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LGBTQ Outdoors Podcast
43: Hiking for Visibility: Ryan Schepers’ Appalachian Trail Journey for LGBTQ+ Inclusion
00:51:07
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- [00:01]
A
Finding something you like in nature, not only is it helpful to you as a person, but then you being someone who then can advocate for the environment, advocate for this thing that you now find that you have a passion for, that's hugely important too. And it's what we need now more than ever.
- [00:28]
B
Every trail has a story. And when LGBTQ people gather in the outdoors, those stories become community, adventure, and belonging. I'm Justin Yoder, and this is the LGBTQ Outdoors Podcast. Hello, everyone, and welcome back to another episode of the LGBTQ Outdoors Podcast. Of course, got my amazing co host and husband Patrick Thompson here with me again today.
- [00:52]
C
Hey, everybody.
- [00:54]
B
And of course, got another great guest that we're excited to talk about who's gonna be fun. Amazing project that we, of course, are very fond of, but we're going to get into that in just a little bit. Before we dive in with it, I do want to remind everybody that we have this program called the Trailblazer Society. If you aren't familiar with it and you've been wanting to try to find a way to help our nonprofit, because we are a 501C3, really trying to make a difference in the LGBTQ community and the outdoors. If you want to be able to get involved in a way, the Trailblazer Society is a great way to do that. There's different tiers that you can sign up for and give back monthly while getting some perks like educational webinars and free T shirts and some cool stuff like that. So if that interests you, head over to our website, LGBTQoutdoors.com and check out the Trailblazer Society.
- [01:55]
C
Do it.
- [01:57]
B
Do it. Definitely helps us and makes us become more sustainable. So awesome. Yeah, let's. Let's jump in with our guests. I'm going to read a little bio so our listeners have some background. But Ryan Shepherd's love for nature began in a creek behind his childhood trailer park in Cincinnati, where afternoons were filled flipping rocks and discovering whatever lived beneath them. That curiosity grew into a career, earning degrees in environmental science and cellular biology and eventually leading him to teach horticult in a community college, where he now helps others build their own connection with the natural world. Along the way, Ryan discovered his identity as a queer person, realizing that nature itself reflects far more diversity than we're often taught. That intersection of queerness and the outdoors led him to LGBTQ Outdoors, where our mission deeply resonated with him. Now he's taken on the Appalachian Trail as both a personal journey and a fundraiser, working to ensure more LGBTQ people feel seen, safe, and inspired to connect with the outdoors. Ryan, thanks for joining us on the podcast.
- [03:10]
A
Thank you so much for having me. I'm really excited to be here.
- [03:14]
B
We are, too. It's not every day that we have a guest, that we just love them and what they're doing with being a queer person in the outdoors, but also working to give back to our organization.
- [03:27]
A
So that's.
- [03:27]
B
That's an added bonus that we're really grateful for and excited to learn more about with you today.
- [03:33]
A
Absolutely. Yeah. I'm really happy to be working with you guys and to take this opportunity to do some good while also having a little adventure for myself.
- [03:42]
C
I love it. I have a quick question, though, and we're going to have a little debate here. Appalachian or Appalachian?
- [03:51]
A
Appalachian, I believe, is correct. I grew up in Ohio, which is kind of the plateau of the Appalachian Mountains. Yeah, it's. It's. It is highly contested, though, so, you know, I wouldn't fault anybody which, one way or the other, you two can sort that out, you know, into the nitty gritty yourselves.
- [04:12]
B
We'll start a fight later. All right, well, let's. Let's kick this off and let's hear a little bit more about you. Tell us a little bit more about your. Your childhood and where you grew up and some of that fun stuff, because I can relate to definitely running in creeks and flipping rocks and finding all kinds of fun. Stu.
- [04:32]
A
Yeah. So, yeah, I grew up in Cincinnati, Ohio. My mom and I were very poor. We lived in this little, tiny trailer park community kind of on the outskirts of Cincinnati. And to me, it was perfect. It was beautiful. There was a little patch of woods directly behind our house. There was a little creek, which now realizing as an adult, was just kind of like a drainage, you know, culvert kind of thing. But to me, it was. It was nature and it was outdoors, and it was this. This beautiful landscape that I would spend most of my days just kind of stomping through the. The creek waters when they would raise, when they would lower. There was a lot of amphibians and reptiles that I could play around with. The little patch of woods was perfect for, like, climbing and running through the forest. And it was such a small thing in hindsight, but when you're little and everything else, the scale of everything feels so much more massive. So it was perfect.
