Pansexual Visibility Day, Hiking, Boardgames, PRIDE, and More!

BOP has plenty of fun community-building events coming up to keep you out-and-about this month, and to get you ready for PRIDE!!! Hope you can join us!

Pansexual Visibility Day
Friday, May 24 from 6:30 to 9:00 pm
LUSH: 990 Central Ave NE, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55413
May 24th is Pansexual and Panromantic Awareness and visibility day! If you're a part of this community or support it, let's come together and celebrate at LUSH! Free to gather 18+. Bring money to drink and eat. Optional shows after gathering. Look for the table(s) with small pansexual flags as centerpieces. If the weather is nice, we will be on the patio. There is no cover and 18+ until 9PM. Anyone under 18 must be accompanied by a legal guardian. Lush does not have high chairs, booster seats, or children's menus. Dogs are welcome on the patio. We will be gathering for conversation, drinks, and appetizers. Food is served 4PM-12AM on Fridays. https://lushmpls.com/food/dinner-menu/

If you would like to attend afterward (extra cost), there is an 18+ comedy drag show called "Birthday Roast of Christina Jackson" at 7PM.
There is 21+ Burlesque show called "Black Hearts Burlesque" at 10PM. We suggest buying tickets online before they sell out for either show as space is limited. Go to the calendar page: https://lushmpls.com/calendar/

Parking: There is a small parking lot in front of the building. Plenty of free parking on the street, and there is a free large lot at Brake & Equipment Warehouse as well as ESI Espresso Lot.
See map: https://lushmpls.com/about/parking/
Busing routes are available along Central Avenue NE.

About Lush: https://lushmpls.com/about/faq/
Wheelchair accessible. Bathrooms are gender neutral.

Bi+ Hike: Bde Maka Ska
Sunday, May 26 from 1:00 pm to 3:00 pm
Bde Maka Ska North Beach: Minneapolis, MN
We will walk around Bde Maka Ska on the walking path which is paved and 3.1 miles. Look for Emily or ask for BOP hike group. We will meet at 1:00 p.m. and start walking at 1:10 p.m. We will walk at a comfortable pace for the group. Dress comfortable and for the weather. The walk will not be cancelled for rain with the exception of lightning. Bring a water bottle, snack, sunscreen, bug spray, and whatever you need to be comfortable on a walk.
Free parking around lake on W Calhoun Parkway. There is also a pay parking lot next to the North Beach for $1.25 per hour. On Bus routes. This is an alcohol and drug free event. Families welcome. If you can control them in this setting, leashed dogs allowed (please follow park rules).
https://www.minneapolisparks.org/activities__events/water_activities/beaches/bde_maka_ska_north_beach/

Bi+ Board Game Night
Thursday, May 30 from 7:00 to 9:00 pm
Quatrefoil Library: 1220 E Lake St, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55407
Bi+ friends, come meet us for an awesome board game night in Quatrefoil Library on Thursday, May 30! We will bring a few games to choose from, and feel free to bring some of your favorite games to share! Food is welcome in this space, and we will bring snacks. Also, feel free to just come and hang out and chat, knit, etc. We hope to see you there!

Wheelchair accessible.
Alcohol and Drug Free event.
Please avoid strong scents.
Label any foods you bring to share.
Free parking lot in back and street parking as well. On multiple bus routes.

Bi+ Book Club: "Her Body and Other Parties"
Wednesday, June 5 from 7:00 to 9:00 pm
Quatrefoil Library: 1220 E Lake St, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55407
Do you love to read and talk about books? Join Bisexual Organizing Project-BOP's Bi+ Book Club, a place to read fiction, biography, creative non-fiction, history, theory, and activist works. Come discuss readings and ideas about, for, and by bisexuals and other non-monosexual folks. Hosted by Cary.

The Bi+ Book Club reading for June will be "Her Body and Other Parties" by Carmen Maria Machado. Copies are available in Anoka County, Ramsey, Hennepin County Libraries and St. Paul Libraries in many formats.

Summary: "Machado blithely demolishes the arbitrary borders between psychological realism and science fiction, comedy and horror, fantasy and fabulism. While her work has earned her comparisons to Karen Russell and Kelly Link, she has a voice that is all her own. In this electric and provocative debut, Machado bends genre to shape startling narratives that map the realities of women’s lives and the violence visited upon their bodies. A wife refuses her husband’s entreaties to remove the green ribbon from around her neck. A woman recounts her sexual encounters as a plague slowly consumes humanity. A salesclerk in a mall makes a horrifying discovery within the seams of the store’s prom dresses. One woman’s surgery-induced weight loss results in an unwanted houseguest. And in the bravura novella “Especially Heinous,” Machado reimagines every episode of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, a show we naively assumed had shown it all, generating a phantasmagoric police procedural full of doppelgängers, ghosts, and girls-with-bells-for-eyes. Earthy and otherworldly, antic and sexy, queer and caustic, comic and deadly serious...."

Bi+ Hike: Lebanon Hills Park
Sunday, June 9 from 1:00 to 4:00 pm
Lebanon Hills Regional Park: 860 Cliff Rd, Eagan, Minnesota 55123
We'll start off with a picnic from 1pm-2pm next to the parking lot at the Holland Lake entrance to the park, near the intersection of Cliff and Lexington Avenue. We'll be bringing snacks, and feel free to bring your own food if you want! (Please notify us if you have any allergies or dietary restrictions.)

The entrance to the park is not accessible by public transit, but if you don't have a car and want to come, email [email protected] and we'll include you in a carpool to the park!Or if you decide to come at the last minute, just show up at the front entrance of Common Roots Cafe (2558 Lyndale Ave S) at 12:15pm and we'll have a carpool there!

We will be walking a 5-mile loop along a view woodland trails and along a few lakes. The trail has some elevation gain (about 300 feet over the course of 5 miles) and is of moderate difficulty, but should be doable by most people. The trail is made up of dirt, mulch, and natural hiking path. You will need socks and comfortable tennis or hiking shoes for this trail. Much of the path is wooded and passes some water. Sometimes the trails get muddy.
Bring water, bug spray, and sunscreen. Dress for the weather. We will not cancel the hike unless the weather is severe.

BOP at Twin Cities PRIDE 2019
Saturday, June 22 and Sunday, June 23
Loring Park: 1382 Willow St, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55403
Volunteer at BOP's exhibitor booth at Twin Cities PRIDE Festival! Join us June 22, 2019 and June 23, 2019 from 10:00 am to 6:00 pm in Loring Park, 1382 Willow Street, Minneapolis, MN 55403. Booth location numbers TBD. We will need volunteers to set-up, booth volunteers, store sales, and tear-down booth. Volunteers can sit or stand under the shade of the tent. Volunteers will get free water, light snacks, and sunscreen! You make choose multiple or partial shifts.

Click here to volunteer at our booth in Loring Park!

BOP will have a spot in the Twin Cities PRIDE Parade on Sunday, June 23 in addition to having the giant bisexual flag in the color guard. We will need 50 people to walk with BOP holding flags and signs. We will also need 30 people to help carry the giant flag in the color guard at the head of the parade. Details about where and when to meet to follow!

Click here to march with us or in the parade color guard!