Queer Out Loud

🌈 Unspoken: From Stonewall to Stonehouse 🌈

Are you over 50 and part of the LGBTQ+ community in Plymouth? Join us at Leadworks as we launch a new collaborative creative project, Unspoken, aimed at telling the stories that have remained untold.

🗓 Initial Meetings - 10th October at Leadworks

11:00 AM - 12:30 PM
5:30 PM - 7:30 PM
We'll be continuing our sessions on the following dates:

24th October at Leadworks, 5:30 PM - 7:30 PM
7th November at Leadworks, 5:30 PM - 7:30 PM
21st November at Talk Shop, 5:30 PM - 7:30 PM
5th December at Leadworks, 5:30 PM - 7:30 PM
19th December at Talk Shop, 5:30 PM - 7:30 PM
This is a fantastic opportunity to come together, reflect on the journey from Stonewall to Stonehouse, and creatively share the stories that have shaped us. We're really looking forward to seeing you there! 🌟

📍 Location: Leadworks, Stonehouse
💌 For more information or to register, contact: [email protected]

Q***r Out Loud are proud to be part of the Out There festival in Exeter. Please come and join us Sunday for an hour of wonderful Devon based talent - it's good stuff, yeah. For tickets please go to: www.out-there-exeter.com

Hosted by the ever wonderful Jon Nash

So proud of TOQS surviving two years, here’s to many more!! Thank you to the Q***riosities team for creating such a lovely safe space

It has now been 2 years since TOQS moved into a physical store!

We're truly grateful for all the love and support we have received over the past 2 years, and we hope to continue growing and improving to become the kind of Q***r space our community deserves.

Thank you all!

~ El 💚🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️

A warning to our Facebook followers, it seems as if QOL may have been posted in a TERF group. If you notice any comments, tag us/Mimi Jones and we will delete and block them. If you need to take a break from our page while this is dealt with, we understand 💛🏳️‍⚧️

Super busy month for the QOL team! Check out all the places we’re selling at/hosting events. It’s going to be chaos but we’re so hyped.

We’re going to have a range of stock and, as always, be the q***rest stall possible 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️🕺

Huge thank you to all our volunteers for helping with these events while I’m working over in Cornwall. I shall be making a guest appearance at a few of them so hopefully I’ll see you there!

As always, we will have a donations box for our Trans Fund. Even if you don’t buy anything, if you would like to donate, please do!

We will be updating our q***r directory and some info packs for these events. If there is anything you would like to see on them (such as putting your business/community group on the directory, or a particular guide on something) let us know ASAP!

If you’ve got this far, let us know what you think of the updated branding. Trying something new, aiming to give us a proper branding aesthetic. Branding is definitely not my forte though so feedback is appreciated.

PAID OPPORTUNITY ✨🏳️‍⚧️

Trans friends, fashion people and students, come check this out!

This freshers month, we are hosting a trans fashion show and we need YOUR HELP. We are looking for 10 Trans models 🏳️‍⚧️ that can pick out clothes from our HUGE collection of donated items and move across the AUP Student Union (be that walk, roll or my personal favourite: awkwardly shuffle 🧑‍🦽🕺🧍🚶‍♂️)

We want to introduce our FREE gender affirming care collection to as many new people as possible with this event so we are bringing all 15+ bags of clothes that have been donated in the last few months. This is the perfect opportunity to find outfits that suit your gender expression, without having to pay big money!!

If you would like to be a model, send us a message. We will be able to pay you a small amount, and you can take any clothes you’d like at the end of the event.

The bar will be open so bring your ID if you’re after an alcoholic drink (doesn’t matter how old you look, you gotta bring your ID folks). Soft drinks will be available too, but no ID need for that.

If you have any money spare, donations are appreciated. We can take cash or card. All money we take from this event will go into our Trans Fund which is dedicated to buying specific gender affirming items like packers, underwear and make up. We have some make up, binders and shoes available but limited quantities. If you would rather purchase or donate items instead of cash, we welcome this too!

Massive thank you to and for letting us use their space, and trusting us with this idea! 💡

FREE GENDER AFFIRMING CARE ITEMS 🏳️‍⚧️🏳️‍🌈✨

We have about 15 binders of various sizes, make up, jewellery, packing swim trunks, shoes, and all sorts of clothes. There is currently one packer available (super censored so meta doesn’t notice) which is silicone and semi realistic. We will be getting some foam packers in soon though!
We’ve also got some amazing tops and jumpers which are so cozy!! All the volunteers have ended up taking some home already…

These items have been kindly donated by and you wonderful lot. They are free to trans people, but you are welcome to donate if you have the means! That money will go towards our small trans fund which we use to get more items like this! Specific requests are allowed but will be limited based on our budget. We currently have about £40 available.

A more detailed post about the donations from spectrum will be coming soon!

🎉 It’s all we can talk about at the moment, but we just cannot get over it — the Union Street Party turns FIFTEEN this year! Can you believe it? A full-blown teenager. 😉 Come and celebrate the city’s biggest 15th birthday party on the 15th of September!

Over the years there have been countless beautiful moments — funny ones, (almost!) disastrous ones, silly ones, bitter-sweet ones — and tens of thousands of people have joined forces to bring joy to the street. Every year is a labour of love with lots to learn, and every year challenges us to stick to our principles. The Union Street Party was started by and for local people, and it will always remain that way. In Co-Director Hannah’s words, ‘Every street party is a huge collective effort and expression of love from an amazing community that is too often judged and misunderstood.’