- [05:36]
B
I love that. How do you think, building on that, growing up in Ohio, how do you think that shaped your relationship with nature? It's kind of thought of more of a natural Outdoorsy state than some, I feel like. But also a lot of the people that we talk to are further out west, you know, Colorado, Montana, California. So I'd love to hear your perspective from farther east.
- [06:09]
A
Yeah, I. I mean, I think throughout the Midwest there is. It is considered, you know, flyover states. Obviously, there's a huge amount of. Of agricultural land out, but there is. Per every state, there are these little pockets of state parks, local parks, a few national forests here and there. So I had spent my early 20s in Cleveland, Ohio, and they have this really beautiful section of interconnected spaces called the Emerald Necklace, which are all part of the Cleveland metro parks, which is where I got my first job out of my undergrad. You can find these pockets of. They might be fragmented, they might be very small, but if you look hard enough, you'll. You'll be able to find these really beautiful places that are really unique to not only the city that you're in, but also the Midwest in general. So we have a lot of really beautiful glacial till remnants, these big, beautiful rock formations. I was just in southern Illinois a couple days ago, and then there's this really beautiful Shawnee National Forest out there, and it was unlike anywhere I'd ever been before. So you can always find these new surprises and pockets of natural spaces, for sure.
- [07:30]
B
I was actually up in Ohio. How long ago was that now? Four years ago. Four or five years ago. And we have a great chapter up there. And we did a hike. I think it was at one of the state parks around Cleveland. I know it's really popular one, and I'm drawing a blank on it now.
- [07:52]
A
Cuyahoga National Park?
- [07:55]
B
No, it wasn't that one. But I remember being kind of taken aback by it because we went during winter and we actually needed to wear crampons on our hiking boots because the trails were so icy. And it's like you normally think about that when you're going to, like the mountains of Colorado or something like that. But it was absolutely stunning. And as you know, when you're in a forest during wintertime that's covered in snow and ice, it's just so quiet and peaceful, and it was beautiful. So I'm a fan of Ohio.
- [08:34]
A
I'll say that that brings me. That brings me such joy and relief. It's similar to Appalachia. Appalachia. It's a hotly contested state to. To be happy or happy to have gone to, I guess.
- [08:50]
C
Joe, I have a quick question. Rewinding just a little bit back to your bio. I said you spent A lot of time, quote flipping rocks and actually really, really like that concept because it's exploration, it's curiosity. Might be a little like, you don't know what's under there. Might be a little unwise if you choose the wrong rock. But like, I think I would actually really like that on a T shirt it just says like flip rocks. Like encouraging that, that exploration, that curiosity to go out and find answers that you don't even know that you're asking the questions to. So like that's really cool that you were given that curiosity as a kid and then as you grew up, I guess if we grow up, you turn that curiosity into a career and you're continually learning and have learned and now you're teaching and it's come really full circle. And I think that's really, really cool.
- [10:00]
A
Yeah, no, I appreciate that. Yeah, it is. You know, and even at just like the simplest, direct, non metaphorical practice, you flip a rock, you don't know you're gonna get bugs, maybe a snake, maybe a crayfish, maybe, you know, maybe nothing. And maybe the rock itself is the thing. Or, or maybe you find some fossils in the rock, maybe you find a treasure someone left behind. I know geocaching is like super popular nowadays and yeah, it's, it's, you really never know what to expect. But the, the action of just seeing what's under there and the exploration and the wanting to know more and wanting to see more I think really cuts to the core of certainly my connection with nature. But I think a lot of other folks as well, in that you air away from everything, that you're kind of familiar with your day to day life and what you're exposed to regularly and you while the same time that you have this kind of cautiousness and maybe, maybe for some folks even like a little bit of hesitancy or fear, once you kind of let go of those things and you open yourself up to like, you know, what is this? Why does this moss grow this way? Why is there lichen on this rock but not this rock? Why does this plant, you know, help provide food for other organisms that live here? Once you kind of open up that curiosity and that inquisitiveness, really sky's the limit. You'll be able to find and learn and do more things. So just the act of wanting to see more or wanting to flip that rock, I think can be a powerful tool.
- [11:40]
C
Absolutely. Very well put.
