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| Bellingham Queer Collective connects, celebrates, unites, and advocates for the LGBTQ+ and BIPOC communities. |
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| March 2026 BQC Newsletter |
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| Dear Friends,
The sunshine, warmer days, budding leaves, and bright daffodils are reminding us that new seasons bring new energy and new possibilities. We hope you’re finding moments to get outside and enjoy the beauty of our forests, parks, and downtown as the light returns to our days.
Thank you for being part of the BQC community and for welcoming our monthly newsletter into your inbox. Your presence, participation, and support are what make this community so vibrant and resilient. We have so much to share with you this month — exciting updates, opportunities to connect, and meaningful ways to get involved — so be sure to read all the way to the end!
Our special focus this month is our Transgender Day of Visibility event on March 31. This is an important opportunity to celebrate, uplift, and stand in solidarity with our transgender and gender-diverse community members. Seating is limited, so please register as soon as possible if you plan to attend. We would love to see you there.
Together, we continue to build a community rooted in visibility, belonging, and hope.
With gratitude,
Michelle Harmeier
On behalf of the BQC Board of Directors
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| | Important Dates:Bisexual Health Awareness Month National Women’s History Month 3/1 – Zero Discrimination Day 3/10 – National Women and Girls HIV/AIDS Awareness Day 3/20 – National Native HIV/AIDS Awareness Day 3/21 – National Single Parent Day 3/31 – International Transgender Day of Visibility
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| | | | In This Issue:Transgender Day of Visibility @ BSAC March 31 Author Event Nico Lang @ WWU March 5 First Friday Art Walk @ BQC Center March 6 Clothing Swap @ BQC Center March 7 - Bring Stuff! Generations of Pride March 25 @ Senior Center New Grief Support Group Staring March 17 BQC Volunteer Update & Thanks to Rotary! New Home Sharing Program COB New Safe Space Program COB Bellingham Aerial and Dance Gratitude Washington Friends For Life; Fentanyl Awareness Campaign
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| Transgender Day of VisibilityVisibility with Joy. Resistance with Pride! Tuesday, March 31, 6:30 PM |
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| Hosted by BQC, PFLAG Whatcom/Bellingham, and On March 31, our community will come together our 2nd Annual Bellingham Transgender Day of Visibility celebration — an evening dedicated to honoring, uplifting, and standing alongside our transgender neighbors.
We’re excited to gather at the Bellingham Senior Activity Center, home of our beloved Generations of Pride monthly dinners. The venue offers free, plentiful, and accessible parking, making it easy for everyone to attend.
Why Transgender Day of Visibility MattersTransgender Day of Visibility is a time to celebrate the courage, resilience, and contributions of transgender people while raising awareness about the discrimination and legislative threats they continue to face. It’s both a joyful celebration and a call to action.
During the evening, we will: Celebrate the progress, milestones, and successes of the past year Educate ourselves about current national challenges and two initiatives appearing on Washington’s November ballot Strengthen community connections through shared stories and dialogue
Featured Speaker: Erika Shepard
We are honored to welcome Erika Shepard, a local retired geologist, author, and transgender advocate.
Erika is best known for her award-winning memoir, Trans-Formations: From Field Boots to Sensible Heels, which earned First Place in the Journeys category at the 2024 Chanticleer Book Reviews Conference. Her story is one of authenticity, perseverance, and transformation — and her voice is both powerful and deeply inspiring.
The evening will also include a panel discussion featuring diverse transgender voices from our local community, sharing lived experiences, insight, and hope.
Event Details
Additional contributions are warmly appreciated and help cover event costs, including beverages and a delicious charcuterie table provided by Hela Provisions.
Transgender Day of Visibility is about more than visibility — it’s about belonging. It’s about standing together in celebration and solidarity.
We hope you’ll join us for this meaningful and uplifting evening.
Click here to register today and be part of a community that shows up with pride. |
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| Author and Political Journalist Nico Lang Comes to Bellingham on March 5! |
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| We are excited to announce that PFLAG is bringing Author and Award-Winning Journalist, Nico Lang, to Bellingham. Nico will share insights and stories about their book, American Teenager: How Trans Kids are Surviving Hate and Finding Joy in a Turbulent Era. Their work has appeared in major publications, including Rolling Stone, Esquire, The New York Times, Vox, The Wall Street Journal, Salon, Harper’s Bazaar, Time, The Washington Post, and the Los Angeles Times. One of our board members, Saga Brooks, will interview Nico and moderate questions from the audience.
PFLAG is pleased to be partnering with the LGBTQ+ office at Western WA University who will be hosting this event on campus in the Academic West Building and providing refreshments. Parking is available near the building. We are very grateful to the Mount Baker Foundation who has given us a generous donation to cover Nico’s speaking fee and travel expenses.
The event is free, but registration is required. Space is limited so we encourage you to register as soon as possible. |
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| First Friday Art Walk on March 6Featured Artist Mark Turner @ BQC Center, 6:00 PM - 9:00 PM |
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| Explore MEN UNCLAD: intimate, sensual, erotic, and playful photographs of men comfortable in their skin. Photographer Mark Turner began this series while exploring his sexuality as part of coming out as a gay man at age 62 nearly 10 years ago. Working with professional models, as well as himself and his husband as subjects, he explores the beauty of the male body, the challenge of coming out, and the intimacy he shares with his lover and husband. He can be playful, too. Images in this exhibit include frontal male nudity.
Mark has had a camera in his hands for over 60 years and has earned his living making images, mostly of plants, for over 30 years. He’s the primary photographer of three plant field guides, with two more coming out in May, 2026 (all from Timber Press) and the now out of print Bellingham Impressions. Collectively, over 90,000 people have his books and they’ve received several awards.
A little over 10 years ago, Mark began photographing the male nude. He was struggling internally with the idea that he might be gay after nearly 35 years in a happy heterosexual marriage. Working with male models and with himself in front of the camera, he began to be more comfortable both with his body and with being gay. He learned about the Seattle Erotic Art Festival, entered his work, and the jurors accepted some of it for display. The pieces in this exhibit at the Bellingham Queer Collective have either been shown at SEAF or submitted to the jury but not selected.
In 2019 Mark began a series of nude portraits of gay men in the radical faerie community that he calls the Naked Faerie Portrait Studio. Working at the winter and summer faerie gatherings at Oregon’s Breitenbush Hot Springs, he’s now photographed over 100 men, almost all of them nude. Most had never stripped down for the camera and many have commented on how powerful, in a positive way, it’s been for them to be vulnerable in this way. He plans to collect many of these portraits in a book that celebrates the diversity of the faerie community.
Mark met Brian, the man who is now his husband, in April 2017. They decided they were boyfriends while camping over Memorial Day weekend that year and pulled off a July 2020 wedding in the middle of the covid pandemic. They enjoy gardening, building things from wood, and spending quiet time hiking and backpacking. |
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| Clothing Swap at BQC CenterMarch 7 |
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| Join us for a free clothing swap for trans folks, by trans folks! Bring your old stuff that no longer suits your presentation or just doesn’t work for you anymore. Browse other people’s items, and take home some new digs! Please only bring clean clothing, accessories, and shoes- no undies, unwashed items, or housewares please. Join your community for a fun afternoon of trading and sharing! |
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| Generations of PrideFeb. 25, 5:00 PM @ Bellingham Senior Activity Center |
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| Generations of Pride is our intergenerational community dinner centering LGBTQ+ people and allies in the Bellingham/Whatcom community. We gather on the last Wednesday of every month at Bellingham Senior Activity Center at 315 Halleck St. Each month we have a different topic for discussion with breakouts to help connect LGBTQ+ people across generations.
The free dinner event is hosted by Western Washington University's LGBTQ+ Western, Bellingham Queer Collective, and the Bellingham/Whatcom Chapter of PFLAG, and was inspired by research from Western's Psychology Department's Listen Lab.
