About Be Yr Own Queero

Be Yr Own Queero is a group of queers and queer allies who wanted to create a more visible and supportive queer community in Wilmington, North Carolina. They do so through their approach of unique DIY community building and online media methodology.

Regular Contributors

scantron

babe useless

teknacolorninja

bizzzle

thegshmee
History
Website Component Community Building FAQ
- what does Queer mean?
- Community? (colonizing queer america) http://beyrownqueero.com/post/73623543/colonizing-queer-america
- history of YR
Media / Press Room
Contact Us
Get Involved!

History

In 2007, a group of friends in Wilmington, North Carolina decided that they wanted to start having Really Really Free Markets. They began meeting and organized Wilmington's first ever Really Really Free Market in June 2007. The turnout was a great success and it brought together other like-minded people who wanted to have more progressive and radical community events in the area.

In September 2007, the people of Wilmington wanted to have an all day event full of workshops, live music, skill shares, info sessions, zines vegetarian potluck and a mini Really Really Free Market. This great event needed a name, and that was when "Be Yr Own Hero" was born. The festival brought in people from all over North & South Carolina. After the fest, the group continued organizing monthly Really Really Free Markets and then a local Food Not Bombs chapter, all under the name Be Yr Own Hero.

We decided on the name "Be Yr Own Hero" because we felt that we had all been waiting for other people to start doing things in Wilmington for so long, yet we had the power the whole time to do things ourselves, to be our own heroes. We encourage everyone to take initiative and to create the type of environment they want to live in instead of waiting or wishing for things to change.

Why do you use "yr" instead of "your"?

When doing a google search on "be your own hero", we found a lot of religious and self help websites. We wanted to be able to separate ourselves from those types of "hero-ism" and put a more radicalized spin on. Those who are familiar with more radical groups will recognize the use of "yr" and it makes it easier for those searching for us to find us.

- The birth of Queero One of the founding members of Be Yr Own Hero, Lynn (aka Scantron) wanted to get involved with LGBTQ activism in the area but learned it was difficult to find others who were motivated and passionate. She had plans and goals to create an LGBTQ directory in 2005, but couldn't find support when trying to reach out to other queer members in the community. She put those dreams on hold until her partner Selena (aka Babe Useless) moved into town. Together they talked about how awesome if would be if Wilmington had a better queer community. They tossed the idea around of starting "Be Yr Own Queero" but didn't want to take on another huge project in fears of activist burn out (link). In 2008, they started sharing their ideas with fellow queeros, Cristina (TeknaColorNinja) and Laura (Bizzzle). They were totally into the idea. In December of 2008, Lynn attended the LGBT Bloggers Summit in Washington DC. When she returned, the Queeros started planning future events and the Be Yr Own Queero website was born. Community-Based Component Be Yr Own Queero Website Component The Be Yr Own Queero website was born on December 20th 2009. The site goes beyond the community of Wilmington, NC {/block:Permalink}