Let’s Write Tales of Resistance: Queer People Need These Stories Right Now!

Sometimes Resistance Means Rest

We’ve already been fighting for so long, and there are so many more battles ahead

Photo by (none of my cats would sit still)

“Caring for myself is not self-indulgence, it is self-preservation, and that is an act of political warfare”
— Audre Lorde

2024 was a difficult year on so many levels. It was a difficult year for me personally, for the LGBTQ+ community, and really for anyone with a drop of empathy for other human beings.

These 12 months were possibly the longest and shortest of my life. (Yes, I’m including the Covid years.)

I lost a cat, Zeus, my partner’s ‘soul cat’, to a sudden, painful illness. It was distressing in a way I don’t think we were prepared for.

It foreshadowed the distress that would come with the death of my mother-in-law soon after. My partner watched her mum go from a manageable breast cancer diagnosis with a prognosis of years to rapid deterioration and death within just a few months. Christmas has been hard this year.

We left a house which we hoped would be a long-term home, due to the landlord’s refusal to take our concerns about rising damp and…