Justin Yoder didn’t set out to build a nationwide organization. He set out to document his outdoor activities on Instagram.
Three to four months in, the messages started coming in: I’ve been looking for something like this. I found my family. He didn’t know what to do with that. He kept going anyway. Now LGBTQ Outdoors has chapters in 23+ states, 45+ ambassadors, and has hosted more than 150 events across the country — connecting queer people with each other and with the outdoors through free local chapter hikes, guided trips to national parks, and an annual four-day outdoor festival that moves around the country.
The mission is simple: the outdoors belong to everyone. Getting there sometimes takes a little help.
Justin joins me to talk about how it started, who shows up, why representation matters before you ever set foot on a trail, and how a pair of tennis shoes and a water bottle is genuinely all you need to begin.
A note from Missy: I have such a vivid memory of meeting Justin at a conference — sitting at lunch and immediately feeling this warmth and passion for what he’s built. He is doing something so important. The outdoors heals. But if you don’t feel safe getting there, the healing never starts. Justin is building the pathway.
Episode Guest
Justin Yoder – Founder & Executive Director
LGBTQ Outdoors
Show Notes & Links
- LGBTQ Outdoors: lgbtqoutdoors.com — sign up for the newsletter, find your chapter, explore membership
- Find your state Facebook group: search LGBTQ Outdoors + your state
- LGBTQ Outdoor Fest 2026: Colorado, September — registration open now
- Local chapter events: free, no membership required
- Become an ambassador: lead one event every two months in your area
- AllTrails app: alltrails.com
- ⚠️ Content note: Justin briefly shares a personal experience with suicidal ideation. He provides a trigger warning in the episode. Resources: 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline — call or text 988.
Episode Transcript
LGBTQ Outdoors
The Parks Podcast, Episode 68 | Justin Yoder, Founder & Executive Director, LGBTQ Outdoors
Welcome and Organization Stats
Missy Rentz: Are you intrigued by the outdoors, but just left with questions on how to and where to? Today’s guest had a happy accident when an Instagram page meant for documenting outdoor activities led to a nationwide community spending time and sharing experiences outdoors. Join me as we learn more about LGBTQ Outdoors. I’m your host, Missy Rentz, and this is The Parks Podcast.
Missy: Today I am so excited to welcome Justin Yoder, who is the Founder and Executive Director of LGBTQ Outdoors, to The Parks Podcast. Justin, welcome.
Justin Yoder: Thank you. Thank you for having me. I’m excited to be here with you.
Missy: I am so excited to chat with you. We met nearly a year ago and I have such a vivid memory of us sitting at that table having lunch, just getting to know each other and getting to know our passions. I’m really excited to share with my audience what it is that you do.
Justin: I can’t believe it’s been a year already.
Missy: I know. It’s wild. But let’s get into it. Typically if I’m talking to a park, I talk about park stats — but I did a little research and I’m gonna do LGBTQ Outdoors stats. LGBTQ Outdoors was started in 2019. You are located all throughout the United States. There are currently 23 chapters and more than 45 ambassadors that have hosted more than 150 events in the United States, and you guys are really dedicated to showcasing that the outdoors is for everyone.
Justin: Yeah, you pretty much got it all. I think a couple of them have grown — I think we’re more than 23 states now. And I think we’ve had more than 150 events now too. They’re also growing about every day, so.
How It Started — A Happy Accident
Missy: Tell me what is LGBTQ Outdoors and how did it get started?
Justin: In simple terms, it’s probably the greatest accident I’ve ever had. I came out in 2010 and some time had gone by and I was missing my outdoor roots. I had not done much in the outdoors in quite a long time and started looking for LGBTQ-related outdoor groups that I could get plugged into. I’m in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, and it was really hard to find a group like that. There were plenty of other outdoor groups that I could have gotten involved with — I considered it — but I also knew that being more newly out, I didn’t want to give myself the opportunity to go back into the closet for a particular group. So I never joined one and just toiled around with ideas of what to do. And finally I just decided I was gonna create an Instagram account. At the time it was just LGBT Outdoors — we’ve added the Q now in 2025, just to make sure that everybody in the queer community knew that they are welcome with us.
Justin: The goal of that Instagram account was really strictly to promote other queer people in the outdoors, and by doing so, hopefully encouraging people from our community to get out there and do it themselves. That’s all that I thought we were doing with it. I would say probably about three or four months in, we started receiving messages from people saying, “I’ve been looking for something like this. I found my family. This is amazing. I want to get involved.” And I’m like — what are you all talking about? It’s an Instagram account. There’s nothing to get involved with here. Over time, so many of those messages kept coming in that we realized we needed to do something. People wanted something more.
