Boston Queer Events
queer joy, advocacy, & art
for Greater Boston’s LGBTQIA+ and Ally Community
LGBTQ+ Leaders Discussion & Strategy Session
TWO AVAILABLE DATES: Join us IN-PERSON -OR- VIRTUAL
Virtual session will be Thursday September 10th from 6- 7:30 pm.
In-person Session September 17th 12:30 Lunch Circle starts 1:00pm- 3:30pm space to be determined.
LGBTQ+ organizational leaders will actively engage in circle discussions to confront pressing challenges and collaboratively develop effective strategies that ensure sustained health and wellness within our organizations. Leaders will learn about radical foundations that support smaller organizations and activists in maintaining their impact within communities.
Circle Structure:
Participants sit in a circle signifies continuous self care and the evolving nature of collective healing
We use a Talking Piece: An object (like a stone, feather or Crystal) is passed around, allowing only the person holding it to speak, ensuring everyone has a chance to share without interruption.
Active Listening: We ask you to remain present during as participants are sharing.
Confidentiality: What's shared here stays here, be a vault.
Shared Responsibility: We encourage you to support each other and contribute to the collective healing process.
Focus on Connection and Belonging: We aim to build strong relationships and foster community.
Community Altar:
We will have a community altar as a part of this community session. Community altars serve as a space for remembrance, collective grieving, and healing. You are welcome to bring an item to add to the altar.
LGBTQ+ Parents & Caregivers Circle Up
Carrying the weight of current politics while raising a family can feel overwhelming, but you do not have to navigate it alone.
Join us for Community Circle Up, an intergenerational healing circle for trans, queer, and LGBTQIA+ parents and caregivers.
Through solidarity and understanding, we can transform shared experiences into inspiring insights, fostering resilience and collective strength.
Let's unite to challenge the forces trying to erase us and create a future rooted in support, reflection, and empowerment.
Sew Gay Club (September)
SEW GAY CLUB
Join TQNC’s monthly sewing skillshare! Whether you’ve never used a sewing machine or you’re an experienced customer, let’s craft together in a space centering LGBTQIA+ voices and experiences.
What to Expect:
We’ll kick off the gathering with a brief tutorial on using a sewing machine and follow with open time to practice, work on projects, and mingle. Bring that top you’ve been meaning to crop or those pants you’ve been meaning to hem. Bring your favorite piece of clothing that needs to be patched up or altered, or the elaborate halloween costume you’ve been working on. Or come with nothing at all but excitement to learn a new skill!
We will provide basic machines and supplies for attendees. Please note that you may not be guaranteed your own machine to use due to limited supplies, and you may be partnered with a sewing buddy. (If you have your own machine, feel free to bring it.)
A few experienced sewing “guides” will be present to teach and answer questions.
All are welcome, regardless of skill level, experience, or identity.
TQNC is a grassroots nonprofit fostering queer joy, advocacy, and arts for Greater Boston’s LGBTQIA+ and ally community. TQNC hosts queer community events where we can safely exist as our whole selves, advocates for our queer community, and provides support services for queer community members facing threats to their basic physical and mental health. Find us on Instagram & Bluesky @tqncboston or TQNC.org.
PolyTalk
In celebration of Bi+ Visibility Month, join The Queer Neighborhood Council and Bisexual Resource Center for PolyTalk, an intimate discussion dedicated to the complexities of polyamory and consensual non-monogamy (CNM) through the queer lens.
Polyamory is having a "moment," but for the queer community, intentional relationship-building has always been a tool for liberation. As interest in non-monogamy grows, so does the need for clarification and conversation.
This is a space to dismantle hetero-mononormative stigmas and celebrate the diverse ways our community shows up for and with one another.
Pull up a chair. Join our affair. Let’s talk about how we grow a community that embodies our shared values and vision for the future.
Note: All relationship dynamics are welcome, provided they are rooted in consent.
Sew Gay Club (October)
SEW GAY CLUB
Join TQNC’s monthly sewing skillshare! Whether you’ve never used a sewing machine or you’re an experienced customer, let’s craft together in a space centering LGBTQIA+ voices and experiences.
