Queer St. Louisans Speak Up!
Through our storytelling initiative, we heard queer St. Louisans unapologetically speak up about queer joy, mental health, chosen family, and more. Explore this site to read the stories of our queer & trans community, and support SQSH’s work to create healing and storytelling spaces for queer St. Louisans.
Read our Stories
Queer Identity
How do queer St. Louisans conceptualize gender & sexuality, and navigate the expectations & structures imposed by these social constructions? Queer St. Louisans share their stories around fluidity, pronouns, family, acceptance, self-exploration, Blackness, ballroom, aromanticism, and more.
Mental Health
What gaps exist in our mental health system?
Queer St. Louisans share their experiences around policing, psychiatric wards, therapy, insurance, waitlists, and virtual community.
“Trauma or addiction can put people in a space where it's really difficult to grow. Having quality housing, access to good food & nourishment, and quality time [with the people we love], are all important for queer people to thrive.”
– Mac (they/he)
Beauty & Fashion
“Beauty” can be a loaded word for many queer & trans folks. What does it mean to be beautiful; to be worthy of being seen and loved? Queer St. Louisans speak up about aesthetics, transience, gender expectations, Black hair, desirability, experimentation, nature, jewelry, clothing, authenticity, and more.
Chosen Family
A family of choice is a non-biologically related group of people forged to foster relationships of mutual, ongoing support. Queer St. Louisans tell us about friendships, queer culture, kindness, COVID, representation, Black women lineages, growing up in a rural area, and more.
Joy & Liberation
Queer Liberation is a vision and transformation of society to eliminate identity-based oppression and advance collective freedom, so that people of all genders & sexualities can live with safety, power, and abundance.
Queer St. Louisans share their thoughts on transformative justice, abolition, internalized shame, colonialism, white supremacy, dancing, breathing, authenticity, hope, dysfunction, utopia, institutions, crime, art, education, queer theory, electoral politics, and more.