SMITHFIELD, R.I. — Amid Trump administration attacks on LGBTQ rights and programs, a group called Queer Hikes is finding a sense of community and sanctuary on the trails of Rhode Island.
On the Rhode Island Report podcast, the group’s founder, Mel Thibeault, and Elliot Henderson led a group of more than 20 people on a hike at the Wolf Hill Forest Preserve in Smithfield.
Thibeault, who lives in Providence, said she launched the group about four years ago amid the pandemic.
“I was feeling pretty isolated,” she said. So she began looking for a way to find community, and getting outside seemed like a safe option. On social media, she asked if there were any LGBTQ hiking groups in Southern New England, and people responded by saying: “No, but you should start one.”
So she did, and about 15 people showed up for the first hike.
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“It was kind of like, ‘Oh, we’re onto something,’ ” Thibeault said. “There’s clearly this need.”
Now, the group is hiking two to four times per month, depending on the season. And now, amid a conservative backlash against LGBTQ rights, the group has added value.
“I think merely by existing we’re being activists, especially in today’s current climate,” Thibeault said. “I could kind of get scared and hide, or show up for my community. I think I’m choosing the latter because it’s so important just to say, ‘Hey, we exist, we’re here. We’re your neighbors, we’re your friends, we’re your family.’”
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The organizers wear Queer Hikes T-shirts and patches with a logo of a raccoon with a bandana around its neck.
“As a woman and as a queer person, I don’t know that I feel the most comfortable just walking around the woods by myself, especially wearing a shirt that says ‘Queer’ right on it,” Thibeault said. “But I try to put on a brave face and say, ‘This is important, and I’m gonna wear it.’ ”
Sylvia Vaccaro, who helps plan the hikes, said, “They want to fracture and isolate. So coming together in any capacity, even if it’s purely for fun, even if we’re not like organizing or being super politically active, just being together is already like forming those bonds.”
Sharon LeBeau, who began coming to the hikes a few years ago, said, “It’s nice just to be around your people and to feel safe — to have a safe space occasionally to kind of recharge."
The hike took place soon after the Trump administration announced that the 988 National Suicide & Crisis Lifeline will stop providing tailored support options to LGBTQ+ youth and young adults on July 17.
“I think it’s just another example of them trying to remove queer people from public life,” Henderson said. “Removing a suicide hotline is particularly nefarious because it’s removing resources from folks who are clearly in crisis. I just think it’s a very cowardly move. And it does make me in some way think: How can we as a group fill that void?”
The hike took place one day after the US Supreme Court ruled that Maryland parents who have religious objections can pull their children from public school lessons using LGBTQ storybooks.
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“We as queer people exist, regardless of other folks’ desires for us not to,” Henderson said. “Here we are. We’re all going to gather, and we’re all going to go on a hike. And we’re going to continue to exist regardless if they are going to tell our stories or not.”
In December, a survey shed light on the rates of discrimination experienced by Rhode Island’s LGBTQIA+ community.
LeBeau said some of the younger hikers have no idea what it was like for queer people in the 1980s, when she was a teenager. She said she recently told someone that Pride events weren’t parades back then — they were rallies for LGBTQ rights.
“I think a lot of people are in a place where they take their freedoms for granted,” LeBeau said. “With the way things are right now, the feeling that it could very easily go back to that, it’s unnerving.”
LeBeau had this advice for some of the younger hikers: “You have to stick together, and you have to stand up for each other.”
Thibeault said that’s the idea.
“It’s important for queer adults and allies to make some noise and say, ‘We’re here,’ ‘We’re here to support you,’” she said. “Sure, federally things are not great, but I think that’s where there’s an opportunity for the local communities to step in and and really band together.”
To get the latest episode each week, follow Rhode Island Report podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and other podcasting platforms, or listen in the player above.
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Edward Fitzpatrick can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him @FitzProv.