What to Expect:
We’ll kick off the gathering with a brief tutorial on using a sewing machine and follow with open time to practice, work on projects, and mingle. Bring that top you’ve been meaning to crop or those pants you’ve been meaning to hem. Bring your favorite piece of clothing that needs to be patched up or altered, or the elaborate halloween costume you’ve been working on. Or come with nothing at all but excitement to learn a new skill!
We will provide basic machines and supplies for attendees. Please note that you may not be guaranteed your own machine to use due to limited supplies, and you may be partnered with a sewing buddy. (If you have your own machine, feel free to bring it.)
A few experienced sewing “guides” will be present to teach and answer questions.
All are welcome, regardless of skill level, experience, or identity.
TQNC is a grassroots nonprofit fostering queer joy, advocacy, and arts for Greater Boston’s LGBTQIA+ and ally community. TQNC hosts queer community events where we can safely exist as our whole selves, advocates for our queer community, and provides support services for queer community members facing threats to their basic physical and mental health. Find us on Instagram & Bluesky @tqncboston or TQNC.org.
OUTinNATURE; a Queer & Trans Takeover
The Queer Neighborhood Council, in proud partnership with @OUTnewcombers, invites you to
🏳️⚧️ OUT in NATURE: A Queer & Trans Takeover! 🍃 📍 Spectacle Island!
Nature is already gay—you just have to show up. 🌈 Come meet new people and celebrate community in a safe, open, and welcoming outdoor space! 🌳💫🦋
🏖️ Beach relaxing & trail hiking
🧺 Community picnic
🎣 Fishing & touch tank demonstrations
Pack a lunch, bring a friend, and take over the island with us!
Open Streets Mattapan <> TQNC Meetup Hub
🌈 Open Streets Mattapan is back, and TQNC will be there to host a dedicated community resource table and meetup hub at this event!
📍Come find us, connect with neighbors, and enjoy the day! 🏳️⚧️
During Open Streets Mattpan, Blue Hill Ave. (between River St. & Babson St.) becomes a lively hub of community and play.
🌸🌸🌸
The goal is to connect neighbors, local businesses and visitors to our communities.
Open Streets Boston is a collection of vehicular-free, family friendly events offering programming across a wide spectrum of interests—from wellness activities and performance art to artisanal crafts and “kids zones” (and much more!) During these events, the City of Boston will close major thoroughfares to motor traffic, instead opening the roadways up for pedestrian use that will include walking, rolling, biking and other modalities. Special programming and activities, including a fantastic community marketplace and musical entertainment, will be featured throughout the day from 10:30am - 3:00pm.
TQNC is a grassroots nonprofit fostering queer joy, advocacy, and arts for Greater Boston’s LGBTQIA+ and ally community. TQNC hosts queer community events where we can safely exist as our whole selves, advocates for our queer community, and provides support services for queer community members facing threats to their basic physical and mental health. Find us on Instagram & Bluesky @tqncboston or TQNC.org.
Beyond Survival: Building a Boston Where Trans and Gender-Expansive People Thrive
Beyond Survival: Building a Boston Where Trans and Gender-Expansive People Thrive
A Kuumba Conversation on Solidarity, Power, and Collective Action
As attacks on trans and gender-expansive communities intensify nationally and locally, Greater Boston faces an important question: what would it truly take to build a city where trans and gender-expansive people — especially Black, Brown, immigrant, and low-income community members — are not simply surviving, but thriving?
This installment of Kuumba Conversations, convened in partnership with Representative Samantha Montaño, will bring together community leaders, organizers, advocates, care providers, and elected officials for a roundtable discussion centered on collective vision and action. During this conversation, we’ll explore such questions as:
What does a Boston where trans and gender-expansive people can thrive look like?
How can we all – grassroots organizers, institutional leaders, funders, care providers, and legislators – work together to make progress towards this future?
Across sectors, roles, and systems, what does solidarity look like, and how can we practice it with each other? How can we build trust, collaboration, and shared strategy?
Grounded in the spirit of Kuumba — creativity, collective responsibility, and community-building — the conversation aims to foster deeper connection, alignment, and sustained collective action across movements, sectors, and organizations. The event is envisioned as a participatory experience that centers dialogue and engagement over a traditional panel format, with opportunities for attendees to contribute ideas, identify priorities, and shape future collaborative efforts.
