Queer Tech is Mutual Aid: How Apps Are Keeping Us Safer
For LGBTQIA+ people, technology isn’t just about convenience. It’s often about survival, safety, and connection. From encrypted messaging apps to platforms like Shane, queer tech serves a vital purpose: filling the gaps where systems fail us.
But sometimes, in the right hands and with the right intention, tech becomes something else entirely: a lifeline. A warning sign. A love note to strangers. A map to safer ground.
That’s what queer tech can be. That’s what mutual aid looks like online.
Mutual Aid Isn’t New to Us
Mutual aid is just a fancy term for what queer and trans people have always done: look out for each other when no one else does.
It’s sharing a safe couch when someone’s in trouble.
It’s passing around the name of a good gender-affirming doctor.
It’s covering someone’s rent with a Venmo and a heart emoji.
It’s all of it, and now, sometimes, it’s digital too.
When an App Is More Than Just an App
For queer folks, the right tool at the right time isn’t just helpful, it can be lifesaving.
That’s why we built Shane. Not to be the next trendy travel app. But to be something real.
A place where you can find the spots that get it—and avoid the ones that don’t.
A place where you can share your location with your friend when things feel weird.
A place where your review might be the one that keeps someone else safe.
That’s not just tech. That’s mutual aid. That’s trust.
Tech, on Our Terms
We’ve seen what happens when tech ignores us. It erases our pronouns. It flags our bodies. It reports our posts. It fails us.
So we make our own spaces.
Our own maps.
Our own systems.
Shane is one of them. And it only works because of you.
This Isn’t a Product. It’s a Movement.
When you tag a queer-owned bookstore in your hometown, someone else finds joy on their first trip out of the closet.
When you flag a place that felt unsafe, you give someone the power to steer clear.
When you share Shane with your chosen fam, you’re expanding a network of care that reaches around the world.
That’s what we mean when we say queer tech is mutual aid. It’s messy, beautiful, homemade protection. It’s love, coded into a map.
Want In?
Download our app to become part of the Shane community
Add your favorite safe spaces
Flag the ones that didn’t feel right
Use the app when you’re out
Share it with someone who needs it
We’ve got us. And that’s always been enough to build something powerful.