Beyond the Plus was a Seattle-based organization promoting community for those outside the mainstream definition of queer, including paraphiles, people with transidentities, and other radqueers. In February 2026 members voted to disband Bt+ due to ongoing and future safety concerns.
I founded this organization because I wanted to help people. I wanted to reach out to those who didn't already have community and offer them safe spaces where they could meet others and beat loneliness. I thought the community was ready for something public, but I guess I was wrong. I still want to help people who are closeted, but if the answer isn't public organizations then I think the only thing is to set an example and inspire people to fix their loneliness on their own.
Bt+ may be gone, but our message lives on. People in our community need to form in-person connections, only then will we achieve the acceptance we all want so badly. We all want our Stonewall, but Stonewall happened before gay rights organizations, not the other way around. Maybe someday something like Bt+ can exist again, but only once our people are organized and ready to literally fight for their rights, just as queer people did back then.
People want their safety guaranteed, but the truth is that it never can be in in-person spaces. If we want our rights then we all need to brave unsafe scenarios, be smart about how we handle them, and stick together. The best safety we will ever have is in numbers; if we are all side-by-side then we can protect ourselves from whatever threats come our way. But if we stay divided and stay in online spaces where we know we can't be hurt, then we will never know progress.
Our acceptance will not come through arguments online, social media websites, and public organizations. It'll start with genuine, in-person community, just as it did for every other marginalized group that came before us. It is our duty, if we want to see our acceptance, to play a part in that. Whether here in Washington, or across the world.