Audience members will include organizers, LGBTQ+ advocates, healthcare leaders, youth-serving organizations, philanthropic partners, elected officials, and community members committed to advancing equity and liberation for trans and gender-expansive communities across Greater Boston.
Funding for this event generously provided by the Equality Fund at the Boston Foundation.
Facilitated by Representative Sam Montaño (she/they) and YW Boston’s President & CEO Aba Taylor, this event will bring together a small group of Boston-area trans community leaders for a facilitated conversation focused on working together, across sectors and roles, to create a more liberatory Boston for the trans community. The panel will include:
Lakia Doncheva (she/her), Executive Director, Trans Emergency Fund
Dallas Ducar (she/her), Chief Strategy Officer, Fenway Health
Finn Gardiner (he/they), Director of Advocacy and Organizing, Mass Trans Political Coalition
Jullieanne Doherty Lee (she/they), Executive Director, Boston Mayor's Office of LGBTQIA2S+ Advancement
Nicholas McCaskill (he/they), Interim President, Trans Resistance MA
Grace Sterling Stowell (she/they), Executive Director, BAGLY
Reclaiming Masculinity
Join us for a virtual community circle exploring what it might mean to reimagine masculinity beyond the roles, expectations, and stories we have inherited.
Inspired by themes from The Emerald Podcast, we’ll reflect together on masculinity through healing, accountability, vulnerability, community, and liberation.
Come to listen. Come to share. Come as you are.
Virtual Event. Zoom link provided upon RSVP
Sew Gay Club
SEW GAY CLUB
Join TQNC’s monthly sewing skillshare! Whether you’ve never used a sewing machine or you’re an experienced customer, let’s craft together in a space centering LGBTQIA+ voices and experiences.
What to Expect:
We’ll kick off the gathering with a brief tutorial on using a sewing machine and follow with open time to practice, work on projects, and mingle. Bring that top you’ve been meaning to crop or those pants you’ve been meaning to hem. Bring your favorite piece of clothing that needs to be patched up or altered, or the elaborate halloween costume you’ve been working on. Or come with nothing at all but excitement to learn a new skill!
We will provide basic machines and supplies for attendees. Please note that you may not be guaranteed your own machine to use due to limited supplies, and you may be partnered with a sewing buddy. (If you have your own machine, feel free to bring it.)
A few experienced sewing “guides” will be present to teach and answer questions.
All are welcome, regardless of skill level, experience, or identity.
TQNC is a grassroots nonprofit fostering queer joy, advocacy, and arts for Greater Boston’s LGBTQIA+ and ally community. TQNC hosts queer community events where we can safely exist as our whole selves, advocates for our queer community, and provides support services for queer community members facing threats to their basic physical and mental health. Find us on Instagram & Bluesky @tqncboston or TQNC.org.
Intersectionality & Entrepreneurship with Tiana Tukes
Join us for an intimate conversation with Forbes 30 Under 30 founder Tiana Tukes as we explore what it means to build organizations, navigate leadership, and create impact. Together, we'll discuss the realities of entrepreneurship beyond the headlines, from overcoming structural barriers to understanding personal journeys.
Entrepreneurship is often portrayed as a story of individual success. In reality, who gets access to opportunity, capital, mentorship, and visibility is deeply shaped by systems of race, gender, class, disability, immigration status, and other intersecting identities.
Whether you're an aspiring entrepreneur, nonprofit leader, student, creative, or simply curious about creating meaningful change, this conversation will offer practical insights alongside honest reflections on leadership and purpose.
Queer Family Block Party
We’re closing Estrella Street for a morning of queer joy, face painting, bubbles, music, Drag Story Time, and neighbors getting to know neighbors. Bring your kids. Bring your chosen family. Bring a friend (or make a few).
Queer Sunset Cruise
All aboard! It's TQNC's 3rd birthday and we're hitting the high seas for a Boston Harbor Cruise with a LIVE DJ!
