If you look up the dictionary definition of queer it says:
differing in some way from what is usual or normal, eccentric/unconventional. There will also be something there about LGBTQ+ identities

When I ask people in my workshops what they think queerness means I get answers like: existing outside of the binary, pushing against conventional systems, connection, love.

Queerness is expansive, it’s flexible, and sure it’s about sexuality and gender but also so much more than that. It’s a verb, a way of existing outside of what’s been considered “normal” “right” or “conventional”.

There are probably as many ways to define queer ecology as there are queer ecologists. It’s…queer like that.

When I ask workshop participants how they see queer ecology thy answer with things like: connection, life, interconnection, mutualism, being gay outside and 1001 other things.

To me queer ecology is about taking a queer lens to the natural world and dismantling our ideas of hierarchies, binaries, and disconnections. Looking beyond the “every man for himself” mentality often perpetuated in western science. Leaving behind the idea that heterosexuality and cisgenderedness is the “norm”. And learning to appreciate and see the often forgotten and under appreciated parts of our beautiful world.

This is done through a lot of questioning, through learning from our non-human neighbours and kin, connecting back into the world, and reframing the ways in which we see both ourselves and the rest of life.

Oh what a big question! Fungi are not all I look at but definitely a big focus of my work so… good question.

Part of it is that fungi are so different to us as humans there’s a lot to learn from them when it comes to reframing how we view ourselves and the world around us.

Fungi are also very misunderstood, underappreciated and vilified members of our natural world that I think deserve a lot more love, appreciation and credit for their role in our communities. And in reframing how we view them and learning about them more, we are practicing queer ecology.

They’ve also been historically marginalised in a way that parallels the marginalisation of many humans which opens up discussions around history, colonialism, patriarchy, white supremacy and capitalism through a different lens. 

Well no, sort of, that’s not the point?

There is evidence of same sex behaviour/coupling in over 1,500 species. With this number increasing as we stop looking at the natural world with such a binary, heteronormative way.

However, the whole concept of “being gay” is a very human one. These gay animals are simply… being!

It can be helpful to us humans to frame these animals as gay, especially in a homophobic world, in order to see that our own human gayness is completely natural. But we have no idea how the penguins, dolphins, or any other poster child for queer nature see themselves. And queer ecology is much broader than labelling an animal gay and moving on with our lives, it’s about dismantling binaries altogether.