The new year is upon us, and while nothing has really changed except one digit of the date, the tradition of making and sharing resolutions makes a good extra push to reflect on what we want from the next 12 months of our existences. For some of us, what we want to change the most this year is an easy answer that comes readily; for others, it takes more thought. If you fall into the second category, here are some questions I suggest you ask yourself to get started:

1. How did things change for you in the last year? Were there setbacks you don’t want to repeat? Was there progress you want to keep rolling?
2. What didn’t change? And is that lack of change a good thing or a bad one?
3. What would you say are the things that have had the most impact on your well-being? The most helpful, the most harmful?
4. What would you say are your biggest wishes for 2026? Is there anything you can do to achieve them, or at least bring them closer?

Thinking through it, hopefully you have a better idea of what you should be doing with your new year. It can be as specific or as general as you want it to be, as ambitious or as humble as you’d like – the important part is just that you work towards a better future for yourself, whatever that means to you and however you need to do it.

For many beings in the community, this likely relates to their marginalized identities; that might be making more friends who accept them for who they are, taking more pride in themselves, working through internalized stigma, better coming to constructive, forward-looking terms with what is and isn’t possible in the world as it exists today, or even taking a more active part in working towards the social change that will make things better for all of us.

We here at Bt+ are resolved to keep pushing forward, to learn from our mistakes and our setbacks as well as our successes, and to make this year a better one for us than the last, the same as we did in 2025. And if you want to be a part of that, or if we can help you achieve your resolutions through the work we do, we look forward to having you with us this year!

#beyondtheplus #lgbt #lgbtq #gay #identity #paraphilia #queer #para #orientation #transid #transidentity #radical #radicallyqueer

https://www.beyondtheplus.org/join

Do you want to be part of a growing radical queer community in WA state? Join Beyond the Plus! We hold in-person events for vetted members in order to foster community and bring people together. This fediverse acc is merely a way to advertise our cause to the people we want to help out. Sign up is completely free!

If you have any questions please check out our FAQ, and if you don’t see a sufficient answer you can always reach out to us and ask (either via our website or here on fedi).

#queer #beyondtheplus #gay #lgbtq #paraphilia #identity #lgbt #para #transid #transidentity #orientation #radical #radicallyqueer

We are looking for people to fill our Event Organizer position! The required duties are to research and contact event venues, organize your findings in a spreadsheet and share them with staff, and help set up some events. You must be able to commute to Seattle on a regular basis and maintain regular contact with the rest of our staff. Unlike Board of Directors positions, this one won’t list your name publicly on our website, so you’ll be able to work this role as confidentially as you’d like. The role is volunteer work and is therefore unpaid. For more info and to apply please read the page on our website.

https://www.beyondtheplus.org/get-involved/careers/event-organizer

#beyondtheplus #lgbt #lgbtq #gay #identity #paraphilia #queer #para #orientation #transid #transidentity #radical #radicallyqueer

Happy January, Bt+, and happy new year! Got any new years resolutions? If so, feel free to share them in the comments!

First and foremost we have a big announcement: the Bt+ forum! It is a forum for members only, and is intended to be a way for members to be able to have something to do in-between events. It’s also a way for members that live further away from Seattle to still be able to participate with each other. Some people in WA haven’t joined Bt+ yet because they fear being a part of in-person community, and we hope that introducing them to an online space with other members will warm them up the idea of meeting them in-person. That all being said, there are risks involved with a forum, such as causing infighting, or getting people comfortable with just being online and never coming to in-person events, so if we find that the forum ends up causing more harm than good we may end up discontinuing it. Consider this a test run for the first couple months.

Next up, Bt+ is seeking volunteers! We recently had some staff members leave, so we are a bit understaffed. Any help would be appreciated! We are seeking two different types of volunteer work: short-term and long-term. Short term volunteering is for case-by-case basis volunteer opportunities, like if we need people to help test out website features or trial runs for events. Long term volunteering would make you a part of our staff, where you are a part of the team and have regular responsibilities. For the former, please visit our new page on Volunteering. For the latter please check out our open positions on our Careers page, we are looking for Event Organizers at the moment, but in the future this page will be updated whenever we are seeking new staff.