Reading is Resistance: Book Club & Community Picnic
Reading is Resistance: A TQNC Book Club & Community Hang
In times like these, stories are our refuge, our resistance, and our roadmap to a better future. Join facilitator Kimberly Rhoten for Reading is Resistance, a monthly book club and community gathering designed to nourish, inspire, and empower our LGBTQIA2S+ community.
Each month, we’ll read books that challenge injustice, celebrate queer joy, and deepen our understanding of the world and each other.
*PLEASE NOTE: You do NOT have to read the book to join. This isn’t just a book club—it’s a space for connection. Come for the books, stay for the conversation, and build relationships with fellow queer neighbors who believe in the power of literature as activism.
Where? in person! Rose Kennedy Greenway, Parcel 8, 2024 Freedom Trail, Boston, MA 02113
When? Wednesday, August 12 from 6-8PM
What are we reading? We’ll choose together! Books that support us in these times—whether that means radical resistance, queer joy, or both.
August Book of the Month: Communion by Bell Hooks
TQNC is a grassroots nonprofit fostering queer joy, advocacy, and arts for Greater Boston’s LGBTQIA+ and ally community. TQNC hosts queer community events where we can safely exist as our whole selves, advocates for our queer community, and provides support services for queer community members facing threats to their basic physical and mental health. Find us on Instagram & Bluesky @tqncboston or TQNC.org.
Queering the Room: Fundraising Planning Session
☎️ Call for Community: Queering the Room
TQNC is looking for passionate community members to join our Fundraising Planning Session, a new monthly space dedicated to dreaming up and sustaining the future of our organization.
📣 Our goal is simple: to keep providing the queer spaces and programming our community relies on. To do that, we need to build together. These are open, drop-in sessions where everyone has something to contribute—you do not need a specific skillset or prior knowledge of fundraising to join. We learn and grow in community. 🌱
🌈 How You Can Help: These sessions are collaborative and action-oriented. We’ll be working together on:
💸 Crowdfunding: Creative ways to mobilize community support.
📄 Grants: Identifying opportunities to tell our story.
🔗 Prospecting: Brainstorming new relationships and bridges.
🤝 Sponsorship: Engaging with local businesses and partners.
💡 The Vision: We are meeting to build a structured development plan for the year. Our focus is on creating reliable funding, deeper community ties, and a clear, sustainable process for volunteers (including monthly check-ins!).
Note: This is a drop-in space! No long-term commitment is required—just bring your passion and your perspective.
Your contribution ensures TQNC remains a vital resource for our community. 🍀💚
Open Streets Jamaica Plain <> TQNC Meetup Hub
🌈 Open Streets Jamaica Plain is back, and TQNC will be there to host a dedicated community resource table and meetup hub at this event!
📍Come find us, connect with neighbors, and enjoy the day! 🏳️⚧️
During Open Streets Jamaica Plain, Centre Street (from Lamaritine St. to Lochstead Ave.) becomes a lively hub of community and play.
🌸🌸🌸
The goal is to connect neighbors, local businesses and visitors to our communities.
Open Streets Boston is a collection of vehicular-free, family friendly events offering programming across a wide spectrum of interests—from wellness activities and performance art to artisanal crafts and “kids zones” (and much more!) During these events, the City of Boston will close major thoroughfares to motor traffic, instead opening the roadways up for pedestrian use that will include walking, rolling, biking and other modalities. Special programming and activities, including a fantastic community marketplace and musical entertainment, will be featured throughout the day from 10:30am - 3:00pm.
TQNC is a grassroots nonprofit fostering queer joy, advocacy, and arts for Greater Boston’s LGBTQIA+ and ally community. TQNC hosts queer community events where we can safely exist as our whole selves, advocates for our queer community, and provides support services for queer community members facing threats to their basic physical and mental health. Find us on Instagram & Bluesky @tqncboston or TQNC.org.
BRC x TQNC Bi+ Night
Ever stumble into a spot that instantly feels like your new favorite secret? That’s Bully Boy Distillers. Tucked away in Roxbury, serving up cocktails (and mocktails) that are way too good to gatekeep. Plus? You can bring your own food!
Once again, we’re taking over the back room for a bi+ night built for connection, conversation, and whatever happens after last call. Expect low lights, beats, and friendly faces.
