experiencing the darkness that makes you real proactive about staying in the light and keeping those you love in the light. Ego and stigma be damned.  

What I wasn’t anticipating about those workshops is what it meant to those kids to get to know our facilitators. Most of the students we serve are in rural areas and have had...

The next speaker from our Pride and Joy Summit from May 2021, is Dean Rasmussen. Dean is a transman, hailing from Canada, and was on our planning committee for the Summit. Dean was in charge of our Gender Identity track, which was a powerful experience for everyone involved. When Dean agreed to also speak for his track, I was overjoyed. Because in the months we had been working together to create this Summit, I had learned what an incredible human he is.

Dean is a fellow conversion therapy survivor. He is a parent and a husband, as well as a trans life coach. In our planning meetings, Dean was never the loudest or the most boisterous. Dean never shoved his way into the spotlight, and even giving this talk was one of the more challenging things he’s done. Visibility is not easy for every queer person.

Yet, Dean had this calm, quiet authority. Dean has LIVED a lot of life. His wisdom, his clarity on sticky situations, was a guiding force as we planned this huge international...

We kicked off the first season of our brand new podcast, Out of Queeriosity with the opening keynote from our Pride and Joy Summit. This summit was a queer centered, two-day event we conducted virtually in May 2021. The keynote was given by Barry Brandon (he/they/her/ze), more popularly known as The Queer Indigo.

If you’re on Instagram or TikTok, chances are you’ve seen their trademark, super-human and badass videos. They've been inspiring people from all over the globe to see themselves walking in beautiful international cities with all the confidence of Queer Indigo. The freedom of expression, the joy in authenticity, the raw power of knowing who you are and your inherent value, you can find it all in these 30-second slo-mo videos and it’s brilliant.

In his professional life, Brandon runs a creative and experiential agency called For All Humans, focusing on the growth and expansion of emerging and well-established brands through immersive...