Ever since my first burn in 2015, I’ve always spent my time on playa residing in the Queerborhood. It became my center in the desert: the place from which the rest of Burning Man made sense.
Even when I took a year off theme camp life to open camp with a few friends, we were just across the street from the last row of placed queer camps in the 730 sector. Even when I ran an art support camp in 2025, I was in the same sector, just a couple streets from my usual stomping grounds.
So when I was asked to join a camp across playa in the 2 o’clock sector, I really had to think about it.
Would I feel at HOME there? Would the rest of playa still make sense? Would I make it over to the streets I used to roam? Would I feel safe? Would I find community?
I’ll admit that I wondered if I’d find any queer community at all. It’s almost as if I thought all queer Burners were in the Queerborhood.
And I am SO happy to have been wrong!
I had the most wonderful experience spending my build and burn weeks with people who started as strangers and ended as friends. And, honestly, I shouldn’t have been surprised at all to discover that several of my campmates are queer, too.
As I set up my personal space, my neighbor for the week pulled out a large rainbow flag to hang up in our shared space. That’s when it really hit me.
What I learned this year is that while the Queerborhood is still my favorite ‘hood on playa, and while I’ll continue to support and protect queer spaces, we queers truly are EVERYWHERE.
So if you, too, find yourself year after year choosing to camp in the Queerborhood, firstly, THANK YOU for being the guardians of our special container. And secondly, be sure you get the hell out of camp and find what I found.
We’re EVERYWHERE.