I am a composer and media artist living in Duluth. I moved to Duluth over 20 years ago from Minneapolis. My early years in the Twin Cities radical lesbian community of the 80s shaped my sense of self and my perceptions of the world around me. I feel so thankful that I had that experience. When I moved north I experienced a sort of culture shock. I have always been perceived on some level as being gender-between and queer so I felt the homophobic currents quickly in this new place. I loved the landscape of northern Minnesota and many of the people were kind and welcoming. However, it was very difficult to be a transgender, queer person up here in the early days. I missed the diversity of the streets of Minneapolis, the queer activism and gathering spaces. Things have changed dramatically over the years. There are still many parts of the larger region that feel uncomfortable, unwelcoming and somewhat dangerous but I have been moved by a growing number of straight allies and by an ever stronger, out, open, activist LGBT presence.
We are a fairly white community in the northland so I can’t say that things have changed in the same way for LGBT people from communities of color. I think that the community as a whole in Duluth and the surrounding region still struggles with racism and with cultural difference. Vibrant, diverse, multicultural communities have always felt safer and richer for me and I dream of one day achieving that up here in Duluth. We have made so many gains as LGBT people in recent years and I want us to in return always ask ourselves how we can be the best allies in other struggles for social, environmental and economic justice.
I am active in the arts and maker of the community up here. I love how this arts community crosses borders of genre, material, discipline and spaces. This feels very familiar to me as someone that lives in queer space / in gender-between space. There is a fluidity and thriving collaborative feeling we share up here. It mirrors the spirit of queer activism. It feels familiar like the creative, boundary-bending existences that LGBT people vision together.