Happy Pride!

Happy pride month everyone! While everyone else was out enjoying pride festivals around the world, Beyond the Plus got to work spreading the word of our organization! 

This year at Seattle's annual Pridefest, our team set up a table and handed out pamphlets informing people on what Beyond the Plus is and who we represent. People asked questions about what we do, and some showed interest in the idea of a more radical type of queerness than just mainstream corpo pride. Many think that doing something like this would be dangerous, but on the contrary, nothing bad happened at all!

Twenty-five people grabbed pamphlets, and they all walked away reading them, interested in what they had to provide. The pamphlets read with a short description of who Beyond the Plus includes and what we do as an organization, and it included a QR code link to the website so they could learn more and decide to join.

We set up for two days at pride, so twenty-five really isn't all that impressive, but that's twenty-five real people we made impressions on in the span of two days, which reaches way more people than a social media post that may only get a few likes and shares. Not only that, but these folks can tell their friends, and make copies of the pamphlets and share those.

Beyond the Plus aims to be different than other radical queer groups that came before us, and the biggest way is that we're not afraid to show our faces. So many people like us feel that we're alone in this world, and it takes stepping out into the real world to show people that's not true. Pride is a time to be proud of who you are, no exceptions. 

We can do better though. Why only set up once a year at pride? Beyond the Plus aims to set up shop and hand out pamphlets on the regular to make sure we reach as many locals as we can. We are also in the process of brainstorming how to improve our reach, draw in more interest, and bring in more people. After all, I know many MAPs and the like that don't feel comfortable showing up to pride, so it may be best for us to diversify where we advertise ourselves. Heck, Otherkin pride is somewhat mainstream in Seattle and online, but there wasn't even any pride flags for that! We need to create a culture where everyone feels welcome to fly their flag at pride, and the road there is paved with building community.

Beyond the Plus is nothing without community, so I ask for your help in giving us ways to improve our methods of spreading our word. Comment below or send a contact form if you have any ideas! Once again, happy pride!