Additionally, our Event Preference Survey has ended. The purpose of this survey was to poll members for their availability times, as well as what activities they are interested in. Now that we have collected all our results, we will use the information to better our events, ensuring that more members can participate, and that they’ll have fun doing so. We will likely hold more surveys in the future, so, members, please keep an eye out for those.

Lastly, we are doing a lot of work behind the scenes to strengthen the structure of Bt+, which is mainly consisting of doing research into more event venues. Between that, a change in staff, and long processes into forming a legal structure, we have a lot on our plates. As much as we’d like to be innovating and doing more for our community, we don’t have the resources at the moment. So please be patient as we build ourselves up; we may stay at the level that we’re at for a long time.

Thanks for reading! We hope everyone enjoyed their 2025. Despite its tumultuous political climate, our org has been able to make it a good year for some people, and we hope that 2026 can be even better. Not a member yet? Join Bt+ to become one! Members get invited to events and get some other perks as well. (Being subscribed to the mailing list and being a member are two separate things. Not sure if you’re a member? Sign up!) Membership is currently limited to those who reside in WA state.

#queer #beyondtheplus #lgbt #lgbtq #radical #radicallyqueer #orientation #para #paraphilia #identity #transid #transidentity

The Danger of Too Much Safety 2/2

But that’s not going to happen if we close ourselves off, guarding our innermost selves from even those closest to us, and it’s especially not going to happen if we let our idea of a reasonable amount of risk be defined by a climate of anxiety rather than logical threat assessment.

Should we be careless with our safety? No, of course not. I strongly believe that careless is the last thing anyone should be, and that friends don’t let friends take thoughtless risks. But in addition to trying to keep ourselves safe from those who would act against us, it’s just as imperative that we protect ourselves from the costs of excessive caution. When the effort and sacrifice that goes into safety exceeds the actual threat, we’re just doing our enemy’s work for them without them having to lift a finger.

Bt+ is committed to protecting our members to the maximum extent we can as a public organization. For some beings, that isn’t enough to address their safety needs, and that’s okay – different approaches serving different needs is a good thing! But for others, publicity is the only way our light will shine brightly enough to reach them. And the beings Bt+ is best positioned to serve are exactly the ones whom existing private social circles weren’t helping.

For their sake, we need to be brave, even when that’s not easy, even when we might face harassment and unfair treatment. For their sake, we will persevere, come whatever may. To everyone who doesn’t have anywhere else they’re accepted as themselves: Bt+ is here for you.

#queer #beyondtheplus #gay #lgbt #lgbtq #identity #paraphilia #para #orientation #transid #transidentity #radical #radicallyqueer

The Danger of Too Much Safety 1/2

(A blog post by Violet Rose.)

From the point when it was just an idea, to today’s reality, Beyond the Plus has always been envisioned as a public organization, serving the community proudly in the open. We could have chosen a safer, easier path, being more secretive and building community privately by word of mouth, but while that would have avoided some controversy and hostile attention, taking the easy road has never been what Bt+ is about.

We want to stand up for what we believe in, lead by example to fight the climate of fear that leaves so many paralyzed and isolated, but most importantly of all, we’re here to bring community and support to beings who don’t already have it. There are far too many beings out there who have no idea that real community can exist for them, and that’s why it’s so important that the word gets out as much as possible!

We’re very proud of the community of members we’ve already gathered, and we want to do a lot more. But, at the same time, we have to acknowledge that while publicity lets potential friends know we exist, it also draws less friendly attention, and it’s going to be essential that we all work together as a community to keep each other safe. But what does that mean, in practice?

A relatively popular idea for that purpose is adopting a policy, as a community, of enforcing social norms based on three rules constituting a high standard of safety: that information which enemies could use to harm us is to be considered sensitive, that sensitive information is to be treated as strictly need-to-know and not disclosed or even alluded to unless necessary, and that members of the community whose adherence to these standards is sufficiently lax are to be distanced to prevent trouble that befalls them from spreading.

