Bay Are Queer 20 and 30 Somethings (BAQS) exists to foster lasting queer friendships and community in the (mostly) East Bay Area. To that end, we intend to host a variety of low-key, low-commitment, low-cost events such as picnics, potlucks, game nights, storytelling nights, bowling, mini-golf, hikes, etc. where members can have meaningful conversation and return to see the same faces again and again. Most events will be substance free and take place in quiet-ish environments in an effort to provide an alternative to bar and club-centric queer events. For an idea what kinds of events to expect (or suggest!) take a look at our upcoming events or past events from 2013.

PLEASE DONATE

Meetup currently charges organizers $180/year to maintain these event pages. If you can, please donate a few dollars to the event host when you attend to help cover these fees.  Those with access to a steady, living income or other wealth are encouraged to donate more. Please do not be deterred from attending if financial hardship prevents you from donating.

WHO BELONGS?

This group is intended to be explicitly welcoming of everyone under the queer umbrella, which includes (but is not limited to) queer people of color, trans and non-binary folks, bi and pansexual queers, sick and disabled queers, asexual queers, both monogamous and non-monogomous queers, kinky and vanilla queers, as well as members who are questioning about their gender and sexuality.

As a white, cis-passing, abled person, I (your organizer Emily S.) will do what I can to support marginalized folks in BAQS so we can build community together. I will also inevitably do this imperfectly and welcome feedback, while acknowledging that the labor of giving feedback often places an unfair burden on those affected. I hope that all members will come to the group with similarly supportive intention and action. There are a number of LGBT groups on meetup that are more narrow in their identity focus (and those groups are great!...this group is just different). This group is intentionally inclusive of the wide spectrum of queer identities and their intersections. We need each other.

GROUP UPDATE JULY 2017 from Organizer Emily S.

I began this group in 2012 with the goal of fostering meaningful community with a regular group of repeat attendees. In 2013 the group began gaining serious momentum. I wanted to keep it going but since it was just me running several events a month--often out of my own home--I burnt out. So I had to step down and take a break. Sadly, since then, this group has been mostly dormant. You'll see two years' worth of copy-pasted advertisement-y events if you scroll back through our history. BUT! If you scroll back further, you'll see what the group was like in 2013 and it was very full of life. I am wishing to cultivate an active, homey queer community feel for this group again. My dream is that BAQS eventually forms a pod of event hosts who can share in the in this cultivation. Organizing is so much more fun in a team! It's great to have hosts from different regions, with different skills, and different interests who can help members connect and have fun in different ways.

If you think you might be interested in being more involved on an on-going basis, please let me know. It's been a really rewarding experience for me and I'd like to see the group continue on for several more YEARS...but I know I won't last that long on my own.

Whatever your involvement level, thank you for being part of this group and I'm looking forward to seeing you soon.