QUEERING THE MAP: PHYSICAL TRACES AND DIGITAL PLACES OF QUEER LIVES

Abstract

QueeringTheMap.com, launched in late 2017 by designer Lucas LaRochelle, is a ‘community-generated mapping project that geo-locates queer moments, memories and histories in relation to physical space’. In a Google Maps-style interface, users can locate pins anchored to physical locations. Attached to each pin is a story. Collectively, there are tens of thousands of stories about being lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, non-binary, and gender non-conforming: coming out stories, stories of first kisses, sexual encounters, break-ups, pride marches, assaults, traumas, and realisations. These stories digitally layer physical spaces with anonymous individual and collective stories; they locate qu..