Hi friends, Charlie (he/they), founder of Everywhere Is Queer checking-in with the Club Curran Community.
As I sit at my desk in Portland, Oregon I’m feeling immense pride because I’m in the midst of a milestone moment in my life and career: the launch of the EIQ App! This moment marks the beginning of a new chapter for me, both professionally and personally.
Growing up Catholic and with conservative family in Pewaukee, Wisconsin was tough. People made fun of me for having a higher pitched voice, calling me girly or a woman, teasing me, and it gave me immense voice dysphoria – something I battle with to this day. It took me twenty-one years and moving to a new state to come out as a Junior at Colorado State University. But, being out didn’t grant me immediate access to queer community.
After college, I hit the road as a rep for an organic beverage company. During that time, I visited 41 of 50 states and, thanks to Grindr and the internet, I realized that everywhere, no matter how small a town, is queer in some way.
After leaving that job, I moved to New York City with the goal of solidifying a chosen, queer family for myself. community. Six weeks after signing a year lease, the pandemic hit and all that promise felt like a pipedream, the city completely shut down, so I returned to Boulder, Colorado.
While living in Boulder, I went to volunteer at Brave Trails, a queer youth leadership camp for 12 to 18 year youth. While at Brave Trails, it dawned on me that nobody mistook me as a woman because of my high pitched voice or even batted an eye at it.To experience a space where my voice wasn’t commented on, really stuck with me. I was driving back to boulder when I was thinking about how I can create the experience I had at brave trails on a greater scale. To allow queer and trans people to be seen as their true authentic selves wherever they are. At this moment, I thought of a worldwide map of queer-owned businesses. Which would allow queer and trans people to find queer-owned businesses. Feel seen as their authentic selves and support folks in our community. I pulled over on the side of the road to see if it existed and I couldn’t find anything. When I got home, I dove into my computer to figure out how I could do this.
A few months later I chose to move to Bend, Oregon. A few weeks after living in Bend, I found myself immersed in a beautiful queer community. It felt like that hug that my younger self needed when I felt so lost. On January 2nd, 2022, I posted the Everywhere Is Queer logo to instagram. A few months in I was picked up by some big media sites and my following on instagram started to grow. Since then, I have messaged with millions of queer, trans and allied individuals and heard about the connections our map has made. So many folks have found gender affirming hair salons and barbers. A truly vulnerable experience, especially as a queer person.
I am excited to share that our free app available on iOS and Android is now available. Myself (not a developer) and one queer developer for the last seven months have been developing the first ever Everywhere Is Queer app. I hope it allows you to feel seen as your true authentic self locally or globally. My the bottom of my queer little heart, thank you for existing <3. I truly believe we are all in this together!