queering the map lgbt spaces

When 22-year-old Lucas LaRochelle started “Queering the Map“, they probably didn’t expect that Trump supporters would end up trolling it. About a year ago the designer student at Concordia University in Montreal set up an online mapping tool that allowed users to drop pins anywhere in the world and leave messages about a queer experience that happened there. LaRochelle (who uses gender-neutral pronouns) hoped to geo-locate as many “queer moments, memories, and histories in both cyber and physical space” as possible.

A few weeks ago, it took off. Over 5,000 pins were dropped across the map, from Northern Canada to the US, Europe, India and Australia.

This is what the map looked like February 8th:

Photo: Lucas LaRochelle

And here are some of the messages left by users:

A post shared by Queering The Map (@queeringthemap) on Feb 14, 2018 at 12:26am PST

A post shared by Queering The Map (@queeringthemap) on Feb 14, 2018 at 12:26am PST

A post shared by Queering The Map (@queeringthemap) on Feb 14, 2018 at 12:25am PST

A post shared by Queering The Map (@queeringthemap) on Feb 14, 2018 at 12:25am PST

On February 9th, LaRochelle noticed that some users were spamming pro-President Trump messages, and decided to shut it down. But the project aiming to illuminate queer space got a new lease on life after a group of programmers offered LaRochelle their service. LaRochelle expects a new, more secure “Queering the Map” to be back online soon.

More like this: The reality of harassment and abuse in the queer female community