We are big fans of queer ecology here at Cairngorms Pride. Given that nearly half of the Cairngorms National Park is free of people (47% is considered 'wild land'), we very much feel like we share our home with more than just 18000 other humans.

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Queer ecology began to emerge as a school of thought in the late 1970s, and it has developed since as a means to understand, explain and foster kinship between LGBTQ+ people and place.

Seen as an extension to queer theory through an environmental lens, it's can be used as a means to break down the human hierarchies which place queer people under minority stress.

With contributions from fields such as evolutionary biology, ecofeminism, contemporary biopolitics and disability studies, it is a rich seam for exploration. We encourage you to deep dive in!

Acceptance has been slow and observer bias of natural systems still exists, however finally queer ecology is having its moment in the sun, as more of our established organisations, such as the British Ecological Society and The Resurgence Trust are taking notice.

We love queer ecology as it challenges the gender binary and heteronormativity of "natural" and we are 500% here for that.

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Nature and its systems do not conform to human bias and social constructs of normativity or expectation. Queerness is part of the building blocks of the world's kingdoms and ecosystems, where same sex pairings, parenting, genderfluidity and lack of binaries demonstrate that queerness has an evolutionary and ecological purpose. Something we believe human societies could learn a lot from.

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We're looking forward to all sorts of queer ecology conversations and explorations as part of our projects and events series. Get involved and join in!

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Do you have favourite queer ecology resources, books, clips and art which inspire you? Tell us!

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_{Cairngorms Pride CIC is not responsible for the content of external websites and inclusion here does not constitute an explicit endorsement of any external organisation or its principles.}