Our society has constructed numerous barriers to decrease participation in social, civic, and cultural engagement for 2SLGBTQIA+ people, especially queer BIPOC, and queer people with disabilities.

QEI is creating a diverse network of queer leaders who want to make our democracy a more equitable place for all. By empowering queer leaders with resources and networking opportunities with those directly impacting public policy, we can break down both the visible and invisible barriers to engagement in civic and political processes.

We're developing education programming to support our 2SLGBTQIA+ students and school leaders, as they build greater inclusivity in our schools and across society.

There is simply too much hate in this world for politics alone to tackle. If we want to break this hatred, we must work together and in good faith across all venues of change: art, culture, media, business, social engagement, and more.

The QEI fellowship awards are given to 2SLGBTQIA+ community members who are ready to lead, but lack financial, institutional, and social capital to achieve their goals.

We provide $10,000 fellowships in four categories: Civic Engagement, Community Empowerment, Arts & Media, Business Development.

We are currently developing an interactive map and web-based database that will host resources from the Minnesota Trans & Intersex Resource Network's (MNTIRN) resource list, in coalition and with support from many individuals and organizations involved with MNTIRN.

This project will be ongoing, and continue through collaboration, volunteers, and community feedback. Check out the work here.

Roxanne is a 2018 Bush Fellow, researching 2SLGBTQIA+ Community Centers to understand best practices for a center in the Twin Cities that centers Trans and GNC BIPOC folx. Roxanne's on going work addresses issues of marginalized people. Rox serves as Interim Executive Director for the Minnesota Transgender Health Coalition. Rox has been part of many lgtbq organizations including the Hughes Foundation, RECLAIM for Youth, GLBT Host Home Program. Rox is Co-Founder/Co-Director of RARE Productions.

Rox is perhaps best known for helping build the Power to the People stage at the Pride festival in Minneapolis and operating the now-closed Café Southside, once described as a “radical community hub” for queer Black and brown people. They’ve played a part in numerous 2SLGBTQIA+ organizations and happenings across Minneapolis over decades — organizing around HIV/AIDS prevention, advocating for mental health care and culturally responsive housing for queer youth, amplifying trans voices — always with the goal of creating safer spaces for the most marginalized people.

Xay Yang is a queer Hmong woman with over 15 years of experience working with Hmong/Southeast Asian families impacted by domestic violence/sexual assault, organizing 2SLGBTQIA+ community members and supporting youth. Xay's experiences span across the board from providing direct service through school-based therapy, community-centered therapy, and advocacy in domestic violence shelters servicing immigrant/refugee women and children. Aside from providing direct services, Xay has also facilitated healing circles locally and nationally, provided 2SLGBTQIA+ competency and culturally specific mental health trainings to service providers, school personnel and county staff. In addition to this, Xay is an active member of the Building Our Future- Queer Contingency, a national campaign focused on ending gender-based violence in the Hmong community with a special focus on gender-based violence in the Hmong 2SLGBTQIA+ community and the recipient of the 2023 Lavender Magazine Community Award.

Xay is super excited to be a part of this inaugural fellowship at QEI, to dream and envision what a leadership pipeline can look like for 2SLGBTQIA+ folks and to create much needed space and access.