Justin: So we started a website — primarily a blog — and a lot of the people we were highlighting on our Instagram, we were asking to write blogs. How do you get into rock climbing as a queer person? How do you go kayaking and find community if you’re a queer person? And then that started to take off. And we kept getting the question, how do I get involved? How do I get involved? At this point we were still nothing as far as with the government — we weren’t incorporated, we weren’t a nonprofit. We were nothing.
Justin: Finally we had two people — one in Houston, Texas and one in Fort Worth, Texas — that were relentless in the fact that they were somehow going to get involved with us. And at that time we were like, okay, if people are gonna get involved with us, we also need to become an establishment. I was going to do it as a business. Super long story short — I had a nonprofit I started before that was doing AIDS and HIV relief work with kids in Africa. And when I came out in 2010, because of how conservative I was raised and the conservative board, they took that nonprofit away from me and shut it down. So I always said I would never have a nonprofit again. But the closer we got to it, more and more people were speaking truth into me — especially a lawyer friend of mine who laid out all the benefits. And eventually we established it as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit. And those two people — from Fort Worth and Houston — became our first ever ambassadors. We brought them on very clearly saying, if you do this, you are Guinea pigs, because we don’t know what we’re doing. And they were like, we’re here for it. And so that’s how the ambassador program started and how we became an official organization. And we just kept growing from there.
Missy: Have you always been active in the outdoors?
Justin: Yeah, I grew up on my grandparents’ farm in Missouri. And from as little as I can remember, I loved wildlife and nature and exploring the creeks on the farm. I was barefoot running around in the creeks. I still remember my favorite spot in the creeks where there were these giant rocks, and I don’t know what animal it was, but there were these giant rib fossils in the creek. And it was just so fun to explore and imagine and just be alone out in nature — even as a little kid. I don’t even know how old I was. 6, 7, 8 years old, probably.
Missy: I bring this up just because if people could see the smile on your face when you were talking about the creeks as a child. I went to Crater of Diamonds State Park in Arkansas and I was just sitting in dirt sifting with my hands all day. It was so much fun, so grounding, so childlike. The outdoors can really take you back to carefree moments of “come home when the streetlights come on” kind of lifestyle.
Justin: Yeah. And not only that — just the grounding effect it has. A lot of people have probably heard the phrase “touch grass.” And it sounds so simple and bizarre if you aren’t familiar with it. But when you actually connect with the earth and nature, it’s just so decompressing. It relieves stress and just lets you just be. And it’s great.
Why Representation and Community Matter
Missy: There is a barrier for any minority community that doesn’t feel welcome, and there is something really comforting about being with somebody with similar shared values to help you get into the outdoors. What do you think it is that makes people feel excluded?
Justin: That might be the biggest question you ask through this whole podcast, because it can be loaded in some ways. So I’m gonna talk about myself. I grew up in a very conservative family. My dad was raised Amish, my mom was raised Mennonite. I grew up Mennonite. And none of them accept me for being gay.
Justin: And just a little trigger warning — I’m going to mention suicide here just a little bit. If you need to skip forward about 20 seconds or so, please do. But that was something I struggled with a lot growing up because I grew up in a church that told me if you’re gay, you’re going to hell and God hates you. And when I came out and I was trying to get my mom to realize what a struggle it was for me as a kid — I shared a specific hunting moment that I almost didn’t come out of — her response to it was it might’ve been easier to have a kid that committed suicide than to have a gay kid.
Justin: That lets me know that there are a lot of places I am not welcome. And for me to feel like I am welcome somewhere, I’ve got to see representation. I’ve gotta see a pride flag. I’ve gotta see an anti-discrimination clause on your website. I’ve gotta see something that lets me know — because my own family isn’t cool with me. So what makes me think anywhere else in the world is gonna be cool with me unless I have some kind of reinforcement? Now, that’s not everybody by any means. There are people — and thank God it’s changing — a lot more people are being welcomed by their families. But I see the challenges every single day, especially with the laws around trans people. So I get that. But we are very slowly moving in the right direction.
Justin: There is legitimate fear for some people to get out there. And we need to help make it possible for people to enjoy the outdoors because the outdoors doesn’t belong to anybody. We had somebody on our podcast once that said, “Mother Nature don’t care who you are. Doesn’t matter.” And I loved that. Mother Nature does not care that you’re gay, Black, who you are, a person of color, queer, whatever — enjoy it. And we need to be able to make a pathway for people to do that.
