Community Organizations

Queer Organizations Recommended by Quatrefoil Library

This page is a list of organizations serving the LGBTQIA+ communities of Minnesota and beyond. The team at Quatrefoil recommends these organizations for their services and commitments to serving the queer community. This list is far from exhaustive, and while we love promoting these organizations, there are many others who are doing fantastic work. If there’s one missing you feel should be represented here, send us a note. We’ll look into adding it.

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Gerber / Hart Library

Gerber/Hart Library and Archives was founded in 1981 on the belief that knowledge is key to dispelling homophobia and the marginalization of sexual and gender minorities.   Gerber/Hart collects, preserves, and makes accessible items related to LGBTQ history and culture. Open to everyone, Gerber/Hart is dedicated to promoting research, learning, exploration, and discovery in a safe atmosphere.   Focused primarily on the Midwest, Gerber/Hart has grown to become one of the larger independent LGBTQ libraries and archives, containing a 22,500 volume circulating library, 600 periodicals, 700 newsletters, 150 archive collections (980 linear feet), 1,700 linear feet of Special Collections items, and four exhibition venues.

Lavender Magazine

Since 1995, LAVENDER Media has produced award-winning publications, websites, podcasts, apps and events aimed at the local, national and international gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender (GLBT) and GLBT-friendly audience.

One Voice Mixed Chorus MN

One Voice Mixed Chorus is Minnesota’s own – and one of North America’s largest – LGBT and straight allies community chorus. We’re building community and creating social change by raising our voices in song!

OutFront Minnesota

OutFront Minnesota’s mission is to create a state where lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer people are free to be who they are, love who they love, and live without fear of violence, harassment or discrimination.

Out on the Shelves

Out On The Shelves aims to foster a free, accessible, and safe space for LGBT2QIA+ people and their allies to discover and share stories and resources centering on LGBT2QIA+ experiences. We understand that LGBT2QIA+ people stand at the intersection of multiple communities and identities, and we seek to empower and support them by providing access to materials that reflect their realities.

Storm of Blue Press

Storm of Blue Press is a literary magazine which accepts user submissions and is written by and for LGBTQ women and non-binary individuals.

Telling Queer History

The mission of Telling Queer History is to connect Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer + people across generations and identities through storytelling gatherings, which bring communities together to foster compassion, empathy, and healing.   

The Jean-Nickolaus Tretter Collection in Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Studies

Part of the 17-unit Archives and Special Collections department of the University of Minnesota libraries, the Jean-Nickolaus Tretter Collection in Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Studies is the largest LGBTQ-specific archival repository in the upper Midwest, holding approximately 3,500 linear feet of material—including books, periodicals, grey literature, personal and organizational records, zines and pamphlets, artifacts and ephemera, and audiovisual materials. Although national and international in scope (featuring materials in approximately 58 languages), the Tretter’s holdings are especially strong in materials documenting the history of LGBTQ people, organizations, and communities in the Upper Midwest, especially the Twin Cities area. The Tretter also serves as a center for LGBT and queer ideas, hosting panel discussions, community conversations, and other events designed to support critical inquiry into LGBTQ pasts.

This Queer Book Saved My Life!

This Queer Book Saved My Life! is a podcast that interviews guests from across the LGBTQ rainbow about the queer books that saved their lives. These are the books that rescued their relationships, or salvaged their family ties, or liberated them to live their authentic lives, or, in some cases, literally saved their life. As we get to know our guests, we bring in the book’s author for a meaningful conversation about queer life and the power of literature.

Twin Cities Gay Men’s Chorus

Now celebrating its 39th year, Twin Cities Gay Men’s Chorus (TCGMC) is a non-profit 501(c)(3) volunteer community chorus whose mission is Gay Men Building Community Through Music. Twin Cities Gay Men’s Chorus seeks to provide its members with rewarding musical experiences and to promote social exchange.  As an organization that celebrates diversity and uses music as a way to transform, educate and heal, the Chorus works towards the elimination of homophobia and intolerance through community outreach.