All the Genders Photo Project

07/02/2026

🏳️‍🌈🎉 We did it!🏳️‍⚧️🏳️‍🌈
Together, we raised $12,007 to bring Northern Lights, Northern Lives into the world.
This campaign wasn't powered by algorithms; it was powered by people.

By almost every Kickstarter metric, this project wasn't supposed to succeed. My online audiences were much smaller than recommended, I launched with only 50 Kickstarter followers, I couldn't run Facebook ads, and I didn't have the large family network that often helps first-time campaigns gain momentum.

Yet together, we proved something different:

🌱 Community is stronger than algorithms.

Thank you to 130 incredible supporters: individuals, bookstores, businesses, nonprofits, community organizations, event organizers, journalists, and everyone who shared this project, recommended it to friends, hung flyers, or sent words of encouragement when I needed them most. You helped bring 163 books into the world before a single copy has even been printed.

I especially want to thank Nonni from western Alaska, whose pledge carried the campaign across the finish line. Almost 3 years ago, she welcomed me into her home for a traditional Yup'ik meal, sharing her culture, her family, and the experiences that shaped her life. Moments like that are why this project exists.

I believe people are hungry for authentic stories. They're tired of voices being erased. They're looking for ways to connect with one another. This campaign reminded me that even when algorithms and our broader polarized climate makes connection harder, people still find each other.

Thank you for believing in these stories, and for believing in me. ❤️

Now comes the exciting part: editing, book design, printing, and finally getting Northern Lights, Northern Lives into your hands. I can't wait to share this next chapter with you.

https://kickstarter.com/projects/all-the-genders/northern-lights-northern-lives-all-the-genders

With The Calos Coalition

06/30/2026

Another campaign update … with only ONE day to go!! Thank you Asher, Stefan and everyone else supporting this book journey!

See Kickstarter link for pre-orders:
https://kickstarter.com/projects/all-the-genders/northern-lights-northern-lives-all-the-genders

06/29/2026

🏳️‍🌈 There are less than TWO days left to pre-order Northern Lights, Northern Lives!🏳️‍⚧️

Fifty+ people trusted me with their stories for this book, and there are only hours left to help bring these stories into the world before the campaign closes on Wednesday, July 1 at 10 PM Eastern Time.

The campaign journey this week …

🌈 This past week we welcomed our 100th supporter: Jen Trujillo, director of Gilbert Baker Film Festival!
📚 25 people joined Sunday's virtual author event with storytellers from Alaska and the Yukon. We laughed, reflected, and occasionally cried as we explored the stories that make up this book.
💜 Additional support will help expand the Pay-It-Forward add-on and put books into the hands of community members across international borders who might not otherwise be able to afford one (bonus pledges help with high shipping costs to send sponsored books to recipients outside the U.S.!)

As Pride Month comes to a close, I'm so incredibly grateful for everyone who has helped make this project possible.

With weeks and months of Kickstarter research beforehand, I fretted and worried about being able to get this campaign off the ground. Worried about… this project’s smaller social media presence and email lists relative to the funding goal, increasing suppression of q***r content affecting “reach,” being banned from using tools like F@cebook ads which are considered primary modes of outreach for these types of campaigns… and more.

It feels like there are so many things working against the visibility of gender-diverse stories in our current world, yet - with your help, we have a q***r (and allied) book campaign that is still growing and reaching more people.

Pre-order your copy before time runs out at the profile’s Kickstarter link!

https://kickstarter.com/projects/all-the-genders/northern-lights-northern-lives-all-the-genders

06/24/2026

We’re finishing out Pride month with A LOT going on - a lot of celebration wrapped up into the spirit of protest. If you’re in SouthEast Virginia, stop by to say hi, catch up and talk about the book! If you want to connect with this project from other places, check out the virtual event I’m hosting on Sunday with a couple other storytellers, project Q&A, and sneak previews from the book. Find the event registration (for free) in the profile links on Eventbrite.

I’m honestly too tired today to write anything longer and more inspirational or thoughtful, but … there are only SEVEN days left to pre-order Northern Lights, Northern Lives - your collection of northern, gender diverse stories. My peculiar road trip happenings and observations of different q***r communities also tie together these diverse stories from all different backgrounds.

Thank you all so much for being part of this journey, and for being you.

