On founding Co: “I told them [Luis Morteo and Lawrence Jaime] about Fife’s. They didn’t even know we had a place where gay people hang out on Fridays and Saturdays.” “Eventually, we all started meeting at Inspire Café. And that’s kind of how Co formed. Basically starting from, well, we need to start doing events. And you know what? We need a website. We need this. We need that. We need resources. We need support. I want someone to be able to google ‘Dubuque gay’ or ‘Dubuque lesbian’ or whatever and have local resources and LGBT support pop up.” On community: “When I say community, I mean my home. This is where Cindy was born. Cindy was born in Dubuque, Iowa. She got her name changed in court here. She gets her HRT on Dubuque Street in Iowa City. She got baptized in Dubuque. None of that happened in Missouri or Minneapolis where I lived in the past. It was here. This is my community.” On the Pride event: “It was beautiful. To see all these people come together. Including allies. Straight people. I mean, I saw people from work and it was all, ‘I never thought I would see you at a Pride event!’ I mean I know they’re not gay or lesbian or transgender. So I thought that was really cool.” “I loved the photo booth. I love taking pictures. And dancing. And just being [enormous hand gesture]. Just enjoying life.” On future Co events: “Let’s freaking have some fun [extra-enormous hand gesture]!”
Co Is Community Travis Nelson
As important for me, though, is the opportunity Co has provided to get to know a whole community of amazing people (including my straight-up fantastic boyfriend) that I might not otherwise have met. This includes gay people and straight people. Cis people and trans people. Funny people, weird people, religious people, artistic people. All of these people have made my life richer and helped me to realize that diversity comes in many, many, oh-so-many different forms. And that’s what Co is all about for me. Co is about embracing the diversity of our community and about being a community for one another in all of our diversity. I grew up in small-town Minnesota (Lake Wobegon, basically) where community is a bedrock value. Community is important to me. Co is community.
Lawrence I am Lawrence Jaime, creator of LAW-Photo and member of Co Dubuque. I became interested in Co Dubuque because I learned in my recent move to the Midwest that the LGBTQ+ community in this area has become somewhat scattered. I wanted to help. I now serve as Co Dubuque’s photographer and graphic designer, and I utilize my talents to capture and promote events. Co has given me an opportunity to showcase my skills [law-photo.com and lawnishika.tumblr.com] for the community. Especially as a new member, it means a lot to be a part of something that helps my community. I am grateful that my art can shine through Co. I feel that Co has already made progress in bringing the community together. Its pride events were my first realization that Dubuque and the tri-state area really are home to many LGBTQ+ people. It was great to see them come together, and it was great to really feel like a community again -- like the one I used to know and love in Los Angeles. I look forward to many more Co events, community activities, and educational workshops.
In the past year, I did a lot. I got tenure. I bought a house. I caught a groundhog. I traveled to China twice. And Poland once. I learned how to caulk a bathtub and polyurethane a floor. I also came out of the closet as a gay man. And I can tell you that all of the inherent weirdness of coming out at age forty in a post-Obergefell, current-social-media world was made so much easier by my involvement in Co. Part of that is the acceptance and support that are clear values of the organization. That’s a big deal. Co has undoubtedly helped me feel a pride and ease in my sexuality that was difficult to imagine a year ago.
06 Oct. 2016
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