QueerAndUnbroken

Why You Can’t Relax Around People (Even When They’re Kind) If you can’t relax around kind people, your nervous system may still be scanning for danger. This post explains why and offers gentle ways to practice safety.

Sometimes people are kind.
But your body still feels like it’s waiting for something to go wrong.

If you’ve ever struggled to relax around others even when they’re safe, this one might resonate. 💛

Read the new blog on Queer and Unbroken

Behind the Blog: Writing About Gender Expression

This article was a deep dive, wasn't it? LoL - if you got through it I want to thank you for taking the time to read it. It felt important to write personally. Not because research was difficult for this type of article, and not because the topic…

Genderqueer and Genderfluid: Understanding Identity, Expression, and the Freedom to Be Yourself Gender identity is not always fixed or easy to define. In this article, we explore what it means to be genderqueer or genderfluid, how identity and expression can evolve over time, and why self-discovery can be an empowering part of the queer journey. Understanding these identities helps create space for authenticity, reflection, and self-acceptance.

Gender doesn’t always fit neatly into a box. This deep dive explores what it means to be genderqueer or genderfluid, how identity and expression evolve, and why self-discovery can be one of the most powerful parts of the queer journey.

How to Build Chosen Family When Trust Is Hard Chosen family is built, not found. This guide offers trauma-aware steps for creating real connection when trust is hard and your history makes you cautious.

Building chosen family can feel impossible when trust is hard. This post offers gentle, practical ways to start small, set boundaries, and let connection grow at your pace. You deserve community that feels safe.

Why You’re Always on Edge (Even When Nothing Is Happening) If you’re always braced, it doesn’t mean you’re broken. This trauma-aware guide explains why your body stays on alert and what can help you soften, little by little.

You’re sitting on the couch. Nothing is wrong. And still, your body won’t relax.

If you’re always on edge, especially as a queer person, you’re not broken. Your nervous system may have learned to stay ready.

Read: “Why You’re Always on Edge (Even When Nothing Is Happening)”

Editorial note about our next 12 weeks of content and its themes around queer trauma and the nervous system, chosen family and belonging, and self-trust and dignity.

Our Themes + Spring 2026: A 12-Week Editorial Arc A brief “Our Journey” note on why we write about safety, belonging, and self-trust, and what to expect from our Spring 2026 12-week editorial arc. Patreon subscribers can look forward to a Q1 impact statement in March.

Our Themes + Spring 2026: A 12-Week Editorial Arc

A brief “Our Journey” note on why we write about safety, belonging, and self-trust, and what to expect from our Spring 2026 12-week editorial arc. Patreon subscribers can look forward to a Q1 impact statement in March.

Behind the Blog: The Friends Who Stayed

When I write about loneliness, I mean it. When I talk about sitting alone in an apartment, scrolling, wondering if something was wrong with me, that was real. When I describe the kind of soul-recognizing friendships I found in Hawaii, that was real too.…

Why Is It So Hard to Make Friends as an Adult? Adult friendship can feel like a slow, vulnerable rebuild, especially after you’ve known rare, effortless connection. This essay explores why it’s harder after childhood, what research says about the hours it takes to form real bonds, and how queer adults can hold hope while chosen family grows.

Why Is It So Hard to Make Friends as an Adult?

Adult friendship can feel like a slow, vulnerable rebuild, especially after you’ve known rare, effortless connection. This essay explores why it’s harder after childhood, what research says about the hours it takes to form real bonds, and how queer…

🔐Behind the Blog: Safe Enough Love This piece started as a small question I kept hearing in my own body. What does safety actually feel like when you grew up bracing for rejection? Not the kind of safety you can explain in theory, or the kind you perform for other people. I mean the quiet, physical kind. The kind your shoulders recognize. The kind your lungs recognize.

🔐Behind the Blog: Safe Enough Love

This piece started as a small question I kept hearing in my own body. What does safety actually feel like when you grew up bracing for rejection? Not the kind of safety you can explain in theory, or the kind you perform for other people. I mean the quiet,…

Safe Enough Love: What Queer Belonging Feels Like in the Body What does safety feel like in your body when you grew up bracing for rejection? This piece explores “safe enough” love, nervous system green flags, and gentle ways to notice belonging without forcing it. You will also find a one minute check in practice and a soft closing blessing for the road.