Thanks to the Sustainability, Equity, and Justice Fund, we do not need any more potluck items. We thank the efforts of PFLAG, Bellingham Queer Collective, Generations of Pride, LGBTQ+ Western, the Centers, and staff and attendees for making this possible. |
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| New 8-week Queer Grief Support Group Starting on March 17 |
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| The BQC is excited to continue our partnership with Accent Counseling to provide our community with another grief support group based on the needs expressed to us by our members. This will be the third opportunity for you to join a group at no cost to you thanks to a generous grant from the Mount Baker Foundation. Email annah.burgess@accent-counseling.com for more information. |
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| BQC Volunteer Program Thrives Thanks to Bellingham Bay Rotary! |
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| We extend our heartfelt gratitude to the Bellingham Bay Rotary Club for their continued and generous support of the BQC!
This year, we were honored to receive a $1,300 grant to further strengthen our BQC Volunteer Program. At this same time last year, Rotary awarded us our first grant, which helped us successfully launch our new volunteer program in June. Their belief in our mission has made a lasting impact on our growth and sustainability.
Our vision remains ambitious and clear: to recruit and train enough dedicated volunteers to staff the BQC Center from 9:00 AM to 9:00 PM, seven days a week. Thanks to Rotary’s investment and the incredible dedication of our Volunteer Coordinator Committee—led by Lynx—we are closer than ever to achieving that goal.
Today, more than 100 volunteers serve as greeters, affinity group leaders, house volunteers, and event and outreach volunteers. This vibrant and growing network of community members reflects what is possible when service organizations like Rotary partner with grassroots programs like ours.
We are deeply thankful to Bellingham Bay Rotary for helping us build a welcoming, affirming, and community-powered space.
If you’ve been considering getting involved, now is the perfect time! Join our amazing community of volunteers and make a difference—whether for an hour a month or more. Together, we are creating something truly meaningful. |
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| | What happened in February at the BQC?! 📋✔️ So. Many. Things.
We are almost completely moved over to our new volunteer system and it’s smooth sailing now. 🌊⛵ We’ve trained 5 new volunteers and 2 new Affinity Group leaders this month!
So far we have logged 243 volunteer hours and 64 events, even in this shorter month! 🤩
Our weekly programming and Affinity Groups served over 149 people, 1/4th of those folks were newcomers to the center. And we are getting better at tracking these numbers, too.
We started our new Affinity Group Community Allies for Queer Equity that is focused on supporting trans and queer folx through collective action, education and shared responsibility.
And lastly I’ll share that we got all of our volunteer resource docs onto POINT so they are accessible to all of us here at BQC anytime.
Did you know it takes over 30+ volunteer shifts to run all of our programs each week?! That is a lot of QUEER POWER. We had 65 different humans showing up to keep the center rocking and rolling through this frigid month.
🌟Special Shout Out’s to this solid crew!🌟 Shayla - 19 hrs Drake - 24 hrs Soren - 17 hrs Navi - 18 hrs Clarice - 20 hrs
🏳️🌈🪩And thank you to all of our amazing VOLUNTEERS, we could not and would not do this without YOU.
Learn more about our programs and how you can help as a volunteer: |
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| Building Belonging Through Home Sharing: A Creative Housing Solution for Our LGBTQ+ Community |
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| As housing costs continue to rise in Bellingham and vacancy rates stay low, finding affordable, stable places to live has become one of the greatest challenges facing our community. In response, the City of Bellingham has launched an exciting and innovative resource — the Home Sharing Program — designed to make better use of the homes and rooms already here in our neighborhoods.
At its core, this program connects homeowners who have extra bedrooms with renters seeking long-term housing opportunities. Through a partnership with the home-sharing platform Nesterly, the program helps match hosts and guests, provides safety vetting and background checks, and supports both parties throughout the shared-living experience. Whether you’re a homeowner with a spare room or someone looking for a more affordable place to live, home sharing offers a flexible, humane housing option grounded in mutual respect and connection.
