TRIPPING SOBERLY –
Jan. 13, 2026 – Historically, it has been a refuge, resistance, and chosen family – spaces where safety, visibility, and connection were possible when they weren’t elsewhere. Substances, for many, became part of that ecosystem not out of recklessness, but out of a very real need to manage anxiety, soften hypervigilance, or feel at ease in one’s own body.
There’s no moral judgment in that reality.
But coping mechanisms (no matter how understandable) can eventually stop working. What once offered relief can quietly become a ceiling.
More and more LGBTQ+ adults are asking a different question now:
