Page 19 - BEQ Magazine Iss 23 FINAL v3
P. 19

EVERYWHERE
 EVERYWHERE










 IS QUEER
 IS QUEER




















           already grown to include 900 queer-owned businesses   been beauti-
           all over the world, including Hong Kong, Istanbul and   ful.”
           Uganda. Most importantly, each business has been   And this
           added by the business owner.               is  just  the
             “I want them to have that consent factor,” Sprink-  beginning.
           man said.  “I haven’t added a single business that   Sprinkman  is  the  first  to  agree  that
           hasn’t requested to be added themselves.”   Everywhere is Queer isn’t perfect, and he doesn’t
             When a business requests to join the database,   expect it to be.
           Sprinkman receives an email. He then checks out the   “I created all of this by myself,” he said, noting that
           business’s social media presence and web site.   he’s partially colorblind. “Literally every single thing
             “It’s a little bit of a process,” he said, adding that   has been created by myself and I just kinda did it. I
           he does not add anything that hasn’t been specifically   figured it out.”
           requested by the business owner. “I have people tell   Sprinkman operates Everywhere is Queer on his
           me all the time, ‘Hey, you should add this business.’ I   off-time from a full-time job and hasn’t made any
           probably respond like, ‘We don’t add any of the busi-  money from the database yet.
           nesses, but you should send that business our page,’ or   “It’s really beautiful to see all this traction that it’s
           I’ll reach out to them.”                   getting, because it deserves it,” he said. “It’s a commu-
             Everywhere is Queer’s Instagram page has gained   nity resource that’s needed.”
           more than 11,900 followers in four months  — all   Looking ahead, Sprinkman would love to make
           organic follows.                           Everywhere is Queer a full-time job and grow it into a
             “We’ve never paid $1 toward our Instagram,”   larger business and employ more queer folks to work
           Sprinkman said.                            alongside him.
             If that wasn’t enough, the site has generated more   “We are totally going to make that happen,”
           than 453,000 clicks since its launch four and a half   Sprinkman said. “It’s my dream. We have some really
           months ago. Sprinkman fully expects to hit more than   exciting collaborations and some big projects in the
           1 million views within the next few months, though he   works right now. And they’re not just for Pride month,
           continues to feel humbled by the response to the site.   because we’re queer 365 days of the year, not just in
             “It just goes up by the tens of thousands every single   June. Hopefully we can take Everywhere is Queer to
           day,” Sprinkman said. “I’ve literally cried over this just   the next level. We’ll see what tomorrow brings.”   
           because of the emails and the DMs I’ve received of
           people just genuinely saying thank you. It’s not only,   You can connect with Everywhere is Queer by following @every-
           ‘thank you for creating this,’ but things like ‘I’m so   whereisqueer on Instagram, or  visit https://www.everywhereis-
           excited to travel’ and ‘I feel safer traveling now.’ It’s   queer.com.

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