- [11:42]
B
And all of that gave you the motivation then to go into adult education and get your degrees. Can you share about, about that timing, like when you really decided that that's what you wanted to do, what degrees you went for first and, and how all that came about.
- [12:04]
A
Yeah, for sure. I, So I. When you grow up poor, you're. You don't think about what do I want to do or what could I do. It's more, what can I do that's going to make me the most amount of money in the least amount of time? So it's very, you know, focused on, you know, succeeding and thriving in capitalism as we all have to. Are forced to endure. But, yeah, so I spent my, like, late teens, early 20s really directionless, not really having any idea what I wanted to do. I eventually got into construction, which I really liked. I liked working with my hands. I knew, like, the physicalness of it was really good and reached some part of my, of my core. This was in 2008, and I don't know if you all remember, there was a little snafu in the housing market around that time. So I was laid off from my job and I was really just kind of left directionless in a new profound way. Right. Like, I didn't know how I was going to pay my rent. I didn't know how I was going to feed myself. And so I really took that time to kind of reflect inward about, okay, this is, this is an opportunity for me to figure it out and to really kind of start myself on this new trajectory that I want to be as fulfilled as possible. And I reflected back to those times when I was a kid and all the times that I had spent hiking and being in nature and how that really kind of reached this part of my heart that was just like, I was centered, I was at peace. I was all of these things that, that we strive for, for, you know, our souls, our brains, our hearts, our mental health. And so I decided I was going to try to find some way to get somebody to pay me to go. Hiking was my ultimate goal and good goal. That is a very good goal. And so I went to my local college and just kind of talked to an advisor there about what my options were. They suggested environmental science. And that was kind of the start of it. At the same time of kind of finding myself and figuring out what I wanted to do, I also signed up for this really incredible opportunity through an organization called Bike and Build, which took young people who wanted to kind of give back to their community through working with the affordable housing industry. So Habitat for Humanity, rebuilding together some local areas as well. And they have folks ride from the east coast on a bicycle to the west Coast. You're in a crew of like 30ish people. There's eight different routes. And I signed up to do that too. And so it was kind of my first venture into really trying to live this adventurous life to give back to my community and other communities and kind of kickstarted my. This new trajectory. I thought it would be a good way to kind of start from there. And I rode. We rode for about two and a half months from Boston to Santa Barbara, California. We stopped in about 10 different cities. And we would, you know, all of us would show up to a build site or demo or planting or whatever they needed us for that day. And then when I came back, I just kind of hunkered down and finished my undergrad in environmental science. And that started everything off
- [15:42]
C
okay. So just for a little bit of big picture clarification, tell me about the study of environmental science and cellular biology and kind of like what that means.
- [15:55]
A
Yeah, so environmental science is a very wide, broad range of things. It's biology. You can go. It's biology kind of obviously focused on the environment, but it can include the, the physical structures within the environment. So you could go into geology, you could go into, you know, the folks who collect ice cores and atmospheric data. Right. You could study lakes, streams, wetlands, rivers. You could study the individuals occupying an environment. An environment. You could be a zoologist, you could be a mammalogist studying mammals, you could be a herpetologist studying reptiles and amphibians. You really can be anything. You can take it in any direction you want. And especially as an undergrad, it's, it's, it's a good kind of starting point because you, you, you maybe want to be exposed to as many things and aspects of the environment as possible. So I did a little bit of herpetology for my capstone of my undergrad, which was a lot of fun. We were repatriating an endangered species called the Blanding's turtle. And we would, the. We were in collaboration with the Cleveland Zoo. They would help foster and grow individuals of the Blanding turtle species, and then we would release them into some of the area wetlands and kind of monitor growth and development. That was a lot of fun. But my first job that I was able to get after graduating was invasive plant management. And so that kind of started me on my trajectory with, in plant science, which is, is how I would kind of, I would call myself, I think a plant scientist at this point. But we, that kind of continued on for a long time finding Jobs here and there. And then I got really into ecosystem restoration through plants. So one of my jobs was romping through the hills of Illinois, removing invasive species, doing prairie burns or controlled burns for forest and prairies, where you kind of eliminate some of the plants that you don't want, encourage other plants that you do want to come back. And that kind of kept me on the path. And then as I got felt like I had, like, a really good concept and understanding of the macro world, I wanted to shift onto the micro world, which to me is also just as fascinating. So then that took me into cellular biology, where I got my master's. And yeah, I've. I've. I've. Being able to kind of see the building blocks of life and then see it out in the world as it kind of develops is really incredible. And you find so many areas of fascinating facts and species and it, again, kind of sky's the limit as far as what you can be exposed to.
