Even in the explicitly inclusive realm of queer punk, though, not everyone feels at home. Growing up and going to shows in Portland, Oregon, in the mid-2000s, Ornelas was exposed to riot grrrl, anarchism, and queercore, while also coming to identify as genderqueer (Ornelas uses “they/them” pronouns when necessary). “It was coming together in me. I was fucking weird about all these things,” they says. “I knew that somewhere out there had to be this, I don’t know, utopia, where there were other weirdos like me. But I wasn’t seeing it.” Chicago’s music scene benefits from the relatively robust participation of queer and trans folks and people of color, but still, Ornelas says, “There are people who only come to Fed Up Fest, and I don’t see them the rest of the year.”
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