A Gentle Holiday Note

Dec 24, 2025

We are grateful to you all for your incredible contributions and responses to the Substack and podcast this year. Over the past 12 months, we shared 38 podcast episodes with you all and shared series on Catholic masculinity, queer joy, and high-control Catholicism. Our exploration of gender and sexuality at the intersection of faith is not at all near done, but we are eager to thank you for all that you do to support our work.

We also want to call attention to the holiday season and share some vital resources.

The holidays are a complicated time for many. Some people excitedly celebrate Advent and look forward to Christmas with loved ones.

Some people are celebrating the holidays this year for the first time without a loved one, either because they passed, are in ill health, or because of estrangement and abuse.

Some people will come out to loved ones this holiday season, or show up as their authentic self for the first time. Some will set and enforce boundaries to keep themselves safe and ensure that people use their names and pronouns and respect their bodies.

Some people are struggling financially, worried about or without food, shelter, clothing, or other basic necessities because of an economy that is pricing many out of survival.

And still others are not ready to celebrate this year. We are living under a fascist regime, and some of us are bearing the brunt of the storm--denied life-saving gender affirming care, our families and our communities torn apart, and vital disability benefits denied.

However you are celebrating through acts of resistance or radical joy, or if you are not celebrating this year, we want to reinforce that you are valid and important to our community.

You make our communities better just by existing as yourself, and we wish you a gentle holiday season. We hope it is a season that brings comfort, peace, and safety.

LGBTQ+-Specific Resources:

LGBT National Hotline - call (888) 843-4564 (available from 4pm - 12am EST Monday - Friday and noon to 5pm EST Saturday)

Sage National LGBTQ Elder Hotline - call (877) 360-5428 (available 24/7)

Trans Lifeline - call (877) 565-8860 (staffed by transgender folx, for transgender folx, toll-free)

The Trevor Project - text START to 678-678 or call at 1-866-488-7386 (for young LGBTQ+ people under the age of 25)

National Queer & Trans Therapists of Color Network - advancing healing justice by transforming mental health for queer and trans Black, Indigenous and People of Color (great resource for finding a local mental health provider)

How do I find LGBTQ-friendly therapy? - An article by the Human Rights Campaign and Mental Health America to give tips on finding affirming mental health providers.

LGBTQ+ Healthcare Directory - Find information about LGBTQ+-affirming therapy, family medicine, trans and nonbinary health, and more through this database of resources

Other Crisis Resources:

988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline - 988 (avaliable 24/7)

Crisis Text Line - text HOME to 741741 (available 24/7)

National Runaway Safeline - call (800) 786-2929

National Domestic Violence Hotline - call (800) 799-7233 (available 24/7)

National Sexual Assault Hotline - call (800) 656-4673

Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration National Helpline - call (800) 622-4357 (available 24/7)

National Trafficking Hotline - call (888) 373-7800 or text “BeFree” to 233-733

211 Agencies (for housing, food, transportation, and healthcare concerns) - call 211 or search for your local 211 agency

USDA National Hunger Hotline - call (866) 348-6479