- [18:57]
B
So I feel like with that background that you have in the education that you have, it really leads to understanding our natural world way better than probably the average person does. And in that process, you also realize that nature is not as straight as a lot of people think it is.
- [19:18]
A
Yeah, absolutely.
- [19:20]
B
Tell us a little bit more about that. Like when did you first realize that? And was that part of discovering your queerness or did that come later?
- [19:32]
A
Yeah, I think, oh, gosh, that's a real chicken or the egg question. I think in a practical sense, I came out as queer kind of in my early to mid-30s, which was later in life than I think a lot of other folks experience. It was something that once I kind of opened myself up to the possibility was the door was just kind of kicked wide open of like, oh, yeah, of course, having. Having friends even, like, speak to me and they're like, oh, we didn't. We didn't think that you were straight. Congratulations. I guess, you know, it was a real, like, everyone knew but me kind of situation. But yeah, it was once I had that within myself and then also, you know, reflecting on all of the. Because I. I try to read a lot about what's going on in environmental science and nature. And, you know, once you kind of. I have this kind of new angle or new insight to something I was already passionate about then. Finding the connective tissue between my identity being reflected back to me in nature. It's not hard. There's. We enforce a lot of our human existence onto nature, which is, I think, detrimental in a lot of ways. But it first and foremost, it kind of separates us from nature rather than being a part of nature, which we certainly are. And no matter how much distancing or trying to put in a box of what nature is, it can't be contained. And so it really is, you know, there is no heteronormativity in nature. There is no binary biological sex. There is no, you know, there are examples of that, but there are so many more examples of, you know, fungal species that have, you know, 30 plus different and unique genetic DNA, you know, nuclei inside of one body. Right. There's huge forests of clonal species that are one individual, but then every individual is contributing to the growth and expansion of that. There is even just kind of our. Our relationships of like, I'm a big birder, there's, you know, polygyning relationships, meaning that the females of a species are courted and cared for and sleep with a ton of different male species to choose who is the best partner that they want to reproduce with. Right. And so there's no shortage of examples of how from the genetic level to the behavioral levels of nature is not. There's no, you know, heterosexuality is a. Is a small sliver of the expansiveness of nature. And, and it's really incredible to learn about. It's really incredible to share some of that with my students, to also learn from my students who, who. Who teach me just as much. And there's. Yeah, there's new and exciting and even gayer things out there than you can imagine.
- [22:55]
B
I love it. It sounds like that could be a podcast all in itself.
- [22:58]
A
What? It absolutely could be. Yeah.
- [23:01]
B
I would love it if you could dive a little bit deeper into that, because I think a lot of people that are listening would say, well, how did it, you know, you were queer before. So many people have an attraction to the same sex or both. I knew that, even though I didn't know what it was called, but I knew that I was gay when I was in kindergarten. Like, I had a crush on my. My best friend in kindergarten as we were playing with building blocks and stuff. You know, I just knew with this guy, I wanted what I seen, you know, high school couples with and whatnot. And I often have heard people discover their queerness later in life, but I think that yours is a little bit more unique since you were diving so deep into nature and learning about queerness in nature and it. Or it revealing itself to you maybe more than you actually discovering it or looking for it.
- [24:08]
A
Yeah, I think. I think so much of it was just how I Was raised, was. Was a. I, I don't think that my family, I wouldn't qualify them as, as, you know, inherently homophobic, but I think inherently heterosexual. And so that was, you know, given to me as, you know, of course you're straight. Like, you know, the, the different ways in which that manifests. Because that could be a. Probably another podcast that we could spin off of this one. But I think the biggest way in which I was able to come out and kind of realize that within myself is. Is due to. I. I played roller derby for about eight years, and the roller derby community is this not only welcoming, beautiful, expansive community, but also tends to be very queer. Lots. Lots of the letters of LGBTQ floating around in there, and it allowed me kind of the permission to explore this thing that I had kind of always had in me, but never allowed myself the permission to pursue. And so having that was a huge opportunity for me. And I, I don't think I would have felt the comfort, felt the safety, or had the self reflection to realize who I was without the support and love from my friends and the roller derby community, which was wonderful. So, yeah, that was a slow process, but we got there and haven't looked back since.
