Don't Give Away Your Power

Queer Joy is an act of reclaiming power - not just from systems that try to suppress us, but from the bitterness that can take root when we’ve been hurt. Choosing joy doesn’t mean forgetting the harm or excusing it - it means refusing to let it live in us. When we carry hate, we carry the weight of those who tried to dim our light, letting them shape our peace and dull our shine. But joy - intentional, defiant joy - is ours. It is how we stay soft in a hard world, how we keep our hearts from hardening, and how we remind ourselves that our happiness is not up for negotiation. Letting go isn’t weakness. It’s freedom.