We regret to inform everyone that Beyond the Plus is shutting down operations. Due to ongoing and future safety concerns, members voted to cease operations of the org effective immediately. (It might take us a bit to get everything taken fully offline.)

I founded this organization because I wanted to help people. I wanted to reach out to those who didn’t already have community and offer them safe spaces where they could meet others and beat loneliness. I thought the community was ready for something public, but I guess I was wrong. I still want to help people who are closeted, but if the answer isn’t public organizations then I think the only thing is to set an example and inspire people to fix their loneliness on their own.

Bt+ may be gone, but our message lives on. People in our community need to form in-person connections, only then will we achieve the acceptance we all want so badly. We all want our Stonewall, but Stonewall happened before gay rights organizations, not the other way around. Maybe someday something like Bt+ can exist again, but only once our people are organized and ready to literally fight for their rights, just as queer people did back then.

People want their safety guaranteed, but the truth is that it never can be in in-person spaces. If we want our rights then we all need to brave unsafe scenarios, be smart about how we handle them, and stick together. The best safety we will ever have is in numbers; if we are all side-by-side then we can protect ourselves from whatever threats come our way. But if we stay divided and stay in online spaces where we know we can’t be hurt, then we will never know progress.

Our acceptance will not come through arguments online, social media websites, and public organizations. It’ll start with genuine, in-person community, just as it did for every other marginalized group that came before us. It is our duty, if we want to see our acceptance, to play a part in that. Whether here in Washington, or across the world.

- Ally Kotetsu

#queer #beyondtheplus #gay #lgbt #lgbtq #identity #paraphilia

The new year is upon us, and while nothing has really changed except one digit of the date, the tradition of making and sharing resolutions makes a good extra push to reflect on what we want from the next 12 months of our existences. For some of us, what we want to change the most this year is an easy answer that comes readily; for others, it takes more thought. If you fall into the second category, here are some questions I suggest you ask yourself to get started:

Thinking through it, hopefully you have a better idea of what you should be doing with your new year. It can be as specific or as general as you want it to be, as ambitious or as humble as you’d like – the important part is just that you work towards a better future for yourself, whatever that means to you and however you need to do it.

For many beings in the community, this likely relates to their marginalized identities; that might be making more friends who accept them for who they are, taking more pride in themselves, working through internalized stigma, better coming to constructive, forward-looking terms with what is and isn’t possible in the world as it exists today, or even taking a more active part in working towards the social change that will make things better for all of us.

We here at Bt+ are resolved to keep pushing forward, to learn from our mistakes and our setbacks as well as our successes, and to make this year a better one for us than the last, the same as we did in 2025. And if you want to be a part of that, or if we can help you achieve your resolutions through the work we do, we look forward to having you with us this year!

#beyondtheplus #lgbt #lgbtq #gay #identity #paraphilia #queer #para #orientation #transid #transidentity #radical #radicallyqueer

#Tales of #ore
constantly #hammered
#crown #jewels
#chest #medal
in between a #neck #strangled
studded #star #spangled

#Throaty #spells
#voicing #world #over
sleep that #dreams
#Jolting #bolt
The #whiff of #paraphilia
#waking #Ophelia

https://geethaprodhom.wordpress.com/2016/09/18/waking-ophelia/

https://www.beyondtheplus.org/join

Do you want to be part of a growing radical queer community in WA state? Join Beyond the Plus! We hold in-person events for vetted members in order to foster community and bring people together. This fediverse acc is merely a way to advertise our cause to the people we want to help out. Sign up is completely free!

If you have any questions please check out our FAQ, and if you don’t see a sufficient answer you can always reach out to us and ask (either via our website or here on fedi).

#queer #beyondtheplus #gay #lgbtq #paraphilia #identity #lgbt #para #transid #transidentity #orientation #radical #radicallyqueer

The Most Stigmatized Fetish: Scat. Understanding Coprophilia. https://maramenoci.com/the-most-stigmatized-fetish-scat-understanding-coprophilia/

#Scat
#Coprophilia
#Paraphilia
#SexualBehavior
#Psychology
#FetishStudy
#HumanDesire
#TabooTopics
#MentalHealth
#SexualHealth
#fetish
#KinkEducation
#SouthPark
#100DaysOfSodom
#PinkFlamingos
#Divine
#CultClassics
#AdultEducation
#FinancialDomination
#FemDom
#MoneyControl
#PowerDynamics
#Domination
#KinkCulture
#ConsentMatters
#Unconventional
#AdultTopics
#PsychFacts
#BehavioralHealth
#LearnMore #poop

We are looking for people to fill our Event Organizer position! The required duties are to research and contact event venues, organize your findings in a spreadsheet and share them with staff, and help set up some events. You must be able to commute to Seattle on a regular basis and maintain regular contact with the rest of our staff. Unlike Board of Directors positions, this one won’t list your name publicly on our website, so you’ll be able to work this role as confidentially as you’d like. The role is volunteer work and is therefore unpaid. For more info and to apply please read the page on our website.

https://www.beyondtheplus.org/get-involved/careers/event-organizer

#beyondtheplus #lgbt #lgbtq #gay #identity #paraphilia #queer #para #orientation #transid #transidentity #radical #radicallyqueer

Happy January, Bt+, and happy new year! Got any new years resolutions? If so, feel free to share them in the comments!

First and foremost we have a big announcement: the Bt+ forum! It is a forum for members only, and is intended to be a way for members to be able to have something to do in-between events. It’s also a way for members that live further away from Seattle to still be able to participate with each other. Some people in WA haven’t joined Bt+ yet because they fear being a part of in-person community, and we hope that introducing them to an online space with other members will warm them up the idea of meeting them in-person. That all being said, there are risks involved with a forum, such as causing infighting, or getting people comfortable with just being online and never coming to in-person events, so if we find that the forum ends up causing more harm than good we may end up discontinuing it. Consider this a test run for the first couple months.

Next up, Bt+ is seeking volunteers! We recently had some staff members leave, so we are a bit understaffed. Any help would be appreciated! We are seeking two different types of volunteer work: short-term and long-term. Short term volunteering is for case-by-case basis volunteer opportunities, like if we need people to help test out website features or trial runs for events. Long term volunteering would make you a part of our staff, where you are a part of the team and have regular responsibilities. For the former, please visit our new page on Volunteering. For the latter please check out our open positions on our Careers page, we are looking for Event Organizers at the moment, but in the future this page will be updated whenever we are seeking new staff.

Additionally, our Event Preference Survey has ended. The purpose of this survey was to poll members for their availability times, as well as what activities they are interested in. Now that we have collected all our results, we will use the information to better our events, ensuring that more members can participate, and that they’ll have fun doing so. We will likely hold more surveys in the future, so, members, please keep an eye out for those.

Lastly, we are doing a lot of work behind the scenes to strengthen the structure of Bt+, which is mainly consisting of doing research into more event venues. Between that, a change in staff, and long processes into forming a legal structure, we have a lot on our plates. As much as we’d like to be innovating and doing more for our community, we don’t have the resources at the moment. So please be patient as we build ourselves up; we may stay at the level that we’re at for a long time.

Thanks for reading! We hope everyone enjoyed their 2025. Despite its tumultuous political climate, our org has been able to make it a good year for some people, and we hope that 2026 can be even better. Not a member yet? Join Bt+ to become one! Members get invited to events and get some other perks as well. (Being subscribed to the mailing list and being a member are two separate things. Not sure if you’re a member? Sign up!) Membership is currently limited to those who reside in WA state.

#queer #beyondtheplus #lgbt #lgbtq #radical #radicallyqueer #orientation #para #paraphilia #identity #transid #transidentity