Radical Faeries

Part of a leaflet advertising the first Radical Faeries event in 1979.

### Purpose

To help people explore their identity, especially their sexuality and spirituality.

The **Radical Faeries** are a decentralized counter-culture movement with a focus on gay conscious and spirituality. The movement's focus started out on gay men in particular, but has since expanded to include LGBTQIA+ people in general.

## History

Before the finding of the Radical Faeries, Harry Hay was the founder of the Mattachine Society in 1950. Inspired by New Age, neo-pagan, and other counter-culture movements, Hay worked with others to create an event specifically for celebrating gay sexuality and spirituality.

The first Radical Faeries retreat was held in 1979, organized by Harry Hay, Mitch Walker, and Don Kilhefner. This event took place in a remote location of the Arizona desert, with 220 men from across North America traveling to attend. The main focus of this and subsequent Radical Faeries events were to "reject assimilation with heterosexuals", and embrace their identities separate from the overall heterosexual society that they were living within.

Though the original group of men who organized the first retreat parted ways sometime in 1980, there continued to be many other local Radical Faeries events and retreats throughout the United States and beyond. It was intentional that the Radical Faeries would be a very grassroots and decentralized movement, allowing for people to form their own groups and retreats under the same name in other locations.

One of the major locations in the United States today for Radical Faeries retreats is the Nomenus Sanctuary, also referred to as Wolf Creek Radical Faeries Sanctuary. This is a nature sanctuary in Oregon, where members of the group tend to the lands of the sanctuary, including a farm, and hold events and retreats for all who wish to travel there. Nomenus was formally established as a non-profit and tax-exempt religious corporation in 1984.

In Tennessee, there is another Radical Faeries sanctuary established in 1975 and has been operating since then. This sanctuary is called the Short Mountain Radical Faerie Sanctuary. Their May Day event in particular has been known to draw in over 300 people from around the world, both members of other Radical Faeries groups and outside visitors.

There are other Radical Faeries groups throughout the United States, such as one group operating within San Fransisco, and another in northern Minnesota in the Kawashaway Sanctuary. In Europe, many Radical Faeries groups exist, with one in particular managing and maintaining the Folleterre Sanctuary in France. There are also established Radical Faeries groups, retreats, and sanctuaries in other parts of the globe, including Canada, Israel, Australia, and Mexico.

## Resources

* Nomenus Sanctuary website
* Folleterre website
* Eurofaeries website

## References

1. ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 Baume, Matt: "Radical Faeries Have Been Pushing Queer Boundaries for More Than 40 Years" (2017-05-03). hornet.com. Hornet. (Archived on May 6, 2019).
2. ↑ "About the Radical Faeries". nomenus.org. (Archived on July 9, 2022).
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 3.7 3.8 3.9 Kilhefner, Don: "The Radical Faeries at 40: Rainbow Capitalism or Queer Liberation?" (2020-04-07). wehoville.com. WEHOville. (Archived on September 23, 2021).
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 Halberstadt, Alex: "Out of the Woods" (2015-08-06). nytimes.com. New York Times. (Archived on August 4, 2022).
5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5 5.6 Bonck, John Harry: "Radical Faeries" (2004). glbtqarchive.com. glbtq Archives Project. (Archived on July 9, 2022).
6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 "About the Sanctuary - Nomenus". nomenus.org. (Archived on July 9, 2022).
7. ↑ "Nomenus Radical Faerie Archives". oac.cdlib.org. Online Archive of California. (Archived on April 20, 2022).
8. ↑ Cuen, Leigh: "Radical Faeries Find Gay Homeland In Tennessee" (2015-02-24). vocativ.com. (Archived on September 21, 2021).
9. ↑ "Radical Faeries: SF’s Fabulously Weird Progressive Queers" (2012-10-10). thebolditalic.com. The Bold Italic. (Archived on August 22, 2022).
10. ↑ "10 Amazing San Francisco Highlights From the History of the Radical Faeries" (2017-04-04). sftravel.com. San Francisco Travel Association. (Archived on June 10, 2021).
11. ↑ Broker, Eric: "The Radical Faeries Of Kawashaway Sanctuary" (2019-08-30). tcpridemag.com. Twin Cities Pride Magazine. (Archived on February 6, 2022).
12. ↑ "EuroFaeries - Radical Faeries in Europe". eurofaeries.eu. (Archived on July 9, 2022).
13. ↑ "About Folleterre". folleterre.org. (Archived on May 6, 2022).