Finding safe spaces just got a little bit easier for people in the District of Columbia and around the world.

Last week, Kesha Garner, 29, and Kevin Hawkins, 20, launched Queer Review, the first and only location rating system designed specifically for the LGBTQ community. 

“We want to be an intersectional tool for people across the globe to find safe spaces in their area,” Garner told supporters crowded on the rooftop of DC9, a nightclub just off U Street in northwest DC. 

Users can search for locations based on state, name or category. Queer Review’s unique approach also allows users to rate a location based on four criteria: the scene, the crowd, the bathrooms and the service. 

The idea is to take into account the diverse backgrounds and needs of the LGBTQ community.

“While a business may fly a rainbow flag, that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s a safe space for all of us,” Garner said. 

Personal experience factored heavily into the website’s conception.

“When I was a freshman in high school, my mother took me to a therapist because I was starting to question my identity,” Garner said. “The psychiatrist immediately diagnosed me with borderline personality disorder.”

The pain of that diagnosis never went away.

“If I had Queer Review I could have probably found other people that were damaged by this doctor or not have gone in the first place,” Garner said.

Unlike Garner, who grew up in a rural South Carolina town with a population close to 3,000, Hawkins comes from the traditionally liberal DMV area. Yet, he too faced prejudice when he graduated high school at 16 and came out to his parents. 

“I was out on my own,” he said. “I left school, I left home, and Queer Review would have been a great resource for me, but it wasn’t there.”

Holly Kearl, founder of Stop Street Harassment, a nonprofit geared toward documenting and ultimately ending gender-based street harassment, lauded the site as a valuable tool for the community. 

“Everyone should have the right to be in public spaces without facing harassment or abuse,” she said, describing how discrimination can force people to move, to change habits and hobbies, and to live in fear every time they leave their homes.  

Queer Review’s mission to help people find safe spaces also aligns with that of Ruby Corado, founder of Casa Ruby, an organization that provides support to homeless LBGTQ youth in the District. 

“We pretty much have this vision that trans people, genderqueer, gender nonconforming, gay and lesbian people can have a chance in this city,” Corado said. 

Garner and Hawkins donated a portion of the sales of the specialty cocktails available at the launch event to Casa Ruby. 

Eventually, the pair hopes to launch an app for mobile devices, but for now, people can use the website, myqueerreview.com, to find safe spaces in their area.

Garner hopes that they will also utilize it to build a community with other users as they share feedback and experiences online. 

“Queer Review in and of itself is a safe space,” Garner said.