Queers Doing Things host an event at Austin’s Coffee Jan. 19. (Photo by Caysea Stone)
ORLANDO | Queers Doing Things, a new event planning collective aimed toward building a queer community beyond nightlife, hosted their second event, Tea 4 Tea, at Austin’s Coffee Jan. 19.
Rocky (he/they), director of critically acclaimed Hellhound Entertainment and local DJ, established Queers Doing Things with Alice Dee (she/they), a burlesque performer and co-producer of Sillouhettes. The pair worked together to put on Tea 4 Tea to host an open discussion surrounding issues Orlando’s transgender community faces via a panel made up of three trans individuals: Steph Alford (she/they), also known as The Amnesia Effect; Nikki Chong (she/her) and Jasper Feliz (he/him), who also goes by Punkal0id.
The event gathered roughly 30 attendees who attentively watched as the panel discussed issues like performative activism, how to gain access to gender-affirming care and the current political climate before opening up the panel for questioning. One attendee, Amy, expressed frustration at feeling like trans-oriented events are hidden behind a paywall, making them out of reach for those who cannot afford a hefty cover fee. The panel speculated that this could be attributed to businesses exploiting the trans community by wishing to profit off them rather than being a genuine safe space.
The panel also referenced the need for trans men in queer spaces, specifically trans men of color. Feliz, who runs a rave-throwing collective called Cyber Island, is six weeks post-operation from his top surgery and has experienced first-hand the barriers trans men face in and out of the health care system. He was also one of many trans individuals who had to ration their weekly shots after DeSantis removed nurse practitioners’ access to prescribing gender-affirming care in 2023, going from taking it once a week to once every six weeks — a practice Feliz says can be extremely dangerous.
“It can be really, really hard to try and set yourself up for success when you don’t know which door to turn to,” Feliz says. “[But] people need to remember that transness has always existed, and we’ve persevered through every single cycle of hate that’s been projected against us.”
Feliz, Alford and Chong recommend Bliss Health, Pineapple Health and 26Health for trans or sexual health, the Florida Doll Defense for safety resources and Gala Ghouls and Hellhound events for safe LGBTQ+-led entertainment.
Although Tea 4 Tea was geared toward highlighting trans issues and encouraging people to “normalize trans people being obnoxious and taking up space,” QDT’s primary objective is to provide queer youth and those disinterested in Orlando’s nightlife scene a chance to connect with others within their community without being 21+ or feeling like they have to drink or stay out late. Alford, a drag performer and makeup artist, explains that the events offer an intimate environment to find support, a space where “anybody at any stage in their transition, however they define their own transition, feels invited.” A space where queer people shouldn’t feel inclined to go “full drag” if they do not wish to in order to feel welcomed.
“Gender-affirming care looks like whatever the fuck feels right for you, period. Literally, whatever the fuck feels right for you,” Alford said.
Discovering queer language and seeing older trans women played a massive role in Alford’s journey of finding herself and aligning with her femininity. She spent kindergarten through senior year at a private Christian school, so her first exposure to something reminiscent of what was to come was attending a show at Hamburger Mary’s at 16.
“[Something] clicked in my brain,” Alford said. “Seeing a person in front of me who was trans was very important for me to take in and understand that could be like a mirror of how I could be for myself.”
For today’s queer youth, the path of discovery through drag has been made more difficult thanks to Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and the state GOP. The QDT founders point to Senate Bill 1438: Protection of Children, which prohibits minors from attending “adult live performances,” being signed into law in 2023. It was later blocked by the courts who said the measure likely violates the U.S. Constitution’s First Amendment.
According to Dee, the other co-founder of QDT, the bill uses vague language and was a huge reason why the following PRIDE month had so few drag queens or trans people in the street. Among many reasons, this discrimination hurts the community by robbing queer youth of the comfort that comes with witnessing someone they relate to living freely — an experience she describes as healing.
This is one of the key reasons Dee and Rocky founded QDT — it’s their turn to be the ones young queers can look up to as they begin to search for a community outside of the four walls they grew up in.
The pair hopes their events will bring at least one thing to attendees: a friend. Rocky, who describes himself as a very politically driven person, believes that interconnectedness could facilitate policy with the togetherness acting as a branch to lean on so queer people feel safe and supported in demanding actionable change.
Photos by Caysea Stone.
You must be logged in to post a comment.