Missy: I’ll share what I think excludes people. I think as an industry, we make it seem like you have to be at the top of El Capitan or you have to raft crazy rapids or bike crazy hills — and I think it’s intimidating. And then you walk into an outdoor store. I remember the first time I walked into an REI — I grew up doing outdoor stuff as a child but then I just didn’t, because I never had any friends that liked to do it. But I always had this pull to nature. And then as I really got more into wellbeing and mental health, I felt a greater and growing connection and knew that’s where I could go to breathe deeply. And I remember the first time I walked into an REI — I’m like, what the hell? I don’t know what I need. I don’t know. This is so intimidating. The first time nobody came and offered to help and I kind of walked around for a minute. I felt myself getting a little sweaty, getting a little nervous, and I left. But I’m someone who is tenacious enough to be like, I will not let REI defeat me.
Justin: Thank you. Yeah. And I would agree with you — we could probably come up with a list of 10 things that could be barriers. And we have chapters all across the US, and even within those chapters, ambassadors lead totally different events. Our Colorado chapter — on a couple of their events, they’ve gotten up at two o’clock in the morning and drove to hike up a 10,000-foot mountain. I couldn’t do that in Colorado — my lungs would explode. I would love to do it someday with somebody that has the patience to go with me. But then you look at our Houston chapter — they’ve just posted some stuff on Instagram and it’s just a dirt trail in a flat forest. Simple hike. You could even just wear tennis shoes and bring a water bottle. So we like providing different levels and helping people know — you can do this. And you’re in a safe group. If you have questions, ask. We’ll help you.
Missy: And that’s what I find with the outdoor community — we love to help people. We love to convert people. And I think some of the chatter on trails and on activities is, “Oh, what kind of water bladder do you have? What kind of backpack? Oh, why’d you choose those hiking poles?” And the tricks and the tips we share with each other are amazing. Even a Facebook group is a great entry point because we love to help people spend time outside.
Justin: Yeah, for sure. We do have Facebook groups for those state chapters — if you’re living somewhere that you’re interested, just search LGBTQ Outdoors plus the state you’re in, and hopefully if we have a chapter there, it’ll pop up. Or you can find it on our website. It’s a great tool for people to ask questions like that — what kind of hiking shoes do you like? What trails are people hitting right now? Where’s a good camping site for somebody new? It’s a great tool to use in a good way.
Growth, Community, and COVID
Missy: You guys have experienced a ton of growth since 2019. What do you attribute it to?
Justin: So many things. I think one of the biggest things is honestly just people wanting community. They might not know very many people in the outdoors who enjoy it, but they desire that. And that’s one of the biggest things I love seeing people walk away from our organization with — new hiking buddies. Anywhere from finding a new hiking buddy to finding their spouse.
Missy: I love it.
Justin: So there’s a wide range. But the community and relationships that are formed are just amazing. I think a lot of people are also just curious. They may not have much outdoor experience, but they’re curious about it. People can reach a time in their lives when they’re tired of the bars and the parties, or at least want something else besides that. And it’s a great way to be able to get out there and find community in a very healthy way. And for a lot of activities it’s very cost effective — it’s your tennis shoes and a trail, which is really nice.
Missy: You also started it right before COVID. And so at this time when everybody’s six feet apart and needing an outlet, you were right there.
Justin: Yeah, don’t get me wrong — it was a challenge. But I do think that was part of our success as well, because so many restaurants and bars and everything just closed down and people were going crazy wanting something to do. Even in Texas — they were still pretty strict on a lot of things. Groups were one of them. And I think there was a time where we could only have eight people in an outdoor group and they still needed to be socially distanced. It’s okay — we can take people on a hike and socially distance and be eight of us. So we would do that. And we continued to grow and grow.
Justin: There hasn’t been a year go by that we haven’t seen just amazing growth. I am really happy with what we’ve created for our community. People come into it in all different levels and facets and expectations. But a lot of people barely make it to an event — sometimes because they’re so nervous and introverted that they’re just like, “I don’t feel like I can do this.” We had someone pull up to the gate of one event one time and just sat there in her car and was like, “I don’t think I can go through and meet up with them.” And she pushed through, and it ended up being a life-changing event for her in a very meaningful way.
Missy: What’s an opportunity for someone who is feeling that way — super introverted, group activities cause anxiety — but still feeling a pull? Are there small groups, a chance to reach out to an ambassador?