This is an eminently practical solution, and due to how effectively it counters most threats when fully implemented, has clear appeal. However, it’s critical to remember that every solution is optimized for a specific context, and applying the wrong solution for the job can be counterproductive, even harmful.

The thing is, this set of ideas was, broadly speaking, originally designed as protection for direct action (illegal activities undertaken for the purpose of activism). And in addition to being designed to protect extremely dangerous secrets – much more dangerous than simply being radically queer – more importantly, it’s designed for beings who view themselves as soldiers, placing everything personal second to their causes.

That isn’t the kind of organization Bt+ is. Not only are we a law-abiding organization, we’re an organization made by and for beings who ideally want to exist openly as our authentic selves – an organization of pride, connection, and acceptance. We cannot, and will not, ever reach a point where we can exist openly as ourselves by suppressing our authentic existences; that idea is a contradiction.

We make the friendships founded upon mutual acceptance of each other by being open about who we are, what’s important to us, and the things we go through. We change the minds of beings who otherwise would have remained ignorant and intolerant by showing them that the subjects of their hatred – ourselves – aren’t what the propaganda they’ve consumed claims we are. And the more of us are bold enough to exist openly, the easier existing openly will become for all of us.

#queer #beyondtheplus #gay #lgbt #lgbtq #identity #paraphilia #para #orientation #transid #transidentity #radical #radicallyqueer

We’ve recently padded out the Join page with some extra vetting questions. They are all optional, but we realize that it may look daunting to have so many questions anyways. Feedback into these sort of things is appreciated!

#queer #beyondtheplus #gay #identity #paraphilia #lgbtq #lgbt #para #orientation #transid #transidentity #radical #radicallyqueer

https://www.beyondtheplus.org/?q=frequently-asked-questions

We have launched our FAQ page! We get a lot of questions about our community, and now you can see the answers for yourself before you ask! That being said, if anyone ever has any questions for us, then please let us know! You can ask us over on our Tumblr asks, in private DMs, by commenting on a post, or by using our Contact page. Whatever works best for you!

#queer #beyondtheplus #identity #lgbt #gay #lgbtq #paraphilia #para #orientation #transid #transidentity #radical #radicallyqueer

We are temporarily suspending tabling due to circumstances out of our control. We’ll let you all know once we’re able to do it again!

#gay #beyondtheplus #lgbt #identity #lgbtq #paraphilia #queer #para #transid #transidentity #orientation #radical #radicallyqueer

Happy December, everyone! Did you know that International BoyLove Day (IBLD) falls on the winter solstice? It’s primarily there for those who live in warmer areas at winter time, but, regardless, it is celebrated all across the globe!

Our December Social for 2025 is this month, this will be our last event all year! We encourage everyone who can to show up and bring some guests. If you’re not a member, then Join Bt+ today to learn where and when our events will be happening. Additionally, due to the consistent frequency of events we will not be announcing them in emails in the future, unless there’s a good reason to.

Remember, members, that event info is no longer being mailed out, and is available to read on the website. If you haven’t checked it out in a while, then Login and go to our Events page to see what’s going to be happening! We update event info at the beginning of every month, so remember to login at the very least once a month to copy down future events to your calendar. If you are having issues with your account then please contact us to let us know.

We also still have our Event Preference Survey up, which will close at the end of the year. This survey is only for members and their guests, so we won’t be sharing the link in this email. Members can find the link on the front page of the website when logged in, under the Member Links navigation bar. This survey is here to help us understand what our members like to do for events and how available they can be, in order for us to maximize the happiness of our members. We have also added a page for cancelling your membership and a page for volunteering that can be found under said navigation bar.

Have a happy holiday, everyone! No matter what you celebrate, Bt+ is here to celebrate you. We’ve had an amazing first year as an org, and have gained many members already. The future of this org is a mystery to everyone, but we are hopeful that it will be around for a long time and have a positive effect on everyone’s lives. We are excited for 2026, and can’t wait to show everyone what we’ve been working on.

Newsletter end.

#radical #queer #beyondtheplus #lgbt #lgbtq #gay #orientation #para #paraphilia #identity #transid #transidentity #radicallyqueer