Pennsylvania's Pandemic Online Chat for Trans and Queer Community

Since April 2020, the Pittsburgh MasQue ProjecT has worked to connect trans and queer neighbors with face masks. In doing so, we learned about other barriers. 

We created 'MasQueerade' to address social isolation among the trans and queer community  using a weekly Zoom meeting. We recruited hosts and co-hosts from various community subgroups to keep the conversation flowing in different directions. 

Each week, host Alistair McQueen welcomes everyone, introduces special guests, and shares interesting tidbits and conversation starters. 

Participants come from across Pennsylvania and beyond. Lurking is fine, disrespectful behavior is not. 

Funding will help us continue to offer this support. We need to compensate our co-hosts for the time they invest. The stipends are modest, but important validation of the value of their work. We have promotional fees, software fees, and more. Finging creative ways to connect with rural trans and queer folx in a particular challenge. 

Thanks to this 100% match from the Elsie Hillman Foundation, we have a chance to raise the necessary funds by leveraging small donations from our everyday contributors. 

Jan - March: test runs with host 

April - May: add rotation of co-hosts 

May - Dec: continue to meet. Use monthly polls to stay in touch with participant needs. 

As we distribute face masks, we keep asking people about their needs. Almost everyone mentions loneliness. Using online resources and the event skills of our hosts, we can create a regular space to be with our community. It's not a perfect solution, but it absolutely worth trying. 

The benefits are that folks can attend or not at their discretion, they can build relationships with other trans and queer folks who may be geographically distant from them, and we let the conversation flow based on their preferences.