With The Calos Coalition

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/q***r-book-launch-virtual-author-event-northern-lights-northern-lives-tickets-1990175536604?aff=ebdssbdestsearch

06/20/2026

I’m a bit late on a Chapter 7 sneak preview after a FULL and busy campaign week, but didn’t want to miss sharing something from this group of special people I met while exploring the unique q***r dynamics of Alaska’s neighbor, the Yukon Territory Canada.

Princess J describes the process of breaking down barriers and transphobia thru being visible in her town. When I visited Dawson City, an old gold mining town, I could almost see the work she had done to pave the way for others to live fully. This is part of a scene that I witnessed as I waited to meet a different person for a photo session.

“An eclectic range of people steadily trickled in and out of the bar for a morning coffee. Q***r coding folks with brightly dyed hair and layered thrift store fashion walked in amongst bearded and grizzled looking gold miners in work boots. Everyone sat together at the same bar, exchanging greetings and small talk. There was no visible segregation - not by sexuality, or gender, or politics. Just a shared space and hot drinks. The q***r coding barista knew everyone’s order by heart. It was a scene so mundane that it felt radical.

I enjoyed the scene for nearly two hours waiting for my new friend to arrive. As I watched people mix and mingle, I realized something: in this tiny town at the edge of the Arctic expanse, q***rness wasn’t othered. It was woven in, as it should be in any community. Sure, maybe most of the grizzled miners and q***r artists weren’t besties, but they could share a countertop and a conversation without it being a statement. Could I imagine this scene playing out in a small-town bar in rural America? Not really. And yet here, it felt completely normal. That scene at “the Pit” ended up reflecting much of my experience in Dawson City: unexpected warmth, welcome, and the ease of q***r belonging beyond urban boundaries.”

*****
There are only 11 days left to pre-order a copy of Northern Lights, Northern Lives! We are 45% of the way to the campaign’s first stretch goal - which covers all editing costs for this project. Join us on this journey to capture our dynamic rainbow of stories during a time of intensifying erasure.

06/16/2026

I’m so excited to share that the Kickstarter campaign for Northern Lights, Northern Lives just funded! This means that the campaign hit its first and most critical all-or-nothing funding goal, so I can deliver this book to supporters this autumn. I’m so incredibly grateful to everyone who has joined this journey with us.

If you haven’t joined the campaign yet, there’s still time to grab a book pre-order by the end of June, or even support with pledging a few dollars. Continuing to grow this campaign until the end of Pride Month will help bring these stories to more people … and cover the cost of a second editor who polished this manuscript in recent weeks!

**If you miss the June campaign, I’ll still have copies later, but the second print run won’t be out until early 2027.

https://kickstarter.com/projects/all-the-genders/northern-lights-northern-lives-all-the-genders

This past weekend, someone reminded me in a profound way why this work makes a difference. As a Pride event started, a confident and glowing woman walked up to my table. Her beautiful eyes were familiar, but I couldn’t place where I had met her before. She beamed as she told me that she was the person with a beard sitting in front of me during a 3-month class we took 2 years earlier.

I had hesitantly asked the tall man with a beard if he would be interested in sharing his story for All the Genders - it felt like they were intrigued by the photo project, but also sensed an uncertainty around them. I didn’t want to push someone to be visible in a way that didn’t work for them.

When I finally saw her again this past weekend, I told her I was so glad that this project played a small role in her journey to being at home in her body - not wanting to assume any credit for where she was at today in her transition.

She said with emphasis, “Oh no - it wasn’t a small role.” This work and these stories, were it - one of the main keys to “cracking her egg.” Your stories have been a powerful, life-changing force for her. Simply by being able to see all the ways that we can be ourselves through authentic, visual storytelling. Thank you all, truly, for being here and being you.

06/15/2026

At a Pride event on Saturday, someone reminded me in a profound way why this work can make a difference. As the event started, I was still trying to get my social brain and masking abilities back online (I may have been in the middle of an autism crash overloading myself with events!).

A confident and glowing woman walked up to my table. Her beautiful eyes were familiar, but I couldn’t place where I had met her before. She beamed as she told me that she was the person with a beard sitting in front of me during a 3 month class we took together a couple years earlier. We had some short conversations before; mostly small talk over the coursework, our volunteer work, careers and the photo project.

I had hesitantly asked the tall man with a beard if he would be interested in sharing his story for All the Genders - it felt like they were intrigued by the photo project, but also sensed an uncertainty around them. I didn’t want to push someone to be visible in a way that didn’t work for them. So we briefly corresponded online a few more times after the course, and didn’t run into each other again until this weekend.