Justin: Yes. So a great thing about our local chapter events is they’re very community oriented and led by an ambassador who is going to make sure they’re inclusive and welcoming. If you’re shy and you want to show up and just kind of hang in the back for a little while and get comfortable — absolutely, please do. We have our ambassadors trained to pick up on those types of things and try to make people feel welcome. And as far as the venture trips go — our bigger organized trips around the country — I always tell people, if you’re worried about it, reach out to me personally and let’s talk about it. I’d rather spend five or ten minutes helping someone get comfortable than have them not come at all.
Venture Trips and How to Get Involved
Missy: Tell us about the venture trips and what’s coming up.
Justin: Yeah, so this year we have some really great trips planned. We’re going to Arkansas — it’s called the Natural State for a good reason and it’s stunning. We’re gonna be hitting the river in canoes and kayaks, doing a camping trip, and also hitting Hot Springs National Park. So if you’re one that’s wanting to check off national parks, that’s an opportunity for you. And then in May we’re also going to do a wildlife trip to Grand Teton National Park and Yellowstone National Park — focused around wildlife. We’re gonna have a professional guide take us out one day. So if you love watching wildlife and have patience and are okay with early mornings and late evenings, that’s a great trip. In June, if you want to do a trip for Pride month, you could do Bryce Canyon National Park and Zion National Park — that’s going to be a lot of hiking. And then in August we are going back to Glacier National Park, working with the Glacier Institute, where they’re going to be taking us out daily and teaching us about the plants and wildlife of the park and the history of the park. All four trips just opened for registration about two and a half weeks ago and they’re around 30 to 40 percent full. So if you’re interested, get on there quick.
Missy: Yeah, absolutely. What are two or three benefits that someone would receive by choosing to join a group in the outdoors?
Justin: One — I’ll circle back to an answer I said earlier — the community aspect. Getting to be with other queer people and feeling totally safe in that environment. My second answer would be they don’t have to plan it. They just have to show up. They don’t have to worry about, should I do this trail? Should I do that trail? Where should I camp? We get it all planned out for you. You just show up and go along with us. And I always tell people — everything that we do is optional. So if there’s a day somebody just really doesn’t feel like going hiking or rafting or something and they just want to spend time around the campsite or do a little trail nearby — that’s totally fine. We don’t make people do everything that we do.
How to Get Involved and LGBTQ Outdoor Fest
Missy: So let’s talk about how people can get involved in LGBTQ Outdoors. What’s the first step? Somebody listens to this episode and goes, I feel seen. What do they do?
Justin: Go to our website — lgbtqoutdoors.com. If you sign up for our newsletter, that is the best way to keep up to date with everything going on. The most important information — trips, events, latest news. And then while you’re there, you can check out ways to get involved. If there’s a local chapter in your area, you can go on an event. All of our events are free as far as the local chapter events. We do ask for a donation if you can, but it’s not required. Start meeting some community in your area.
Justin: If somebody is totally sold out and they want to get involved even more — look at becoming an ambassador. Our ambassadors help manage the Facebook groups for their state and then they lead an event every other month. Some of them do a lot more than that. But the baseline is at least one every other month in their area. And that can be as easy and simple as going on a picnic in a park and having wine tasting afterwards, or it could be a three-day thru-hike that they put together. So it doesn’t have to be anything hard or challenging — it’s just about getting people outside and touching grass.
Missy: If somebody wants to, is it like a membership to the local groups?
Justin: No. We do have a membership as an organization as a whole — there are four different levels and there are special perks for those people who become members. But as far as being able to come to our events, you don’t have to be a member for that.
Missy: And if they can’t find a chapter near them but they’re dying to be part of this, what can they do?
Justin: Two things. One — consider becoming an ambassador and starting the community in your area yourself. It’s really interesting — Cherri up in New England, in New Hampshire, she did not want to be an ambassador. She did not want to lead anything. But there was nothing in her area like this. And so she decided, I’ll step up and become an ambassador. And now not only is she an ambassador, she is the ambassador program manager running the whole program. So if you think you can’t do it, you probably can if you’re interested.
Justin: The other thing that I would recommend is we have one national event every year called LGBTQ Outdoor Fest. This is our flagship event and is just really an amazing event that you can’t really put into words without experiencing it. It started as three days and then everybody — I say demanded, not really, but pretty dang close — wanted it to be four days. So we upped it to four days. It’s a Thursday through Sunday and we move it around the country. Last year it was in the Catskill Mountains of New York. This year it’s going to be in Colorado. Four days of learning from outdoor industry experts in different workshops — some are hands-on, some are lectures. There’s amazing time of community, getting to meet other people from around the country who love getting outdoors, building lifelong friendships. There are nightly sessions. We started doing a Pride night, which is a lot of fun. And this year there are gonna be high ropes courses, fishing, hiking, birding. It’s just an amazing time. It’s going to be in September. And each year it grows and we get more and more people. We’d love to have you.
