Quality Queers, a Carbondale-based community organization that began hosting monthly free-to-low-cost communal gatherings for members of the queer community ages 22 and up, sees its one-year anniversary this month and celebrates expanded community offerings.
The organization at first hosted local group hikes, potlucks and game nights, events which drew on average 15 attendees. The project has since grown to reach from Aspen all the way to Grand Junction and Eagle with an average of more than 20 attendees at similar events as well as new home-repair and tax workshops, arts and crafts nights and a free hot springs outing sponsored by AspenOut.
“I wanted to provide a safe, sober-adjacent space for all to get together, be in community, and experience joy,” Quality Queers Founder Anisa Lavender said. “The state of our government and our [country’s] leadership and world events were and still are weighing heavily on me, and I wanted to do something about it.”
Lavender, who has been in the Roaring Fork Valley for a little over two years, initially came here after volunteering with Aspen Camp of the Deaf & Hard of Hearing on a snowshoe retreat. She has since organized a myriad of events central to Pride Month and other queer-focused projects.
She said she felt inspired to take action organizing gatherings of this nature after seeing a quote from Dan Savage, an American author, journalist and activist for the LGBTQIA+ community, about how the community banded together during the HIV/AIDS crisis during the Reagan administration.
“During the darkest days of the AIDS crisis, we buried our friends in the morning, we protested in the afternoon, and we danced all night,” Savage’s quote reads. “The dance kept us in the fight because the dance is what we were fighting for. It didn’t look like we were going to win then, and we did. It doesn’t feel like we’re going to win now, but we could. Keep fighting, keep dancing.”
Lavender says this quote ignited a need to foster joy in the Valley’s queer community while also providing spaces that align with sober-adjacent activities.
“I’ve seen it first hand in our community how many of us struggle with our queer identities, and I think a lot of people end up struggling with substance abuse alongside that because of the initial struggle,” Lavender said. “I, personally, don’t drink and I was tired of the only invitations being set in environments where drinking is the main focus. I thought to myself, ‘I’m sure I’m not the only one who feels this way,’ and I also had connected with members of the community who were sober who were looking for events where they could go and not be surrounded by those things.”
According to the Recovery Research Institute, it is estimated that 30% of LGBTQ+ individuals struggle with some form of addiction in comparison to 9% in the general population. Members of this community are also 18% more likely to struggle with alcohol addiction, 20% more likely to deal with drug use disorders and, in comparison to their heterosexual counterparts, are 5.9% more likely to misuse prescription drugs.
Lavender expressed gratitude toward Stepping Stones of the Roaring Fork Valley, which partnered with Quality Queers to provide drug-and-alcohol-free space for events, as well as to AspenOut, which has supported the organization by underwriting many of their projects.
“Last winter, [AspenOut] reached out and said they had heard what we were doing, and because we were reaching such a diverse and inclusive audience, and that really inspired them, and so they wanted to support us any way they could,” Lavender said. “They ended up underwriting our events, and still do. They pay for my time, they pay for a monthly budget I get to use towards providing free goods and snacks and refreshments and games and things like that to our community, so it’s been really great to see how far we’ve come and how much we’ve grown.”
Lavender encourages folks looking to make connections and experience new things within the community to join Quality Queers’ upcoming events, including a postcard-
writing workshop at Townline Trucks and the Mountain Pride health fair, hosted in collaboration with Colorado Mountain College (CMC) and Colorado Health Network.
“There are a lot of queer people in this valley. There just hasn’t been a lot of centralized gatherings, which is what Quality Queers is trying to achieve,” she said. “So, bring a friend or bring a couple of friends, it’ll be easier to break the ice. We have fabulous volunteers and hosts that will make you feel very welcome.”
For updates, to get involved or to make a contribution, follow Quality Queers on Instagram @qualityqueers25 or reach out to Qualityqueers25@gmail.com