Why Home Sharing Matters NowOur community’s housing crisis is especially acute for queer people across generations. Younger LGBTQ+ folks often struggle with high rents and limited housing options, while many elders in our community face aging in place alone — socially isolated and facing rising costs with little support. Home sharing can be part of the solution for both.
For many older queer homeowners, participating as a host can bring: Steady supplemental income from rent paid by a matched guest. Community and companionship, greatly reducing isolation. Support with household tasks or errands, if negotiated, allowing guests to contribute chores in exchange for reduced rent.
Meanwhile, queer renters — including students, early-career professionals, elders seeking supportive living situations, or anyone looking for a trusted roommate experience — gain access to more stable, long-term housing choices that can be more affordable and community-oriented than many traditional rental options.
How the Program WorksThe Home Sharing Program is open to all homeowners in Whatcom County with a private bedroom they’re willing to rent for a month or more. Homes can be single-family houses, condos, townhomes, or other residential types. Once registered, hosts and renters create profiles on the Nesterly platform, where matches are suggested based on preferences and compatibility.
Safety and support are central to the program: Background checks and identity verification help ensure secure matches. In-platform chat and video features allow prospective roommates to connect before deciding to move forward. Customizable agreements let hosts and guests decide on rent amounts, house rules, and even chore exchanges.
Creating a profile and searching for matches is free, with modest fees applied once a booking is confirmed and for ongoing platform support. Visit the City of Bellingham Home Sharing web page to learn more and get started.
A Queer-Friendly Home Sharing CommunityThough this program is available to all Bellingham residents, we want to specifically encourage LGBTQ+ homeowners to consider signing up as hosts — and when you do, we recommend indicating that your household is LGBTQ+-friendly on your Nesterly profile. This can help queer renters in our community feel welcomed and supported as they search for a home share that respects and affirms their identity.
For queer renters, home sharing offers more than just a room; it can be a way of building intergenerational bonds, accessing emotional and social support, and finding a truly connected living situation in a city that can otherwise feel unaffordable and isolating. By participating — whether as a host or a renter — queer community members help build a more resilient, caring housing ecosystem in Bellingham.
We will be hosting an information session at the BQC Center in April. Look for more details in our April newsletter and our event calendar.
How to Get InvolvedHomeowners: If you have an extra bedroom and want to offer a welcoming space that can make a real difference — both financially and socially — now is a great time to join the program and list your space. All you need to get started is a clean, private room and a willingness to share your home.
Renters: If you’re searching for housing that feels safer, more supportive, and potentially more affordable, we encourage you to sign up as a guest and start exploring compatible matches in the program.
Together, we can make home sharing a powerful tool in strengthening our LGBTQ+ community, fostering connection across generations, and expanding housing options with heart. Learn more about the program and get started at the City of Bellingham’s home sharing page. |
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| A New Safe Space for All: Bellingham Launches Safe Place™ Program |
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| We’re grateful to see safer, more supportive resources expanding in our city. The City of Bellingham recently launched an important new initiative to protect community members who experience bias, harassment, or violence: the Safe Place™ Program. This program will make it easier for victims of hate crimes — including those targeting people based on sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, and other personal characteristics — to connect with help right away.
Safe Place™ is a partnership between the Bellingham Police Department and local businesses and organizations. Participating locations display a Safe Place™ decal in their window, signaling that if someone walks in after experiencing a hate-based incident, staff will offer a safe indoor place to wait and immediately call 911 on your behalf. The goal is to support individuals the moment they need help and to encourage timely reporting, so that investigations can begin quickly and effectively.
This program has roots in efforts to support victims of anti-LGBTQ+ crimes and bullying and has since expanded to cover all hate crimes. In launching Safe Place™, Bellingham is reaffirming that hate and intimidation have no place here — and that everyone deserves to feel secure, respected, and supported in our community.