🔗 Head to www.nudgecommunity.medium.com to read Hannah’s latest blog post reflecting on 15 years of love on the Street. Can spot yourself in some of the photos from the archives? Follow the link in our bio if you’re feeling nostalgic.

Writers Open Call - do you love writing folk tales inspired by life in the southwest?

Be part of this writers open call and send us your submissions. Entries will be submitted into a giveaway where winners will be selected at random.

Deadline 12th September 2024

For more information - https://forms.gle/8YPcDq3JadxvpQs76

https://www.makerheights.org.uk/events-maker-height-cornwall

Language is a Q***r Thing (The Q***r Muslim Project) returns for a third year with 6 LGBTQIA+ spoken word artists and poets from India and the UK.

Selected poets will each receive an honorarium of £500 to create and showcase new artistic work exploring the link between language, q***rness and identity as well as to engage local people of different ages and backgrounds in creative cultural activity.

Deadline to apply: Wednesday 21st August - https://tqmp.in/liaqt2024/

Spork Q***r Out Loud Exeter Phoenix South West authors and writers (UK)

You may have seen on our stories that we have a nice little hoard of books coming along and that has finally turned into: The Project 752 Community Library!
We are so excited to be working with Neudice and to be providing the best books possible around diverse experiences, and business/entrepreneurship.

As this is a community library, it means we want you, our community, to send us any recommendations you have! If there is a book you think someone might appreciate having access to, send us a DM and we will add it to our collection. To see what we already have, head over to https://shed752.librarika.com

People that already have a standard membership do not need to buy a Library Membership. Just send us an email, DM, or drop by the shed and we will get you set up.

And, as you may have seen, Mimi and Stu have been in the shed at the Plot for just over a year now! It has been an amazing journey so far, and you are to thank for that. To show our appreciation, use code SHEDIVERSARY2024 for 10% off all NeuDICE and Q***r Out Loud products. This code is valid until 11:59 PM, Sunday 18th August.

More info about the newly released Shelf Space membership will be coming very soon!

🌟 Call Out for Creative Writing Submissions! 🌟

The 40 Project is seeking contributions from women, those who identify as female, or individuals who experience periods and from those who have lived experienced of sanitary hardship or homelessness. 📝✨

We are looking for pieces of writing to include in our kits, which will be distributed throughout Plymouth over the next year. We invite you to submit creative writing that can inspire, uplift, and encourage others.

Your contribution could be:

A poem
A short story
A personal reflection
A few encouraging sentences
Anything!
The goal is to provide a message of hope, strength, and solidarity in a creative way.

We will select 12 submissions, one for each month of the upcoming year, to be included in the sanitary kits.

How to Submit:
📧 Email your submission to [email protected] with the subject line "The 40 Project Call Out."
📝 Include your name (or make up a name if you prefer) and an address. If you are successful, we will send a gift card to your location using the name you provided as a thank you.

Deadline for submissions: 29th of August 2024

Let's come together and share our stories to support and inspire one another! 💖

We have been working on our Ko-Fi page today and have added a gift card option! You can choose how much you would like to pay, and then send that receipt to a friend to use in our shop!

https://ko-fi.com/q***routloud

You can also support us with a one off, or monthly payment to help keep Q***r Out Loud running smoothly! We are primarily a donations run organisation so any little bit helps ☺️💛

Support Q***r Out Loud CIC on Ko-fi! ❤️. ko-fi.com/q***routloud Support Q***r Out Loud CIC On Ko-fi. Ko-fi lets you support the people and causes you love with small donations

If you collect something from our clothes swap and need it altered, Amelia is a great person to go to!

Money will be going to Doctors Without Borders.

I’ll be sat on a pride flag for those that don’t know what I look like. Bring friends and family, and have a nice afternoon enjoying your lunch at Beaumont Park.

Bring camping chairs if you need them for any disability or comfort related reasons. If you don’t want to talk to anyone, you absolutely don’t need to. Social in this sense is purely being in the same proximity as someone. I will most likely have a show downloaded on my phone to watch by myself for most of the time I’m out.

I’m also intending to get some pavement chalk for anyone that wants to leave messages of q***r hope on the paths through the park. If there are any creative things you want to bring, go for it!

If any cafes would like to donate food, please get in contact! This will be a massive help for those running low on cash for lunch that want to join us!

For those that have forgotten, we do unfortunately live in Plymouth and the weather runs on its own terms. Check the forecast before you leave. You might need a winter jumper and coat, or copious amounts of sun cream and a cap. Who knows! The current prediction is cloudy but 20 degrees.

The blaming accessibility for the reason money from Babcock was needed has infuriated me, and many people that have reached out since a post I shared on our stories last night so I’m finally sharing the survey results.

I had not shared this previously as I was trying to be civil and only post it once pride had said they were okay with that. As they are claiming to like open communication, here is me openly communicating the thoughts of vendors from last years market. They rushed me in sharing the info last year, and then never replied about their thoughts, or asked to chat about it. I put them in contact with NeuDICE who offered their support as a gesture of goodwill and pride did not take them up on it. If you’re getting blood money to pay for accessibility, the least you could do is learn what accessibility actually is.

I have been a disability advocate for the last few years as my own health has deteriorated and the key thing is that it is impossible to make an event accessible to all. Just having disabled toilets does not make something accessible.

I have included the positive bits of feedback too because some people did enjoy the event. The audience did in particular which is great news. But there is so much progress to be made.

Anyway, on June 22nd I shall be having a picnic lunch at Beaumont Park if any q***rs would like to join me.