One year in, Uptown’s Queermunity is meeting demand for Twin Cities’ LGBTQ+ community

When you step into Queermunity Collaborative’s weekly Knit Happens event, you’ll immediately feel the cozy atmosphere.

Yarn and other knitting supplies sit atop a table surrounded by couches, inviting participants to engage in conversation while they craft or simply enjoy each other’s company.

To attendees like Walt Leinen, of Minneapolis’ West Phillips neighborhood, it’s more than just a knitting club. The space, an LGBTQ+ coworking spot and event location, provides a center for the community.

“I think overall, it’s explicitly queer. That’s the only thing you really need to be to hang out here is be queer. I think it offers a lot in a third space,” Leinen, who is bisexual and uses he/they pronouns, said.  

“As a third space, there isn’t a lot that isn’t like a loud bar or aggressively cool coffee shop in the Twin Cities, and this is quite a bit different,” they said.

Uptown’s Sophia Winters, who is transgender and uses she/it pronouns, said Queermunity is also a place to meet like-minded people, noting, “Currently looking at the world, we’re kind of in free fall. Everything is getting worse progressively, and looking at the world like it is, it’s very easy to just look at it and see things getting worse and worse and worse. … Queermunity is just such a wonderful place to start finding that sense of community.”

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Tucked into Minneapolis’ Uptown neighborhood, Queermunity will be celebrating its one-year anniversary on Nov. 2. 

When you walk into the lobby on the building’s second floor, you’ll be greeted by a rotating gallery wall that features art from local creators.

Volunteers will then welcome you at the front desk before you walk into the main area filled with desks, couches and tables for getting work done. 

In the back stands a cafe and a market featuring an array of work by queer and trans makers.

And if you’re in need of safe sex products, hygiene products and more, Queermunity’s resource closet is a one-stop shop.

According to Queermunity co-founder Hilary Otey, the location, which is open regularly for people to drop in, fills an important gap not just in the Uptown community but statewide.

“[We are] providing a physical space and opportunities that center the needs of LGBTQ+ folks. We’re open to everyone, but we’re centering the needs of the community that we’re serving in a setting that’s not a bar,” she said, adding that outside of Queermunity, bars are among the few regularly accessible spaces for the community to gather. She also added that Queermunity’s consistent business hours make it accessible and help it stand out.

While most of their patrons are from the Twin Cities area, Otey said Queermunity serves the metro and beyond, with members coming from the Fargo and Moorhead areas, Rochester and parts of Wisconsin. 

As an age-friendly organization, Otey said Queermunity is also meeting the need for intentional community-building across generations. 

Early foundations

Queermunity got its start after Otey participated in the Finnovation Institute’s fellowship program, which provides resources, like a $50,000 living stipend, training and more to social entrepreneurs to help get their ideas off the ground.

Otey, who said she finished the program in the summer of 2023 and signed Queermunity’s lease in the summer of 2024, credits the fellowship for her success.

“We would not have Queermunity without the [fellowship],” she said, adding that her experience led to skill development, networking and community building.

She also said the stipend helped her focus on her progress.

“One of the key issues for social entrepreneurs and entrepreneurs in general is working on the business while also not getting paid… so it’s very difficult for folks to have the capacity to do that while also continuing to live,” she said.

Finnovation Institute Executive Director Connie Rutledge said the fellowship’s curriculum is designed to develop business planning and modeling skills.

“It’s changed over the years, but it has always focused on self awareness and understanding your strengths and weaknesses, how to build a team, how to work collaboratively and cultural competency,” she said.

She said the program provides peer support, one-on-one leadership coaching and mentorship and advising opportunities.

Fellowship Program Director La Juana Whitmore said she was impressed by what Otey brought to the table.

“One of the things that [Otey] talked a lot about was [that the Twin Cities] were the only major metropolitan area that did not have a queer community center or gathering space, so I think that was to me a really good initial gap in the market that she had identified,” she said.

Other businesses that have come out of the fellowship since it started in 2018 include Junita’s Jar, a cookie company focusing on reducing relationship violence, and Nashke Native Games, which makes card and board games in the Ojibwe and Dakota languages.

Rutledge said the fellowship program has created more alumni support opportunities in the past couple of years.

“One of the things we do in the program is we have monthly facilitated roundtables with the cohort, where they bring issues to each other and with an executive coach, and we’ve started doing that with alumni,” she said, adding that Queermunity has hosted these events.

Anniversary reflections

In addition to its resource closet, Queermunity provides other help to members and attendees, such as housing support, job placement assistance, affirming hair stylists and more.

Otey is reflecting on what she’s learned in the past year since opening.

“We received incredible feedback from the community with tons of gratitude,” she said, adding that she is still learning how to spread the word.

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She added that she’s learning and listening every day on how they can meet different community needs. For example, survey results have inspired her to change how frequently the Knit Happens event takes place.

“We just heard from the community members that they wanted just a more open, free, guided – but loosely guided – time to just be together, and everybody could use their own skills and creativity in a way that felt good for them,” she said.

Otey added that Queermunity provides a safe space where people can be authentically themselves.

“We know from vast amounts of research that community connections and social connections are the number one factor against trauma and the number one factor in promoting healing,” she said.

“We really do have a healing-centered approach when we’re doing programming.”

Looking ahead, Otey said Queermunity has a lot of collaborations planned, adding that she also hopes to expand virtual participation opportunities.

“We’re recruiting and looking for more event producers to partner with. We’re excited about bringing more variety and diversity,” she said.

Queermunity is always free and open to the public, their website said, but has a number of membership options ranging anywhere from $25 a month suggested for individuals to $150 a month for groups, which offers benefits such as monthly credits for room and space rental. 

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