Safe Enough Love: What Queer Belonging Feels Like in the Body

What does safety feel like in your body when you grew up bracing for rejection? This piece explores “safe enough” love, nervous system green flags, and gentle ways to notice belonging without forcing it. You will also find a one minute…

Behind the Blog: Queer Survival Mode

I wrote “Queer Survival Mode: 7 Signs Your Body Still Thinks It’s Not Safe” because I keep meeting the same tenderness in myself and in other queer people. It shows up in the way we walk into a room already scanning for danger. It shows up in the way we…

Queer Survival Mode: 7 Signs Your Body Still Thinks It’s Not Safe Many queer people live on alert because it once kept them safe. This gentle guide names 7 common signs your body may still expect danger, even when life is calmer now. You will find grounding language, small practices you can try this week, and reminders that survival mode is not a personal failure.

Queer Survival Mode: 7 Signs Your Body Still Thinks It’s Not Safe

Many queer people live on alert because it once kept them safe. This gentle guide names 7 common signs your body may still expect danger, even when life is calmer now. You will find grounding language, small practices you can try…

For the Queer People Alone on Valentine’s Day If you’re queer and spending Valentine’s Day alone, you’re not behind or broken. This reflection holds space for loneliness, healing, and hope.

Valentine’s Day can feel especially heavy when you’re queer and alone.

Not because you’re broken.
Not because you’re behind.
But because the world gets loud about love.

This is for the queer folks sitting at the quiet table tonight. 💛

tinyurl.com/3dt947ya

Black Queer Contributions to LGBTQ Rights and Liberation An honest look at how Black queer people shaped LGBTQ rights through leadership, care, and resistance, and why their contributions must be remembered accurately.

Black queer people have carried a disproportionate share of the labor, risk, and leadership behind queer liberation.

In honor of Black History Month, this piece looks closely at that lineage, the cost of that work, and why remembering it accurately matters.

Read here:
tinyurl.com/ydb45tum

What It Means to Be Drawn Toward Service | Queer and Unbroken A reflective look at community care, boundaries, and quiet service, especially within LGBTQIA+ communities, rooted in trust, alignment, and choice.

tinyurl.com/385jfksa

For queer folks thinking about service and community care.

Being drawn toward service is not about visibility or sacrifice. It is about alignment, boundaries, and choosing care that is sustainable and real. This is a reflection on queer service as practice, not identity.

You’re Not Broken: How Trauma Shapes Queer Nervous Systems Feeling broken after trauma doesn’t mean you are. This trauma-informed piece explores how queer nervous systems adapt to harm and why trauma responses are not character flaws.

Queer trauma does not mean you are broken.
It means your nervous system adapted to survive.

This piece explores how queer nervous systems are shaped by harm, and why healing is about safety, not perfection.

Read here --> tinyurl.com/bdh9tj23

When Queer Joy Feels Dangerous: Unlearning Survival Mode After years in survival mode, joy can feel unsafe. A personal reflection on healing hyper-vigilance and learning to trust queer joy again.

Queer joy after trauma can feel dangerous, even when life gets safer. Our bodies learn fear long before our minds catch up.

This piece explores survival mode, healing, and learning to trust joy again as queer people.

tinyurl.com/4vy7nwzu

Trump Pressures International Orgs To Disavow Trans Care, Social Transition Globally "At Any Age" With Funding Ban The new rule would enact the "Mexico City Policy" towards what it calls "gender ideology."

The saving grace to America spiraling down the drain is it can’t really exude international pressure to shit on trans people like this due to the fact that everyone views America as an unreliable trade partner.

Global gag orders are donezo.

open.substack.com/pub/erininth...

Quote by James Baldwin: Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced.”

✍️ #Quote 💬of the #Day🌞✨
#JamesBaldwin✍️✊🏿🏳️‍🌈⚖️

#BlueSky🦋
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The Version of Me I No Longer Apologize For | Queer Self Acceptance Learning to stop apologizing for who you are is an act of queer self acceptance. A reflective essay on boundaries, peace, and choosing yourself.