- [25:50]
B
It's so great having those communities that can help you along on those journeys. I love that and I hope that people that are going, discovering themselves and their queerness have a community to be able to do that with, because I know for me, it was very difficult because I didn't really have that community when I was coming out. And so I'm sure it just makes a world of difference. And that's amazing.
- [26:17]
A
Yeah, I mean, it absolutely does. And it kind of, you know, maybe tying it all back to nature. You know, none of us are alone in this. None of us are. We are all part of a community. And some of us have a wider expanse of what that is. Some of us maybe don't have as much of that, but maybe we're seeking that connection. And the greater the connection, the kind of more ingrained you become in your community. And that's so reflective of nature as well. Right? All of these things and pieces and plants and animals and rocks and everything are interconnected with each other. And the stronger and more connections that there are, the healthier and more robust and resilient that community is. And I think the exact same thing is true for people.
- [27:07]
B
100%. I totally agree with that. I'd love to hear a little bit about how you discovered us LGBTQ outdoors and how you decided to get Connected with us on your hike.
- [27:21]
A
Yeah. So I knew I wanted to do this hike. And again, growing up in Ohio, where we're the plateau of the Appalachian Mountains, it was always just kind of in the back of my mind of like, wow, like, this is this really beautiful natural wonder we have. And how do you know so many people visited there? Friends of mine, loved ones. Oh, you got to go to this section. You got to go to this section. It goes from Canada all the way down to Georgia. And it always just kind of was. Then it's like, wow, if I have the time, I'd really love to do something like that. And so I decided that this. This was the year that it was going to happen. And once I did made the decision, I wanted to, similar to my bike ride, use it as an opportunity to raise money, raise awareness for things that I feel passionately about. So, obviously, nature, obviously, the LGBTQ community. And I started to do a little bit of research. There's a wonderful drag performer, Patagonia, which I reached out to them and they had. One of their reps had sent me a list of, like, oh, like, you can. Here's some of our resources. And you guys were on that list. And I started to look into your organization and what it. The goals are and what it's accomplished so far. And I thought, I mean, this is exactly. This is exactly what I want to do, and this is exactly like, what if I could help in any small way by doing something kind of selfish of, like, in that I'm doing this hike, you know, just for myself, but then also being able to use it as a platform to raise awareness, raise funds, anything else that I could do to kind of benefit more than just me. I was. I was 100% on board for that. So I reached out to, I think, just your general, like, contactless thing, and somebody responded right away. We had a great conversation and just drove my enthusiasm for LGBTQ outdoors even more. Wow.
- [29:27]
B
Love hearing that. Love it when people get connected with us. I know that we've had a previous conversation, so we got connected and brainstormed with a couple of our team members on how we could do this and work together on it. So tell us, first of all, when are you starting, how far you're going and when you're planning on being finished and maybe share some of your prep that you're doing for this too, in case if anybody else is interested in doing a hike like this.
- [30:02]
A
Yeah, so I'm starting May 18th. I'm going to be dropped in the northeastern corner of Tennessee. In my mind I was like, I don't have a set mileage. I'm not trying to be like oh I'm going to do 100, I'm going to do. I feel like if I, if I set that intention then it's gonna storm, it's gonna, I'm gonna be chased by bears. I'm gonna, you know all of this stuff. So I, I have allowed myself to just be. I'm gonna take it a day at a time. I'm gonna see how far I go. I'm going to be happy and content with, with whatever distance I inevitably end up with. I think I'm gonna allow for maybe more, maybe less just depending on how things are going. I have a concert that I would like to be back for the following Sunday. But yeah, I think I'm just kind of this is again going to be kind of this opportunity similar to when I was younger of self reflection kind of what do I want the next handful of years to look like for myself? And yeah, so that's, that's the, that's where we're at with the, what's actually happening. And then for preparation I went to this really wonderful local business at. And if it's okay if I shout out the Alpine shop in Kirkwood, Missouri. They had helped me fit my pack. I had, I had bought a lot of stuff without really kind of knowing what, what I would need, what to prepare for. But they helped fit me, my pack to me, they helped give me suggestions, they, I reached out to friends, you know, the little Facebook communities, wherever I could get any kind of information on overnight camping, multi day camping, boots, clothes, sunscreen, you know, skincare, all of it and just asking as many questions as I can but then also just going out there. You know, I started with a little the campsites that you can pull in with your car and just set up a tent and sleep outdoors. And then I did a rough in, rough out with a friend of mine where we, we hiked about, you know, five 3, 5ish miles in, set up our tent, stayed overnight out with this kind of primitive campsite. And then now I'm, the next step is to go for a couple days local around St. Louis by myself and just make sure I'm feeling confident and good. But I, I think I, I can prepare all day long but I don't, I think I just gotta go and, and go out there and that's very much me of like kind of crashing in and be like I'll figure it out as I'M doing it, you know, like, it's for better or worse, especially with some of my loved ones and what they have to deal with as a result of that. I'm really excited about it.