If you’re out and about and see the Safe Place™ decal, know that you are in a space where staff are ready to help you stay safe and connect you with police assistance if needed. And for business owners or organizations interested in joining this effort, applications are open — participation is free, and training and materials are provided.
Together, we can build a Bellingham where all people — including our LGBTQ+ community — live free from fear, intimidation, and hate. Learn more about the program on the City of Bellingham website here. |
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| Gratitude to Bellingham Aerial and Dance for Supporting the BQC! |
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| Last month, Bellingham Aerial and Dance hosted their 2nd Annual B.A.D. Pajama Ball, and we couldn’t be more grateful! Many members of our BQC community participate in the classes and workshops offered by Bellingham Aerial and Dance, discovering not only opportunities to grow their skills but also a welcoming community that nurtures wellness, creativity, and connection.
A heartfelt thank you goes to Max and all the performers for creating such a vibrant, inclusive space for all of us to enjoy. Your dedication to both your art and your community is truly inspiring.
We also deeply appreciate that the BQC was chosen as the beneficiary of this wonderful fundraising event. Events like this directly support our programs, helping us continue to provide a safe, affirming, and engaging space for LGBTQ+ community members.
If you’ve ever considered trying something new, now is a perfect time! Join the Bellingham Aerial and Dance community — take a class, meet new friends, and become part of a supportive network that celebrates both creativity and community. Visit the B.A.D. website here. |
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| Washington Friends for Life Campaign |
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| Once again, the BQC is partnering with the Washington Health Authority to keep queer and BIPOC communities informed about how to prevent opioid overdoses due to illicit fentanyl circulating in our state. We will support the Washington State Friends for Life campaign by providing training, workshops, and outreach to the queer community and allies from March - May.
About the Friends for Life CampaignEveryone deserves to be safe and know how to keep the people they care about safe too. The Friends for Life Campaign informs people about: What illegal fentanyl is and how it’s affecting Washington state Ways to help young adults avoid opioids like fentanyl Strategies to spot and respond to an opioid overdose How to get and use naloxone (Narcan)
Friends play an especially important role in keeping one another safe. Campaign messages are designed to inform and educate people about what illicit fentanyl is and to give people specific action to take to help keep themselves and their loved ones safe.
Our queer elders, parents and young adults already support each other in many ways; and, with these education workshops, we can all learn more about what is out there and how we can keep each other safe—for Life!
We are seeking volunteers to help us deliver these messages to our community. If you would like to volunteer to table at a health fair, co-facilitate a community presentation to an area PFLAG chapter or young adults in one of the local colleges or universities, or facilitate an event to a part of the community that is important to you, please register for the Train the Trainer/Tabler event using the QR code in the above graphic or click here. If you were trained last year and want to participate, sign up for tabling opportunities in the Point volunteer platform. Since the event is during dinner time, a pizza supper will be provided to participants.
Upcoming Friends for Life Workshops and Outreach EventsWednesday, March 11, 8:30 - 11:00 AM Whatcom Community College Wellness Fair Tabling Syre Student Center 235 W Kellogg Road Bellingham
Sunday, April 19, 5:00 PM - 7:00 PM Train the Trainer/Tabler Event 310 W. Champion St. Bellingham Registration is open now. See QR Code above or click here.
Saturday, May 16 10:00 AM - 2:00 PM East Whatcom Health Fair Tabling 8215 Kendall Road, Maple Falls
Sunday, May 30, 10:00 AM - 2:00 PM Whatcom Youth Pride Tabling Bellingham High School Parking Lot 2020 Cornwall Ave. Bellingham |
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| | | 2025-2026 Sponsors/Partners |
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| | | | Support Bellingham Queer CollectiveWill you consider becoming a BQC Partner by making a small contribution each month or year? Recurring donations are the cornerstone of our fundraising efforts. We are a community funded organization. A gift of $5, $10, or $20 monthly or annually may have a modest impact on your giving budget, but it has a HUGE impact on covering our operational costs of running an all volunteer organization. Thank you BQC Partners! |
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