This story is part of a digital issue of Queer Kentucky surrounding Harm Reduction and its intersection with the LGBTQ+ community.⁠ Check out the full digital issue here.

Did you know that members of the LGBTQ+ community are almost twice as likely to develop substance use disorder as their heterosexual counterparts? And this was before 2025. Before the increased legislative attacks. Before the funding cuts. Before the increased stress and discrimination.

Over the past year, Queer Kentucky has taken steps to better support community members suffering from substance use disorder, including hosting a series of community conversations around substance use, supporting more sober events, advocating for more NA options at all events, adding substance use questions to our first IRB approved survey with the University of Kentucky, and launching “Stories of Hope,” a reoccurring column telling first-person stories of recovery. Today, this work takes the form of storytelling, as we bring you a free, fully digital magazine centered around harm reduction models in our community. 

This digital issue is intimate. It features first-person accounts, transparent photography, and profiles that showcase harm reduction in action. We’re focusing our attention on important discussions regarding the stigma around harm reduction; the role the community plays in helping our neighbors find healing; and the many, uniquely personal definitions of what harm reduction is and how to do it.  And speaking to that last point is none other than RuPaul’s Drag Race finalist Lexi Love, who shares what her version of recovery is.

Here in the Commonwealth, we know all too well the challenges our communities face. Every day, we battle a new healthcare barrier. Our overdose rates are among the highest in the country. Stigma continues to prevent those seeking help from searching for and accessing it. And this list doesn’t even touch on the systemic discrimination, lack of affirming care, and unique vulnerabilities that come from living at the intersection of multiple marginalized identities. We know what we’re up against, but we also know that we’re the ones best suited to help one another through it all. 

Queer Kentucky’s harm reduction work doesn’t stop with this issue, either. In June, we’ll be launching a new program that will put resources directly into the hands of those who need them most.  We know that harm reduction, coupled with other forms of support, provides a lifeline: empathy, not judgment. Meaningful solutions to complex problems. Above all, empowering people to live the lives they want for themselves, rather than simply succumbing to the hand they have been dealt. 

This is Queer Kentucky’s 2025 Harm Reduction Issue. 

Signed, 

Missy Spears, Executive Director