- [33:02]
B
Good. Well, it sounds like you are taking the right steps to be prepared, which obviously, as an outdoor organization, we highly recommend to anybody. But going to a shop that you can share what your goals are, what you're hoping to accomplish, what you're doing, and them to be able to fit you and tell you exactly. Yeah, you need this, you don't need that. That kind of help is invaluable in a situation like this because, you know, yeah, it's a hike, but at the same time, you know, there's. You don't know what you're going to encounter out there. Like you were mentioning, you know, storms, wildlife, it's just, it's unpredictable. And so you definitely want to be prepared for something like that to the best of your ability. But I'm kind of like you at the same time, like, you can only prepare so much until you experience it. And then once you experience it, it's like, okay, I get it.
- [33:56]
A
Yeah, yeah, it's, it's, it's that little bit of, you know, you might have a little hesitancy, you might be nervous, you might be scared before you do this big thing. But I, I think once you just kind of go for it, you're, you're, you'll find your, you'll find your footing. And if you don't, then that's also fine, too. You know, I, if I go out there and I hike and I'm like, wow, six miles. I'll never do this again. And I just turn right back around then, you know, I hope that doesn't happen, but I'm certainly not gonna, you know, beat myself up and pound.
- [34:27]
C
But you're also going in with your gear. But you've also got your years of environmental science and cellular biology in your brain, which may come in handy, but I think hopefully it's more of getting to dig deeper, like out in the field and seeing something cool and pretty or interesting, but also understanding why it' cool and pretty and interesting. I think that gives you a really, really unique angle.
- [35:02]
A
Oh, yeah, I, Yeah, I'm sure my camera roll, roll is just going to be every weird bug and flower and patch of moss that I, that I come across. My. Yeah, my storage space is going to explode daily. I would imagine I might not even go that far. I'll just take a couple steps and need to Take a picture of everything as I go. So maybe I'll only get like a mile in and have been out there for five.
- [35:28]
B
Hey, as long as you're getting out of it, what you need to get out of it, then that's what matters.
- [35:31]
A
Exactly. Exactly. Yeah.
- [35:34]
B
Yeah. Share with me a little bit and us, our listeners, a little bit more about, like, the idea of helping others fall in love with the wilderness. Like, I know that that's a big passion of yours and part of why you're helping do this fundraiser for us, but, like, why, why does that resonate with you so much and you want to be able to make an impact that way.
- [35:58]
A
I think no matter who you are or what your background is, I truly do believe that there is something out in the world that, that you could find interesting or you could be passionate about, or you could want to learn more about, or you could just even want to be exposed to more frequently. It's not always accessible to everyone for, for a whole host of reasons. But I think the more, again, connection that we can have to each other and maybe the more opportunities to take somebody who, you know, maybe doesn't have a car or doesn't have camping stuff or has always liked nature but has never, like, gone found like a hiking group or whatever, I think that's a really wonderful way to start. And I think once you kind of find that inroad to someone's passions and what they could be interested in, I, I, I am certain that they could find something outside that, that they could, that would resonate with them. And so it's certainly something that I love to share in my classroom with my students. You know, they're already, they're horticultural students, so they already kind of have. We like plants, but we talk about so many more organisms and forms of life and, and everything else. And, and my hope is that when they leave this program, they find 5, 6, 10 other things that they're also passionate about. Right. And I've seen that happen in real time. And I, and I just think that it's so, again, everyone, I think everyone could find, and then with this kind of finding something you like in nature, not only is it helpful to you as a person, but then you being someone who then can advocate for the environment, advocate for this thing that you now find that you have a passion for, that's hugely important too. And it's what we need now more than ever in the face of, you know, all of these shiftings of, of, you know, these natural resources that we all are supposed to have access to and the loss that we're seeing. We need as many people out there caring for the environment as possible. And it's only going to benefit all of us tenfold if we can get one person who maybe has never gone on a hike or never, you know, seen this type of bird or this fossil or whatever it is that they can find. Everyone should, should, should help in that cause, I think. And so again, your organization being like, that's the purpose of it, right? Is connecting people, finding a way for them to get outside and to find community and find connectivity. That's a huge undertaking and means the world to me and I'm sure so many other people.
