January 30, 2025

A New Logo, Two New Home Exchange Sites, and More

It’s been another month of mixed news for queer people around the world. As Thailand celebrates the legalization of same-sex marriage, LGBTQ+ Americans, especially trans Americans, are facing the most extreme attacks on their rights in decades.

While we’re currently based in Australia and focused on building a global network of LGBTQ+ nomads, it’s especially important to us to offer queer Americans the resources they need to travel or move abroad.

Here are a few news updates and two new home exchange sites specifically designed for LGBTQ+ travelers:

News and Updates

New Zealand Courts Remote Workers

New Zealand Now Welcoming Digital Nomads — What to Know Before Going

New Zealand is making it easier to plan an extended stay by relaxing visa requirements to allow digital nomads to work from the country remotely.

New Zealand is making it easier for visitors to live and work abroad. The new policy allows tourists to work for an overseas company for up to 90 days.

You may be able to stay even longer on a Visitor visa, but could be subject to NZ taxes.

If you don’t have a remote job, we recommend the working holiday visa, which allows young people to live and work in New Zealand for up to 12 months.

Thailand Legalizes Same-Sex Marriage

Thailand's marriage equality law a first in Southeast Asia – DW – 01/22/2025

Thailand has become the first country in Southeast Asia to legalize same-sex marriage. DW looks at LGBTQ+ rights across the region.

While Thailand has long been a queer-friendly destination, the legalization of same-sex marriage provides important protections for LGBTQ+ Thais. Same-sex couples visiting Thailand will also be able to get married there.

Thailand is also a great choice for queer Americans looking to move overseas, because if you work remotely, you can stay for up to 5 years on a digital nomad visa.

Two New Home Exchange Sites for Queer People

Looking for places to stay while on the road? We’ve updated our list of housesitting and home exchange sites to include these two new travel networks for LGBTQ+ people.

Check them out and let us know what you think!

Homoway

Homoway Home Exchange is a new home exchange platform specifically for the LGBTQ+ community. Founded by Spencer Blank in Portland, OR, Homoway aims to "build a community of queer adventurers" by creating a queer-friendly home exchange network all over the world.

Homoway is still in beta, so we don't have all the details, but it appears to work just like other home exhange sites, with the options for reciprocal and non-reciprocal exchanges.

Membership fee: TBD

Application process: Apply to join the beta program and commit to traveling and hosting "at least once with another member of this program within a 6-month time frame of your profile confirmation."

Quouch

Quouch is less of a home exchange platform and more like Couchsurfing for queers. It was created by co-founders Nora and Lisbeth to prioritize the needs of women and queer people. For now, it's an invite-only platform, and members are requested not to share the code with "cis, straight, dyadic (non-intersex) men."

Most likely, your host will be present during your stay, although you aren't obligated to spend time with each other. Ideally, they'll give you a queer-friendly welcome to their city and introduce you to the local LGBTQ+ scene.

Quouch has filters to help BIPOC, neurodiverse, gender non-conforming, and other identity groups find each other, and is developing a "Humor Test" to help facilitate matches. Quouch isn't a dating app, and has strict community safety guidelines.

Membership fee: TBD

Application process: Request an invite code by filling out a short form telling Quouch a little bit about yourself and why you want to use the platform.

Moving Abroad With Your Pet?

Moving Abroad with Your Pet: A Complete Guide for LGBTQ+ Expats — Rainbow Relocation

When queer folks consider a move abroad, we must consider all members of our family - especially our furry friends. Here’s an overview of how to move abroad with your pets.

Rainbow Relocation is a queer-owned global relocation service dedicated to helping LGBTQ+ people move overseas. If one of the reasons you’re holding back is because of your pet, this blog post will help you navigate it.

We also recommend their other blog posts with resources for LGBTQ+ folks ready to move abroad.

Our New Logo

Finally, we’ve just unveiled our new logo, created by Sunberry at Sunberry Studios. If you’re looking to support a queer graphic designer, check out their portfolio and request a commission!

Thanks for being along on the journey, and as always, just hit reply with any questions or feedback!

The RQ Team