As we wrapped up our conversation at Pride, I told her I was so glad that this project played a small role in her journey to being at home in her body - not wanting to assume any credit for where she was at today in her transition. She said with emphasis, “Oh no - it wasn’t a small role.” This work and these stories, were it - one of the main keys to “cracking her egg.” Your stories have been a powerful, life-changing force for her. Simply by being able to see all the ways that we can be ourselves through authentic, visual storytelling. So thank you to this person for sharing a vulnerable part of her journey, and to everyone else in this project who unknowingly helped her through this chapter of life.

This book and project are so much more than hitting campaign numbers, but I’ll throw it out there anyway! With the support of everyone joining in on this journey, the book is now 97% to its first and most critical funding goal with 16 days left!

Thank you to everyone for being here and being YOU

With
The Calos Coalition
DreamPunk Press
Gilbert Baker Film Festival
The Virginia Zoo

06/12/2026

These short clips from David’s story in Northern Lights, Northern Lives highlight the reclamation of terms that once celebrated all genders of Inuit cultures. He explains what being Sipiniq means to him in a more beautiful and expansive way in the book.

In the chapter introduction to Fairbanks, I share some of my own stories from my short time here - ranging from the time I hit a moose to an unexpected hot springs conversation about gender that culminated in being flashed. This small, conservative city was a place that surprised me in so many different ways each time I had the opportunity to visit.

“Summer’s relentless daylight seems to ignite the entire city - people bustling with projects, events, foraging and harvesting, while winter’s near-total darkness brings a type of quiet human hibernation. Embracing life’s rides on these extremes, the community here adapts with rugged resilience. Q***r communities often quietly blend into the conservative leaning city, while still staking out small and visible stages for individualistic expression along this rollercoaster ride. People show up with enthusiastic force on stages for drag and burlesque to creatively explore, at town hall podiums to guard their rights, and at sites in the forest for giant Pride camping events. In learning the unique rhythms tying together this kaleidoscope of lives, I found a road where connection and surprise arrived hand in hand.”

To learn more about this unique place of Interior Alaska, and see/hear more of the gender journeys here, consider supporting this narrative photobook through a pre-order on Kickstarter before June 30th! And as always, thank you all for being here on these journeys with me.

https://kickstarter.com/projects/all-the-genders/northern-lights-northern-lives-all-the-genders

With The Calos Coalition
David Leslie

06/08/2026

The journeys and book for All the Genders is on WHRO’s home page today! WHRO Public Media is the primary public media station for Hampton Roads, Virginia. Last week, I sat down for a great conversation with reporter Nick McNamara to talk about all things gender, and the journeys that have developed this work in community with so many other gender diverse people on the road.

Over the course of this project, I’ve worked with nearly 200 people across North America. The book, Northern Lights, Northern Lives includes 50 portraits and essays about gender from q***r folx and allies of Alaska and Yukon. We talked about why more northern regions hold a special place in this work, and dispelling notions that people hold about urban/rural divides and where people are “allowed” to be the best versions of themselves.

There are so many people struggling in silence right now with all the ways we are expected to erase ourselves during a season of intensifying silencing. Sometimes I often find myself wanting to retreat and take a break from sharing this work, wondering how much it makes a difference in an overwhelming world. And then another person will remind me that they needed to see one of these stories - your stories. That seeing someone talk about things we’re not supposed to be talking about - made a profound difference in how they approach others, or how they feel about their own gender.

If there’s anyone in your life who needs to read and see these stories… please share this work with them, and share this article on your social media pages! In some ways, the reporter writing this article may have summed up this work more eloquently than I do sometimes!

https://www.whro.org/arts-culture/2026-06-08/norfolk-photographer-to-release-book-showcasing-the-spectrum-of-gender-identity-across-alaska-yukon-territory

06/08/2026

Grateful for the support of a local press here in Hampton Roads. Yes, I'm still self-publishing this book, but have had some great conversations with DreamPunk Press after meeting them at the Independent Book Authors Event in Chesapeake. DreamPunk Press is a collective of independent authors publishing together. They write fantasy, horror, and science fiction for teens and adults, and many books feature LGBTQIA characters.

Also, check out the comments for an expansive interview and book excerpts!

with The Calos Coalition

Here’s a non-DreamPunk Press project I’d really like you to know about: Northern Lights, Northern Lives by Jayme Drew.