Missy: And I also think — you are a 501(c)(3), so if there’s an individual or a company who is looking to support the work that you’re doing, you’re a great organization for that.
Justin: Yeah. And really the main goal with getting sponsorships is so that we can offer scholarships to people that can’t afford to come as well. So yes, some of it will go towards administration, but we really want as much of it as possible to go to help people come who maybe can’t afford it otherwise, or from marginalized communities. Those companies that do partner with us on this are really making a difference.
Advice for Anyone Who Feels the Pull
Missy: What advice would you give to someone who is intrigued but hasn’t yet found their people for the outdoors?
Justin: I think if you are somebody that’s wanting that community — most likely they are out there and you just haven’t come across them or haven’t found them yet. My husband always tells me the greatest thing I ever did with our organization is name it LGBTQ Outdoors, because it makes it so easy for anybody to find. So whenever somebody is Googling “gay outdoors” or “queer outdoors” or “LGBTQ outdoors,” we’re so easy to find. And there’s most likely an organization out there that meets your demographics. You just might have to dig a little bit more.
Justin: And if you’re somebody who’s more about the outdoors on your own — you like the idea of getting outside and active but you don’t have the know-how on how to make that happen — start looking at resources near you. Outdoor stores, maybe an REI that has workshops you can go to and learn. At the very least, if you want to get outdoors and you haven’t — a pair of tennis shoes and a water bottle can get you started on a hike. Get an app like AllTrails or Strava that will track your location. Let somebody know where you’re going. Check in after you are done. But you can start off as simply as that.
Missy: You’re gonna meet someone on the trail or on the river. You are gonna meet someone who will help guide you.
Justin: Yeah. Yeah.
Speed Round
Earliest park memory?
Smoky Mountains National Park — driving through the park at sunset and seeing a beautiful field with fog rolling in, just full of deer standing out in that beautiful field. “It is my earliest park memory.”
What made you love the parks?
Growing up on his grandparents’ farm in Missouri — barefoot in the creeks, fossil-hunting, always alone in nature as a kid. The outdoors was where he felt most himself. “I still remember my favorite spot in the creek where there were these giant rib fossils.”
Favorite thing about LGBTQ Outdoors?
The community and relationships formed — from hiking buddies to finding a spouse. “The community and relationships that are formed are just amazing.”
Favorite thing to do in a park?
Glacier National Park with the Glacier Institute — learning about plants, wildlife, and the history of the park. “Stunning.”
Park on your bucket list?
Already crossed off Glacier; the Great Migration in the Serengeti at sunrise was the wildlife experience of a lifetime. Next outdoor adventures keep expanding.
Three must-haves for a park visit?
Tennis shoes. A water bottle. A trail app like AllTrails or Strava. “That’s all you need to get started.”
Favorite campfire activity?
Storytelling and connection — the nightly sessions at LGBTQ Outdoor Fest.
Tent, camper, or cabin?
Tent camper.
Hiking with or without trekking poles?
Without. “I probably should use them more.”
Favorite trail snack?
Beef jerky.
Best animal sighting?
The Great Migration in the Serengeti at sunset — wildebeest as far as the eye could see, with Acacia trees and beams of light on the horizon. “We could almost hear the Lion King playing in the background.”
Favorite sound in the park?
Waking up in a tent on a spring morning to the birds waking up. (Not his least favorite: hikers with radios blaring music — “Don’t do that, y’all. Put in earbuds if you’re gonna do that.”)
Greatest gift the parks give to us?
“Life — in two different ways. Life in that we need the trees and the water and nature to sustain us and our planet. But also once you go to one and you just have an amazing experience in it, you just feel renewed and have new life as well.”
Missy: Justin, thank you so much for taking time to talk to me. I am so grateful for that day at Switchback that I got to meet you and have you and your organization in my life and in my Instagram feed.
Justin: Me too. I can’t wait to connect again. Hopefully we’ll see you at the next Switchback. But loved connecting with you and thank you so much for allowing me to have a little bit of time on your platform. Really appreciate it.
Missy: Absolutely. Check out LGBTQ Outdoors on their website or their social media feeds. And thanks for listening to this episode. Until next time — we’ll see you in the parks.
Music for The Parks Podcast is performed and produced by Porter Hardy. Follow us @TheParksPodcast or visit TheParksPodcast.com.