Wrapping Up Pride Month

Closing One Chapter and Beginning Another

Now that Pride Month is over, we’ve had a little bit of time for reflection and refocusing – the whirlwind of last month kept our crew busy in all the best ways, hopping all around the region to visit with our neighbors in other parts of the mountains and showing up to celebrate our shared PRIDE! We hope that you all also kept your hearts and your hands full with community connection during this special time. 

We weren’t just busy giving away free zines and hugging all of our new friends this month; our joy was also matched by grief, as we navigated shutting down our brick-and-mortar location for the Little Free Queer Store.

As many of you know, the last day of Pride Month also marked our last day in the space at Church Street Studios. In full transparency, it was hard – and disappointing – to move out and close down such a critical LGBTQIA+ community space during a month that is supposed to be centered on uplifting and celebrating our community. It is both heartbreaking and fortifying to know that our grief and our experience of being uprooted is shared by the incredible neighbors that we have been building relationships with, and who have been moving out of Church Street Studios alongside us. We know that we will make it through this challenging moment the same way that we have made it this far: together, in solidarity with each other.

Celebrating our Community Impact

When HayCo Pride was conceived in the spring of 2024, we always knew mutual aid would be a core component of our work: strengthening our Queer community’s capacity to survive and thrive has always been one of our primary goals for this organization. Our commitment to mutual aid hasn’t changed, and if anything it was deepened by our experience with Hurricane Helene. The Little Free Queer Store is being reimagined and recreated in a new shape, but it is not going away – do not doubt that the mutual aid work will continue in whatever form possible, by whatever means necessary. The last few months have validated and reaffirmed our commitment, as we’ve connected with our neighbors across the county to share and exchange resources. 

We can’t help but to feel proud of the impact that we managed to pull off in such a short period of time, made possible with nothing more than a group of scrappy, resourceful Queers (all volunteers!) and an organizational budget of less than $10,000 each year. We kicked off our time at the Church Street location with a Really, Really Free Market on the Spring Equinox: the RRFM drew over 150 local households from all walks of life, who showed up and participated in a powerful reciprocal exchange that countered our culture of consumerism and disposability. After that strong start, we opened the doors to the Little Free Queer Store – at first, we were open for 8 hours each week, stretching across 2 days; by the time Church Street Studios became an inhospitable environment for our work, we were open for 25 hours each week, covering 5 days! 

Over the last ~4 months, we were able to keep our doors open for more than 250 total hours, and connected with hundreds of families. Out of the abundance we were able to offer, some of the most common things that we shared were: hundreds of boxes of Plan B/emergency contraception, countless diapers of all sizes for caregivers and expecting families, everyday items like allergy medications and deodorant, lots of snacks and water! 

Throughout these 250+ hours, there were many moments that reminded us of why we do this work. There are too many to list here, but to share just a few examples with y’all:

• That time when an expecting mom described how welcome she felt in our space and shared that she wanted to cry because of “how nice” we were
• That time a neighbor called us with a sick baby and was so grateful for the delivery of urgent supplies to nurture her child through their illness: pedialyte, infant tylenol, applesauce, etc.
• That time we were able to provide DIY air purifiers to elders, families with small children, and folks with vulnerable respiratory systems to mitigate the impact of wildfire smoke

What’s Next?

The volunteers and partnerships that have made HayCo Pride’s community care work possible up to now will continue to be foundational moving forward, as we reimagine a new manifestation of mutual aid for our community. We’ll continue to work with groups like the Diaper Bank of NC, MedAssist NC, Mutual Aid Disaster Relief, Raleigh United Mutual Aid Hub, Triangle Mutual Aid, and others to acquire and distribute critical resources for our community. Distribution may just look a little different than it has looked so far!

• Mobile Distribution: One of the big ideas that we are working toward is securing an enclosed trailer so that we can take our mutual aid markets on the move, visiting every corner of the community with pop-up free markets. By going mobile, we intend for our mutual aid markets to be more flexible and accessible. Support us in fundraising for the home of these mobile markets at bit.ly/donatehaycopride!
• Distinguishing Our Values: While preparing our statement to conclude the month of June, in the wake of our grief over the Little Free Queer Store, we were made aware of announcements from other local organizations operating under the umbrella of Pride, declaring their intentions to secure a space of their own. To clarify, the community space for which Pr!de on Ma!n is currently raising funds is not associated with HayCo Pride’s ongoing mutual aid work. Furthermore, HayCo Pride has not been invited to the table for these discussions, despite having shown up for our community consistently in this way. We feel, to say the least, disappointed about this, because we believe that with our current climate, we need each other more than ever to show solidarity and support the ongoing work of community care within our local Queer community. 
• Future Location: If you have a spot for cheap rent (cheap as in, $0-$400/month), PLEASE reach out. We would like to secure a permanent location again at some point in the future.
• Pop-Ups: While we fundraise for a trailer, we’ll also be hosting Pop-Up Free Markets at the Funky Fern, starting this summer–stay tuned.

To be honest, y’all, it’s been a wild ride lately. We’re tired. We’re angry. Somehow we’re still grateful and hopeful. And we love you.

Love and solidarity forever,

HayCo Pride