✨ Music to get you grooving 🍸 Craft cocktails + zero-proof options 💜 Bi+ vibes, but all are welcome (other LGBTQ+ friends, that means you!)
No cover. Show up, chill, and maybe make some friends.
Tarot cards, maybe?
The People's Coalition; Building an Intersectional Movement
SAVE THE DATE!
Join The People’s Coalition for an activism workshop designed to confront our historical roots and the utilization of economic and social justice liberation movements to justify American exploitation both at home and abroad.
For decades, queer activism has fought for rights within the U.S, but true liberation requires a global lens.
To truly support the most marginalized, we must move beyond identity-specific activism to challenge international power structures and address the footprint of domestic capitalism and build broader, intersectional coalitions across different liberation movements.
This session moves beyond "band-aid" solutions to tackle the root causes of injustice. We will examine the mechanics of domestic capitalism and how it functions today on the world stage.
Open to all—no prior organizing experience is needed.
Let’s build a coalition that leaves no one behind.
Note: lunch will be provided
Sew Gay Club
SEW GAY CLUB
Join TQNC’s monthly sewing skillshare! Whether you’ve never used a sewing machine or you’re an experienced customer, let’s craft together in a space centering LGBTQIA+ voices and experiences.
What to Expect:
We’ll kick off the gathering with a brief tutorial on using a sewing machine and follow with open time to practice, work on projects, and mingle. Bring that top you’ve been meaning to crop or those pants you’ve been meaning to hem. Bring your favorite piece of clothing that needs to be patched up or altered, or the elaborate halloween costume you’ve been working on. Or come with nothing at all but excitement to learn a new skill!
We will provide basic machines and supplies for attendees. Please note that you may not be guaranteed your own machine to use due to limited supplies, and you may be partnered with a sewing buddy. (If you have your own machine, feel free to bring it.)
A few experienced sewing “guides” will be present to teach and answer questions.
All are welcome, regardless of skill level, experience, or identity.
TQNC is a grassroots nonprofit fostering queer joy, advocacy, and arts for Greater Boston’s LGBTQIA+ and ally community. TQNC hosts queer community events where we can safely exist as our whole selves, advocates for our queer community, and provides support services for queer community members facing threats to their basic physical and mental health. Find us on Instagram & Bluesky @tqncboston or TQNC.org.
CANCELLED: Queer Artists Market
SATURDAY’S Queer Artists Market (7/18) is being CANCELLED due to a forecast of lightning.
We were fully hoping and pushing to move forward with the market as planned, but as you know, lightning creates highly unsafe conditions for our vendors, staff, and visitors. Out of an abundance of caution for everyone's safety, the call had to be made.
🪩 TQNC is back in Downtown Crossing for our 🎨 Queer Artists Market
Join 30+ incredible local Queer Artists and community groups! Market goers can expect vibrant art, heartfelt stories, and passion in every brushstroke and stitch in a a magical gathering where creativity and community collide. 🌸
🏳️🌈 For Greater Boston’s LGBTQIA+ and ally community 🏳️⚧️
Hosted in partnership with the Downtown Boston Alliance
🕺 Come one, come all! Support Boston Queer Artists!
Meet the Queer Artists & Makers
〰️
Meet the Queer Artists & Makers 〰️
TQNC is a grassroots nonprofit fostering queer joy, advocacy, and arts for Greater Boston’s LGBTQIA+ and ally community. TQNC hosts queer community events where we can safely exist as our whole selves, advocates for our queer community, and provides support services for queer community members facing threats to their basic physical and mental health. Find us on Instagram & Bluesky @tqncboston or TQNC.org
WTF is Gender? Virtual Workshop Series
Calling all curious humans!
Join TQNC for WTF is Gender? A Virtual Workshop Series to Learn, Explore– a 3-part virtual workshop series that digs into the big questions about identity, dysphoria, and unlearning societal norms.
Ever find yourself asking, "Wait, WTF is gender, actually?" This isn't a dry academic lecture—it’s an educational and engaging mini-series designed to kickstart conversations and provide food for thought.
Open to all! Whether you’re learning for yourself or for your work, these courses are designed to help you grow your knowledge and challenge assumptions in a supportive environment.
Facilitated by Whitney, a Licensed Independent Clinical Social Worker (LICSW).