- [39:03]
B
I absolutely love your passion and to combine nature, the outdoors, the natural world with being true and authentic and queer. Just love it so much. And I think, like, I don't know if we said this or not, but you, you live in St. Louis, so that's where you're teaching right now. And so right in the middle kind of Bible belt and being authentically yourself. And I think that that is so important for your students to be able to see that representation. Letting them know that they can be totally true, safe to who they are is, is a powerful and wonderful thing and a gift that you're giving them. Because it's easy, it might be easier to do, you know, something like what you're doing in a more progressive city, you know, New York or LA or somewhere, but you're right, right in it. And I grew up in Missouri, so, and have been to St. Louis many times, so I know it's a state and area that can use more help when it comes to being welcoming and inclusive, to say the least.
- [40:27]
A
Yeah, it's, you know, growing up in the Midwest, it is. You're in these little bubbles of, of the, the cities that, that you can find safety and you can find community, but then you have to swim through, you know, these, these pockets of, of potential danger to, while you travel, while you go somewhere else. And I think for me specifically, it's really important for me to kind of live as loud as I can. I, I think it's very, and I say this and to, and so many of my friends are, you know, would refute it quite strongly, but I'm always, I, I feel like as a, as a white CIS man, the fear of just everyone kind of projecting heterosexuality, right? Like, oh, he looks straight or he, you know, you know, of course he's just one of the guys and like, blah, blah. So I, I try to find ways in which I can fight against that, as I do have all these other privileges associated with my identity that kind of shield me from potential harm that others can't or don't have. And so being able to, to do that, not in this kind of self righteous way, but just kind of to be. I am, I am queer. I am. This is who I am. I want to share this with you because I think it's important for us if we're to have this connection, but also if you can see someone like me and then maybe it won't be as much of a shock if you see someone who doesn't look like me and who is also weird, who is also different than the, you know, heterosexual cisgender experience that, that is the predominant norm. Right. So yeah, it's, it's, it's important to me. And, and now having students and I'm very recent into academia, this is my second semester of my second year, but I just absolutely fallen in love with it. And, and the, the greatest joy I get is having that connection with students who can feel like they can show up in their most authentic self and feel like we're learning about this thing that, you know, we're learning about soils today. But you can be trans, you can be queer, you can be who you are. While we're doing this in this classroom with me is so, so important to me and has been a real gift as far as just fulfillment in my life and hopefully some benefit to theirs as well.
- [42:59]
C
The gift of being able to be authentic while studying nature is like the most on the nose natural experience I think anybody can get.
- [43:12]
A
Yeah. Yeah. I mean, yeah. And if you can't be yourself in this beautiful natural world, where can you, you know, and so the more, the more spaces we can create for people to live like that. Oh gosh, it's just going to be. We're all going to reap the benefits of it.
- [43:27]
B
Absolutely. Let's talk a little bit about action steps for people that are listening and like what this is kind of going to look like. I know that we want to let all of our Instagram followers know about this as well. So we're going to get the word out to all of our social media about this so that they can jump on the fundraiser, support you in this hike and ultimately benefiting us. I know that we have some, also some kind of fun things that we're going to do along the way too. So I don't know if you want to share about that or if you want me to share about like we're going to do a Instagram live together at one point and whatnot.
- [44:15]
A
I've been kind of debating on if I would just kind of like I might just make my profile public on Instagram, which I. It's private right now and I don't mind if, you know, if, if you can link to it if you want to. People can friend me. I just for like the bots, obviously. But yeah, I'm gonna, I'm gonna post as much every day with, you know, cool flowers. I tripped and hurt my knee. I saw a bird. You know what I mean? Like, you know, as much sharing as people could. Could want or be interested in. I guess that might get sick of it with all the moss pictures that I take, but I did just.
- [44:54]
B
We got a lot of people that love that.
