Hey! This is really cool, thanks for doing this. Everything I've written after this is pretty selfish. I really want to know how safe/included queer people feel within the profession. I've worked in rural areas and cities, encountering co-workers on a spectrum of queer acceptance. In talks with queer colleagues, I've heard that they feel intimidated in work environments even if their co-workers, clients, contractors, and more are outwardly accepting.
Also, how many queer people in the profession are closeted? Are they more likely to be in rural environments? Per the HRC, half of LGBTQ+ people are out at work. I, selfishly, want to know more about this. Some people are naturally quite, but shouldn't this number be closer to 95%? I work in a Multi-Disciplinary office with 160 people here and there is 1 out gay, me. No matter how you divide the numbers either some of my co-workers are closeted (which there are closet cases) and/or the company isn't inviting for queer people. Is the office under representing non-straight people in the professions we hire or do the professions that work here themselves not reflect the non-straight people in the US.
Information about this would really help a conversation with firms/professions about how they have better company policies to allow more non-straight people to feel they have a future within these spaces.
I'm interested in this survey as an opportunity to learn more about a queer space+design canon. Beyond Philip Johnson, beyond Aaron Betsky, what have queer people written about architecture, planning, landscape architecture, urban design, cities, spaces, etc? What queer visual and performance artists, musicians, activists influence us in our lives as humans and as designers? What are our favorite queer podcasts? Favorite queer spaces (bars, and beyond!) we've visited in real life, and hope to visit again after the pandemic?
Absolutely love this idea. I think the biggest question would be if the respondent is out in their workplace. I am curious at to your methodology for reaching queer people in architecture to take this survey. Absent access to something like AIA's membership database, I'm not sure how one would approach this.
I love the idea of a survey because I feel like there is very little information regarding queer folks in architecture. Some questions I’ve thought about from time to time:
- How does being queer shape the spaces we live, (besides bathroom discussions) and what does queer planning/design look like?
- Who are our queer architect/design role models?
- How comfortable are people coming out in their office, and are there architect-adjacent design professions that people drift to instead of a traditional office?
- What are some queer safe spaces that people can go, and what are the firms that celebrate queerness?
- How are LGBT folks represented in the architecture/design world, past and present?
Sort of related, there used to be a Queer Urbanist Exchange group in Philly (actually it may still exist) and I attended a tour of the Mazzoni Center a couple of years ago, which is a local LGBT health and wellness center. I think the group was mostly planners. Was pretty cool to meet some other folks that way, although the group was mostly older white gay men.
Also, regarding LGBT-inclusive spaces, Philadelphia just lost our only lesbian bar. I personally wasn’t a huge fan of it, but it sucks that it’s gone and that there are so few spaces left in the US.
Hey! This is really cool, thanks for doing this. Everything I've written after this is pretty selfish. I really want to know how safe/included queer people feel within the profession. I've worked in rural areas and cities, encountering co-workers on a spectrum of queer acceptance. In talks with queer colleagues, I've heard that they feel intimidated in work environments even if their co-workers, clients, contractors, and more are outwardly accepting.
Also, how many queer people in the profession are closeted? Are they more likely to be in rural environments? Per the HRC, half of LGBTQ+ people are out at work. I, selfishly, want to know more about this. Some people are naturally quite, but shouldn't this number be closer to 95%? I work in a Multi-Disciplinary office with 160 people here and there is 1 out gay, me. No matter how you divide the numbers either some of my co-workers are closeted (which there are closet cases) and/or the company isn't inviting for queer people. Is the office under representing non-straight people in the professions we hire or do the professions that work here themselves not reflect the non-straight people in the US.
Information about this would really help a conversation with firms/professions about how they have better company policies to allow more non-straight people to feel they have a future within these spaces.
Loving all of this as always...
I'm interested in this survey as an opportunity to learn more about a queer space+design canon. Beyond Philip Johnson, beyond Aaron Betsky, what have queer people written about architecture, planning, landscape architecture, urban design, cities, spaces, etc? What queer visual and performance artists, musicians, activists influence us in our lives as humans and as designers? What are our favorite queer podcasts? Favorite queer spaces (bars, and beyond!) we've visited in real life, and hope to visit again after the pandemic?
Absolutely love this idea. I think the biggest question would be if the respondent is out in their workplace. I am curious at to your methodology for reaching queer people in architecture to take this survey. Absent access to something like AIA's membership database, I'm not sure how one would approach this.
I love the idea of a survey because I feel like there is very little information regarding queer folks in architecture. Some questions I’ve thought about from time to time:
- How does being queer shape the spaces we live, (besides bathroom discussions) and what does queer planning/design look like?
- Who are our queer architect/design role models?
- How comfortable are people coming out in their office, and are there architect-adjacent design professions that people drift to instead of a traditional office?
- What are some queer safe spaces that people can go, and what are the firms that celebrate queerness?
- How are LGBT folks represented in the architecture/design world, past and present?
Sort of related, there used to be a Queer Urbanist Exchange group in Philly (actually it may still exist) and I attended a tour of the Mazzoni Center a couple of years ago, which is a local LGBT health and wellness center. I think the group was mostly planners. Was pretty cool to meet some other folks that way, although the group was mostly older white gay men.
Also, regarding LGBT-inclusive spaces, Philadelphia just lost our only lesbian bar. I personally wasn’t a huge fan of it, but it sucks that it’s gone and that there are so few spaces left in the US.