PRIDE
Find your queer community
Need advice about coming out as non-binary at work? Looking for queer runners to train with you for a marathon? More and more LGBTQ+ individuals are making these connections in apps and forming networks they might not have found in the real world.
Meet some of the people who are building and benefiting from these LGBTQ+ communities.
Network with LGBTQ+ professionals
LinkedIn helps hundreds of millions of people find jobs, follow industry news, expand their networks and connect with current and former colleagues.
The app is also a great place to connect with LGBTQ+ leaders in your field, or get advice talking to colleagues about your gender transition from someone who’s been through it themselves.
Suki Sandhu, founder and CEO of executive recruitment firm Audeliss and inclusivity consulting firm Involve, has been leading conversations about inclusion and diversity in the app. “I’m pretty out and proud about my identity, being gay and Indian and all of the other demographic boxes I tick,” Sandhu says.
It’s important for all diverse communities to have safe spaces to connect – more so for LGBTQ+ people because they’re invisible.
– Suki Sandhu, founder and CEO of Audeliss and Involve
People reach out to him regularly for everything from workplace-discrimination advice to introductions to other LGBTQ+ founders. “It’s important for all diverse communities to have safe spaces to connect – more so for LGBTQ+ people because they’re invisible,” says Sandhu. “You don’t know unless someone tells you.”
To join in: Search the app to find LGBTQ+ groups in your area and make connections. “Be bold in your outreach,” Sandhu encourages; if you share a bit about yourself and why you’d like to chat, you’re more likely to get a response.
Make meaningful connections
Discord launched in 2015 as a way for online gamers to strategise together; today the communities on this text-, voice- and video-chat platform are much more diversified.
On Discord’s LGBTQ-focused Spectrum server, conversations run the gamut. Its founder, August Catoe-Causey, started Spectrum in 2017. “We tried to make it a place we could hang out and feel safe. Someone forced to live in the closet can go online and use whatever name, pronouns and profile picture they want. They can be seen for who they are.”
Someone forced to live in the closet can go online and use whatever name, pronouns and profile picture they want. They can be seen for who they are.
– August Catoe-Causey, founder of Spectrum
Now thousands of members strong, Spectrum has helped make countless connections. (It’s where Catoe-Causey met their best friend.) But the server is about more than that. “It’s about giving people a sense of belonging, especially in this political climate where the dominant message that queer folks, and especially trans youth, are hearing is that they do not belong.”
To join in: Tap the link below. To keep Spectrum a safe space, you’ll need to respond to a few questions before you’re granted full access to the server. All responses are reviewed manually.
Parent with Pride
Peanut, a social network tailored for mothers, connects people at all stages of the parenting journey – whether pregnant, navigating newborn life, chasing after toddlers or going through menopause.
It’s also where important conversations are taking place amongst LGBTQ+ parents, covering everything from struggles with fertility treatments to book recommendations for kids with non-traditional families.
Freya Lyon joined Peanut when she and her partner were expecting their first child. She’s since met up with other queer mums from the app for playdates, and leaned on the Peanut community to find a nursery that would welcome same-sex parents. “There was nowhere else to ask that question,” she says.
Now that she’s picking up on different family structures, we can say, ‘Emily’s got two mums as well.’
– Freya Lyon, parent on Peanut
The real-world connections she’s made have also proven invaluable for her daughter. “Now that she’s picking up on different family structures, we can say, ‘Emily’s got two mums as well,’” says Lyon. “Seeing that family structure mirrored is really useful for her.”
To join in: When setting up your Peanut profile, choose a “pack” such as LGBTQ+ or non-binary; this enables you to filter who you meet in the app to only those in the same packs. You can also make connections through groups such as Thinking Queerly, or start your own local LGBTQ+ group.
Find your people
Lex started out in 2019 as a queer dating app; it relaunched earlier this year as a way to help people find LGBTQ+ friends and organise groups.
“The unique thing about the LGBTQ+ community is that we’ve all shared the same lived experience in some capacity,” says founder Kel Rakowski.
She’s especially excited to see all the real-world connections Lex has facilitated. People have used the app to form queer basketball teams and to bring groups together for brunch. Browsing the posts you’re as likely to find someone seeking friends for a thrift-shopping run as you are to stumble upon someone organising a trans rights rally.
Whatever the activity, the connection is key, says Rakowski.
When I came out, what I really wanted was to go to the gay party, but I didn’t have any friends to go with. To have a place to find friends I could do things with was so important.
– Kel Rakowski, founder of Lex
“When I came out, what I really wanted was to go to the gay party, but I didn’t have any friends to go with,” she says, “To have a place to find friends I could do things with was so important to me.”
To join in: Scroll until you find a post that speaks to you. Or if you have an activity you’d like company for, create a post of your own! Replies only go to the original poster, but you can start a group chat, too. Just tap the envelope icon.