A few days ago I wrote about when love isn’t enough.
This piece is about what comes next.

Choosing peace over explanation.
Stopping the habit of apologizing for who you are.
Queer self acceptance, quietly claimed.

tinyurl.com/yc2y5njz

Audre Lorde: Turning Fire Into Fuel for Liberation | Queer and Unbroken Audre Lorde, a Black lesbian poet, turned cancer, silence, racism, and homophobia into radical truth telling that still guides queer resilience today.

Audre Lorde taught us that silence will not protect us. This piece honors her as a Black lesbian poet who turned cancer, fear, and truth into fuel for survival and liberation.

tinyurl.com/5erz4spj

Finding LGBTQIA+ Community Where You Are | Queer and Unbroken Finding LGBTQIA+ community can feel overwhelming. This guide shares practical tips and insight on building connection and belonging wherever you are.

Finding LGBTQIA+ community can feel hard, whether you’re new somewhere or have lived there for years. I wrote this for anyone still looking for their people. You don’t have to do it alone. 💛🌈

Read here: tinyurl.com/2p9z7jrf

New Year Who Dis? Ghosting Bad Habits from 2025 2025 was exhausting. In 2026, we let go, reclaim our energy, and rise together through community, education, and hope. You can do it.

We’re doing something different in 2026.
We’re letting go of what drained us.
We’re choosing community, education, and hope on purpose.

Our new post is up: New Year Who Dis: Ghosting Bad Habits from 2025

You can do it. Don’t let yourself tell yourself otherwise.

tinyurl.com/25bxjehn

Into 2026: Queer Futures Built on Rest, Rage, and Relationship A New Year reflection for queer and trans people. Exploring queer futures in 2026 through rest as resistance, righteous rage, and the power of community and chosen family.

Instead of “new year, new you,” I wrote a short reflection on queer futures, rest, rage, and community.

It’s a quick, grounding read for queer and trans folks during a busy holiday week.
👉 tinyurl.com/cdas3ynt

Queer 2025 in Review: What We Survived and What We Built A reflective queer 2025 review naming what LGBTQ and trans communities survived, what we built together, and what we carry forward into 2026.

2025 was heavy for queer and trans communities.
We survived a lot. We built a lot too.

Our queer 2025 review reflects on what we faced, what carried us, and what we take into 2026.

Read here: tinyurl.com/7dkx7wf6

Behind the Blog is on Patreon for free + paid subscribers.

Small Queer Rituals for Long, Dark Nights | Gentle LGBTQ Spiritual Care Gentle queer rituals for long, dark nights. Simple LGBTQ spiritual practices for when you are alone, or healing, especially during the winter and holidays.

I wrote this one to be short on purpose.
“Small Queer Rituals for Long, Dark Nights” is a gentle, quick read for busy holiday days. Simple queer rituals. No money. No religion. Just care, survival, and a little light. LGBTQIA+ 💜 tinyurl.com/46a5ru4b

Home is supposed to mean safety. For many queer and trans people, it never did. I wrote this piece for anyone navigating the holidays without a safe place to return to, and for those building belonging on their own terms. 💜🏳️‍🌈

tinyurl.com/bde9h6ex

End of 2025 Review: Building Queer and Unbroken With Intention A reflection on Queer and Unbroken’s first year, including what we built, what the data revealed, and how intentional growth is shaping our plans for 2026.

We launched Queer and Unbroken in September. In just a few months, we’ve built something rooted in research, lived experience, and care.

This end-of-2025 reflection shares what we built, and where we’re headed next.

If you’ve been reading or supporting, this one’s for you.
tinyurl.com/4tn4p7xb

Queer Lineages of Resistance: Stories They Tried to Bury Explore queer lineages of resistance through erased histories, survival, traditions, abolition, and radical care that still shapes our fight today.

I’ve been thinking a lot about queer lineages lately.
The resistance that gets buried, passed down quietly, or erased on purpose.

This piece explores some of those stories and why they still matter. >> tinyurl.com/4bdj7nz9