Without doxxing myself here, how would one go about finding a trans commune in your respective state?
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Look up Tenacious Unicorn Ranch (TUR) out in CO. They’ve probably got some connections. Find your local anarchist or lefty group, or your local pride center and ask around at different queer social groups. In person asking around is probably going to be key. Communes probably aren’t something that’s going to have much of a public profile… except for TUR, they’re kinda known for being overtly heavily armed.
I thought they ran out of money and disbanded a while back
Idk, I don’t keep tabs on them
This will probably be something you have to set up on your own. I know a lot of trans people living together with other trans people, but most of the time that’s just 3 or 4 people who are all part of the same polycule, and if they aren’t dating it consists of people who’ve asked for roommates on a local trans discord or have put up a flyer at a queer venue around town.
Bump + need
It’s mostly informal, and most are ran by older (35+) trans people so try to ask around in that demo. I could ask around for you I run one myself but my people that I know are all filled up. Ultimately the best commune is the one you start.
I would say trans and queer communes are probably the largest kind of intentional community there’s quite a lot but they don’t advertise for obvious security reasons. There are legitimate issues with chasers and right wingers trying to stake communes out.
Yeah, that makes sense… I’ll have to do some further digging…
Missouri is a pretty red place, so hit a blue island (KC, Columbia, or STL) and hit up the big university. Haunt some of the less flashy bars for anyone that seems chill. If you’re lucky, or it’s Columbia, there’s already a bar for it. Arch and Column in Columbia has a pride flag flying out front. Ask those folks, as I’m sure anything here in Missouri is pretty discreet. As a straight white man, I’ve never heard of anything, but it’s probably the point.
Do communes like this actually work? I won’t say I’m not drawn to the idea, but the history of utopian socialist communities in the US is mostly tragic. I’ve heard about successful indigenous communes in latino america, but afaik they are based in a cultural background and political practice that most americans don’t have access to.
Unless of course “commune” here really means living with trustworthy room mates who know how to share, so you don’t have to do that sitcom thing with the tape for all the common storage spaces.
Not to belabor the point, but I do wonder what the material requirements are to have a successful long-term commune.
The first need that comes to mind is an economic base. A lot of utopian socialist projects fail because they try to skip to “moneyless society” without undergoing industrial development. I can see the argument that a commune that participates in the capitalist market economy is a contradiction of terms, but that doesn’t seem like a realistic definition even under a socialist economy. From a practical perspective, I would say that a commune just needs to have enough contributions/income available to its members to cover its costs.
The trouble with this loose economic conception of a commune is that a lot of things kind of look like a commune if that’s your only criteria. Maybe that’s not a bad thing. Maybe all you need to “make a commune” is shared housing, a willingness to cooperate on household maintenance, and shared food and storage space. I lived like this successfully for many years, but only some of my friends who stayed with me (ironically MLs) recognized it as a kind of commune.
I’m curious how others would define a commune. I also apologize if this is an annoying or unwanted analysis.
