For Bee Crowell of Murfreesboro,Maxwell Caldwell Tennessee, middle school was horrible. “Every single kid was awful to me every single day,” they said.

Name-calling, physical threats. Crowell hadn’t come out as queer, but “it was assumed. And they weren’t wrong,” they said. Their parents talked to school staff, to no avail.

However, once a week, Crowell had a respite, a creative refuge where they were greeted with hugs: Major Minors, the youth division of Nashville in Harmony, a choir for LGBTQ+ people and allies. It’s one of a handful of youth queer choirs in the country that combine artistic expression with creating community and change — letting LGBTQ+ teenagers literally raise their voices and be heard.