Category: 2SLGBTQIA

  • Should a trans masc (me) play women’s sports?

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    Conservatives are obsessed with trans people playing sports, especially women’s sports. This is very weird to me, as… The typical advice from trans allies is that trans people should play sports in the category that aligns with their gender. So trans women should play women’s sports. And trans men should play in men’s sports. But…

  • Attending a silent Vipassana retreat as a queer and trans person

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    A few years ago I went on a 10 day silent meditation retreat in Nepal. I fell in love Vipassana meditation. The featured image above shows the meditation hall in Nepal, men on one side and women on the other. It the most difficult thing I’ve ever done, both physically and mentally. But it showed…

  • How to include trans and non-binary people in your women’s group (2026)

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    Women’s outdoor groups provide safe and nurturing spaces for many women to make connections and push their limits. As awareness about trans and non-binary issues rises, some women are starting to question how to make their groups more welcoming to trans people. These women realize how lucky they are to have safe spaces and they…

  • Creating trans-inclusive outdoor groups

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    I talked to 35 transgender people about what makes them feel safe and included in outdoor groups. Here is what they told me.

  • Mt. Shuksan via Fisher Chimneys

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    I learned to climb on Mt. Shuksan years ago. This course gave me a taste into a hyper-masculine culture where I did not belong. It was powerful to return to this same route on this mountain as a leader under my own terms.

  • My experience starting a queer outdoors group

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    Last year, I was feeling good about my mountaineering accomplishments. And with my work getting more women out climbing and on trips with the Alpine Club of Canada. But as someone who doesn’t even feel like a woman half the time, I was sorely missing queer community. I am not the kind of person who…

  • What’s a queer ex-Catholic doing on the Camino de Santiago?

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    We’ve just finished a communal dinner at a volunteer-run hostel in a small village in Spain. Our hosts are volunteers from the Netherlands who welcome new pilgrims every day. We are walking the Camino de Santiago, an ancient 800 km pilgrimage across northern Spain. It was one of the most important Christian pilgrimages in the…

  • My experience as queer hiker and climber

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    I am queer. Throughout my life, people have sometimes been able to quickly figure this out about me and sometimes they haven’t. If you are wondering why I am writing about this on an outdoor adventure blog, hang in there.  I’ll come to that in a moment…