Queering the Room: Fundraising Planning Session
☎️ Call for Community: Queering the Room
TQNC is looking for passionate community members to join our Fundraising Planning Session, a new monthly space dedicated to dreaming up and sustaining the future of our organization.
📣 Our goal is simple: to keep providing the queer spaces and programming our community relies on. To do that, we need to build together. These are open, drop-in sessions where everyone has something to contribute—you do not need a specific skillset or prior knowledge of fundraising to join. We learn and grow in community. 🌱
🌈 How You Can Help: These sessions are collaborative and action-oriented. We’ll be working together on:
💸 Crowdfunding: Creative ways to mobilize community support.
📄 Grants: Identifying opportunities to tell our story.
🔗 Prospecting: Brainstorming new relationships and bridges.
🤝 Sponsorship: Engaging with local businesses and partners.
💡 The Vision: We are meeting to build a structured development plan for the year. Our focus is on creating reliable funding, deeper community ties, and a clear, sustainable process for volunteers (including monthly check-ins!).
Note: This is a drop-in space! No long-term commitment is required—just bring your passion and your perspective.
Your contribution ensures TQNC remains a vital resource for our community. 🍀💚
Boston Black Pride
Wednesday | July 1
• Teen Night (6PM – 9:30PM)
Thursday | July 2
• Voices of 250: Welcome to Boston Open Mic (8PM – 12AM)
• Soul Train Soiree (7PM – 10PM) 55+
Friday | July 3
• Kikiopoly House Game Night Ball (6PM – 10PM)
• Afrofuture: The Annual All Black Party (10PM – 2AM)
Saturday | July 4
• Boss Up Brunch (11AM – 2PM)
• Melanin Drip: Pool Party (4PM – 8PM)
• Class of 250: The Reunion (10PM – 1AM)
Sunday | July 5
• Black Pride Parade (10AM – 1PM)
• Music & Arts Festival (12PM – 8PM)
🎟️ Passes & Tickets On Sale Now
MOLA's Annual Pride Party @ Museum of Science
The Mayor’s Office of LGBTQ+ Advancement (MOLA) and the Museum of Science invite Boston’s LGBTQ+ community and their loved ones to an evening that celebrates Pride, uplifts the spectrum of beauty, and highlights the world of science with music and live performances. Titled STEM and Beyond, the MOLA added their own twist to the acronym, STEM (Slay the Entire Month).
As part of the Museum’s Pride Celebration, this event offers LGBTQ+ Bostonians a welcoming and affirming space to gather and celebrate. The evening features music and performances throughout the night, classic Museum of Science interactive presentations, and more.
Underground Games Reality TV Pride Party
Join us for our first ever pride event at Dorchester Brewing Company!
Celebrate pride with Underground Games on June 27 at Dorchester Brewing Company! Each ticket comes with the opportunity to play our iconic Survivor games, a limited-edition custom pride buff, and features Survivor's first nonbinary contestant, Evvie Jagoda!
Survivor is a show that celebrates being your authentic self, and that has brought together such an incredible community. We cherish that here at Underground Games, and we're bringing the ultimate pride celebration to Dorchester with an epic dance party DJed by Daoism!
Everyone is welcome.
10% of the proceeds for this event will go to The Queer Neighbood Council, a trans-led grassroots nonprofit hosting queer events and spaces for Greater Boston's LGBTQIA+ and ally communities.
Museum of Science PRIDE Celebration <> TQNC
Museum of Science Pride Celebration 2025
FREE access to the Exhibit Halls and celebration when using the Promo Code PRIDE26
The Museum of Science is thrilled to host Pride Celebration 2026 — a special event highlighting the LGBTQ+ community's contributions, innovations, and leadership in science, the arts, and more. This day-long event invites guests of all ages to participate in learning activities and experiences that are lively and life-affirming.
Celebrate the accomplishments of LGBTQ+ communities in STEM and beyond during a full-day Pride celebration at the Museum on Saturday, June 28.
The event will feature live performances, hands-on activities for all ages, inspiring guest speakers sharing stories of discovery and impact, and local partner organizations serving LGBTQ+ individuals across Greater Boston.