For Nic Huey, organizing is not primarily about filling a room. It is about creating the conditions for people to find one another, express themselves freely and imagine a less restrictive world.
Huey, 26, is a nonbinary and queer organizer living in Palm Springs. They are most proud of the connections created through their work and of helping bring life and excitement back to Palm Beach County’s queer arts scene.
“Being out & proud means to live authentically and fearlessly,” Huey said. “I find it very important and necessary to be in community with each other to directly oppose our oppression.”
That belief shapes both the purpose and atmosphere of their events. Huey said queerness informs their relationships, passions and understanding of the world. As they continue learning about themselves, they have become increasingly willing to question ideas and structures that society labels normal.
“Viewing the world in a non-binary way has just made me more and more critical of the way things are structured,” Huey said. “Nearly everything I do comes from a place of love for the people and it is felt at all of my events.”
Huey regularly works with organizations and mutual-aid efforts including EMAWPB, Compass LGBTQ Center, Rebel Recovery, Queer Hike Club, Really Free Market, Food Not Bombs WPB, and Mutual Aid Distribution WPB. They are careful to note that they are not a direct organizer of those groups, but collaboration keeps their work connected to a broader network of community care.
Their advice to LGBTQ youth is concise and rooted in the same philosophy that guides their events: “Every effort put forth in loving & learning about yourself innately benefits those around you. Freeing ourselves frees all of us.”
That idea also appears in Huey’s definition of pride.
“Being open in our self-expression & livelihood will empower each other to live freely,” they said. “We liberate ourselves to liberate each other.”
Huey’s favorite quote, from writer Toni Cade Bambara, captures the revolutionary potential they see in creative work: “The role of the artist is to make the revolution irresistible.”
Through queer art, events and mutual aid, Huey is making liberation feel less like an abstract promise and more like something people can experience together, in the present tense.
