Holiday self-care package helps the LGBTQ community at the end of a shitty year
The holidays are supposed to be a time for cheer and celebration. But for some members of the LGBTQ community, the season offers reminders of family rejection and a lack of acceptance.
Self-care is essential when confronting these complex relationships with loved ones. Now, there's a new "e-package" to help LGBTQ people get through the holidays with some extra support.
Popular LGBTQ website Everyone Is Gay has released an online self-care package called "Where the Love Light Gleams," to encourage self-care and self-love during the holiday season.
The e-package features everything from professional resources to a queer-themed crossword puzzle. It was created especially for those who are gathering with unaccepting family for the holidays -- or those avoiding family contact all together.
The main idea behind it is simple: "Wherever you are -- and whoever you are -- the holiday season should always be one full of warmth, love and light."
Compiled by a group of queer creatives, spearheaded by Everyone Is Gay co-founder Kristin Russo, the resource comes during a particularly grueling time for the LGBTQ community, given the political climate after the election.
"There are no tools more powerful than self-care and community."
"While we work hard every holiday season to provide resources to our community, I also knew that after this election season many LGBTQ people would need our help more than ever before," Russo tells Mashable. "Those difficult holiday scenarios have become much more fraught in a political landscape where we are being told that our equality does not hold any importance."
That devaluing of identity, Russo says, extends to multiple parts of a queer person's identity, including their race, religious beliefs and disability status. Standing together to support all members and identities in the queer community, she adds, is especially crucial right now.
"[The political climate] is strengthening our fight and our resolve -- but it can also become very hard to hold our heads high," Russo says. "In my experience, when facing these issues, there are no tools more powerful than self-care and community."
Those tools are exactly what she hopes "Where the Love Light Gleams" can provide the queer community during the holiday season, through a collection of music, written works, advice and even activity pages created to facilitate self-care.
"It's a reminder that we are here, standing tall."
Russo says the support of the LGBTQ community is ingrained in the e-package, with the items all "crafted with love" from members of LGBTQ community.
"That's powerful," she says of the creation process. "It's a reminder that we are here, standing tall. It's a reminder that there are hundreds of thousands of us out here who are struggling together and who are working to hold each other up."
Russo says she hopes the e-package gives the LGBTQ community the space to "find their breath, find their center and find some peace" -- especially during a particularly contentious holiday season.
"I want these self-care elements to come together to serve as love and light for so many people out there who need to be wrapped up and held tight," she says. "We all deserve that."
You can sign up to have "Where the Love Light Gleams" emailed to you here. You can also check out the curated playlist from the e-package below.
Topics LGBTQ Social Good Self-Care
Katie Dupere was a Social Good reporter at Mashable from May 2015 to July 2017, covering activism, identities and social impact. Prior to her work with Mashable, Katie penned pieces about queerness, body positivity, sex and relationships for Gurl. She also previously contributed LGBTQ news coverage to PinkNews.
