🌻 hello queer architects + designers

This is Queer Agenda.

I’m A.L., and you’re receiving this message because you saw this tweet and DM’d me your email. Thank you for your trust, and thank you for your patience! I do realize that I tweeted this out in the before-times, pre-COVID-19…

Gentlethem 🐉 @a_l_hu

Hey queer architects and designers! Let's talk. I wanna build a closer community. this is a long shot and very vague at the moment and a vision I've had for awhile. one step at a time though. DM me for my email or phone number. you might say I have a queer agenda...

…so you said you wanted to “build a closer community,” but you waited five months to make contact?

Yes. It’s complicated. Because life. The pandemic happened (and is still happening). The uprisings happened across the United States and we’re still in the throes of a historic time. Every day, every hour, brings another plot twist that no one saw coming.

Okay. So you’ve had some time to think through Queer Agenda, then.

Not exactly. But I’ve been thinking about building some type of queer architects & designers community for awhile now. It’s always been on the back burner—because life—and it’s never felt like the right time—until now.

[to skip the following wall of text, scroll down to the image and the header that reads, “so… here we go!”]

Some context: I am an architect by training, my license is only two (monster) exams away, and I am currently working with a non-profit developer. During graduate school, I helped found Queer Students of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation (the website is horribly out of date, but I did design the logo!). After graduating, I was briefly part of the now-inactive QSPACE (cool name though, right? I wish I could borrow it). In 2018, I marched in NYC Pride with Build Out Alliance, a professional development organization for LGBTQ architects (we stepped off 2 hours late -_-). I’ve been to a couple American Institute of Architects (AIA) conferences and paid the extra $60 to attend the LGBTQ Happy Hours. At last year’s AIA conference, I spoke on a panel session titled The Silent Minority: LGBTQ+ Voices in Architecture. Back in New York City, I spoke on a panel organized by FXOne called Let’s Talk Identities.

…are you building a CV right now?

My point is: personally, I’ve participated in a myriad of queer-specific professional development events and activities but have rarely found a feeling of belonging to a community, a network of people. Of queer architects and designers, specifically. I’m not looking to network for a job, to host panels, to write or produce anything of material value—I’m looking to build relationships with others, and to facilitate that among other people as well. To be honest, I’m still feeling out what that means. I tweet a lot, so that’s where I find people to be in community with, but it’s extremely ephemeral (and sometimes toxic). Nothing says “not ephemeral” like an email newsletter, though, so that’s what Queer Agenda is right now.

so… here we go!

In the spirit of not exactly having thought things completely through yet, I invite you to join me in an experiment. Whether or not the experiment works depends on all of us. That’s right, all of us. I invite you to set aside a block of time—it can be as short as 5 minutes or as long as an hour—to leave a comment on this post with whatever thoughts come to you. You don’t even need to edit it—typos are allowed. Just type.

Are you searching for community? What kind of network do you want to build together? What does your community look like right now?

How did reading this make you feel? Did you find the conversation-style writing cheesy? Do you want to unsubscribe immediately?

How did you get here? What’s your context?

What’s on your queer agenda?

And of course, a newsletter wouldn’t be a newsletter without more buttons.

Thank you for reading.

Until next time 🌻,

🌬with a cool breeze from an air conditioner,

A.L.