About The Stardust Project

Why This Work Can’t Wait

The Stardust Project is a multiphase

and collective effort to build a permanent, land-based refuge for queer, trans, neurodivergent, and disabled individuals—especially youth and families—seeking safety, stability, and self-determination outside the confines of capitalism. Rooted in mutual aid, ecological stewardship, and Indigenous land ethics, Stardust envisions a self-sustaining intentional community where care is not a commodity, housing is not a privilege, and no one is left behind.

We are responding to three converging crises:


• The accelerating displacement of trans and queer youth due to anti-LGBTQIA+ laws and healthcare restrictions
• Rising autism diagnoses among trans youth without adequate support or affirming spaces
• Climate migration and land grabs that threaten to leave our most vulnerable communities behind

Our solution is bold but necessary: a nonprofit land trust on Anishinaabewaki land in Mishigami (Southwest Michigan) where we can build queer family-friendly housing, grow food, host healing retreats, and offer communal living rooted in care, joy, and resistance.

    • 38% of transgender youth report experiencing homelessness or housing insecurity.

    • 23% of cisgender LGBQ youth (non-transgender) reported housing instability—a 15% gap compared to trans peers.

    • 8% of trans adults experienced homelessness in the past year, compared to 3% of cisgender LGB adults a

    • Trans and gender-diverse individuals are 3–6× more likely to have an autism diagnosis than cisgender people.

    • In one survey, 24% of gender-diverse youth were autistic compared to 5% of cisgender youth.

    • Autistic people—also stastically likely to be trans—have come under attack by short-sighted politicians and inattention to resources, support, and design under capitalism.

    • People with financial resources are already buying land in the Great Lakes region—an area projected to grow by tens of millions of people in the next decade.

    • With rising anti-trans laws, autistic and trans youth (of color, especially) face amplified vulnerabilities at the intersection of healthcare restriction, educational exclusion, and discrimination.

    • Trans, queer, neurodivergent youth face layered displacement, exclusion, and compounded risk—exacerbated by housing instability, lack of dual-affirming support, and disappearing land access.