News 1130 interviewed Wild Root Journeys for an article titled “Pride outside: the hard won space that queer people occupy in nature”. Here is the article and a few more of my thoughts about why we offer queer specific trips.
Acceptance and belonging transcends race, gender and sexual orientation. We all want to feel safe, and beyond that, we want to feel that we can be ourselves without judgement, and feel embraced for being ourselves.
I started running queer trips with my company in the Broken Group Islands last year to promote a safe place for those folks wanting to get out into nature for this reason. I have found that bringing groups together with one extra commonality helps people to drop their guard early and to feel acceptance in being a part of a community. I think that there is great power in this.
Minority groups experience harassment and non-acceptance at a greater level and could therefore be hesitant to go deeper into nature as it may be a bit more of an unknown. I know that as a solo-woman hiking, I have felt unease when I hear another group approaching a campsite. This unease is a natural response based off of real experiences. What are your thoughts on the topic?