- [44:55]
A
Yeah, well, I, I just got a new moss identification book, so I'm gonna take it with me and I'm probably gonna be insufferable by the end of the trip, but the. Yeah, we'll do a live. Which I'm really excited about. I'm really excited about kind of the. The reason I'm starting off in northeast Tennessee is because I want the like the feeling of crossing a state line, which I think would be really cool. But yeah, I'm gonna be sharing as much of this trip as possible. I'll probably do kind of. Well, I'll certainly be doing kind of a post trip PowerPoint to share not only kind of what my experience was, how to tie it back to queerness and queerness in nature. I thought that would be a really wonderful opportunity and yeah, whatever else I can do to be of service to lgbtq, outdoors and to folks who are interested but have never found somebody to ask a random question to. There's nothing I love. The only thing I love more than nature is probably our school's library database and finding new research papers to geek out about with others. So that's, yeah, always open for that. So. Yeah.
- [46:12]
B
Well, hopefully there's no injuries along the way. But what is your. What is your Instagram? We're going to give it out now and we'll give it out at the very end too. But what is your Instagram so people can follow you?
- [46:23]
A
It's lumberjerk. All one word. It was my roller derby name for many, many years. So not lumberjack, but lumberjerk. J, E, R, K. All one word. You'll find a lot of pet pictures, a lot of nature pictures. And yeah, you can come say hi.
- [46:42]
B
Awesome. And then we have if people aren't familiar with the Zefy platform we have. Zefy is a platform we use because they work with nonprofits. Then anytime a donation is made, 100% of that, those funds go directly to us without a processing fee. So we got a page set up and we're going to be linking that in the show notes so that people can give towards Ryan's fundraiser. You can give any amount, but we do have some fun perks. Two main ones. One, if you donate $25 or more after Ryan's hike, we are going to do a webinar get together, hang out with him where he's going to share about his hike, hopefully show some cool pictures of his moss and everything that he found that was interesting. Along the way, you'll get to ask him questions in case that's something that you want to do. You can be able to ask questions directly with him because it's going to be live with him. So that's for a donation of $25 or more. If you donate 100 or more, you get to be a part of the webinar as well. But we'll also get a freelraven day pack as well that we will send you, who is a new partner of ours and so thankful for their partnership as well, which hasn't officially been announced yet as of this recording. It might by the time it airs though. So yeah, check out that link, share it with your friends, tell people all about it, help Ryan raise some funds for our organization so that we can get more people connected to the outdoors. Ryan, is there anything else you'd like to say in closing along those lines? Getting people involved or anything?
- [48:28]
A
Yeah, no, I think the big, the big, I guess the last, last kind of parting thing. And this has been something I've been talking to my students a lot, kind of tying back to what we were talking about in community and whatnot. I've been really making a push of kind of like, what do we do? What, what, what do we have like the capacity for? And so I would love folks, I guess, to just kind of like self reflect and see. Is there something you can do to, to help the environment in any way, shape or form? Can you plant in a neighbor's yard? Can you give away seeds to this thing? Can you take a friend hiking, like whatever we all have the capacity for in these just wild times that we're living in, Find what that is and go for it and do it. And if all of us collectively take those little baby steps, I think we might make some, hopefully some bigger impact. So, yeah, I've been leaving that with students, so I'll leave it with you all. And thank you so much for having me. I've never done a podcast before and. And yeah, this was a lot of fun. Thank you so much. Nailed it.
- [49:38]
B
Well. Oh, go ahead, Patrick. You want to say.
- [49:40]
C
Well, no, I just want to say, Ryan, I am so grateful for partnering with us. I wish you the most incredible adventure that is safe and surprising and jaw dropping and educational and maybe a little bit scary.
- [49:59]
A
Yes, yes.
- [50:01]
C
But more than anything, just have a great time.
- [50:06]
A
And yes, thank you so much. I definitely will be. And yeah, I'll share every little critter I find underneath there. It'll be a great time.
- [50:18]
B
Awesome. Well, listeners, thanks for tuning in again today. Again, if you want to follow Ryan on his Instagram or check out the fundraising page, it is linked in the show notes for you to be able to click on Follow us on Instagram, LGBTQ Outdoors. And you can also get connected there and see part of Ryan's journey there, especially when we do an Instagram live with him from the trail. So that's going to be fantastic. We look forward to getting connected, connected with you and hope that you will join Ryan on this trail, this adventure, this fundraiser and help make the world a little bit better place. And until next time, get out there.