For many, the results of the 2024 election are a source of great anxiety and uncertainty. I wish I could tell you that I knew without a shadow of a doubt that these next four years would pass by without anything scary happening. But I can’t. What I can tell you is that your anxiety is a valid and natural response to these circumstances.

Are you headed home for the holidays? For some folks in the LGBTQ+ community, that means returning to an unsupportive environment with family members that may shame you or make you feel unwelcome.

Unfortunately, talking about STIs has stayed out of the public spotlight, even as sex positivity conversations move closer to the mainstream. Common culture perpetuates this idea that folks without STIs are “clean” and those with them are “dirty.” Not only is this belief untrue, but it is also harmful.

With traditional holidays, like Thanksgiving and Christmas, coming up, it can be a difficult time for many of us in the LGBTQ+ community. That difficulty can stem from many different places, such as discomfort around what the holiday represents or a strained family relationship.

On November 23rd, 2011, the British Columbia Supreme Court ruled that Canada’s anti-polygamy law does not apply to unformalized polyamorous households, thus declaring polyamory legal in Canada. Since then, November 23rd has been recognized as Polyamory Day in Canada.

I released Cultivating Connection last year to provide people with a comprehensive yet easy-to-understand guide for communicating compassionately, ethically, and respectfully. I wrote it for people seeking joy and balance in navigating multiple relationships and seeking guidance in taking responsibility for the impact we have on others.

So many folks have deep-rooted feelings of shame or apprehension when it comes to sexuality, especially if you are into anything that the mainstream culture would label as deviant. Your pleasure and sexuality should be fun, playful, and thrilling.

Everybody uses pronouns. While some people would have you believe that the only correct pronouns are “he” or “she,” the singular “they” has been used in the English language for over 600 years! Even neopronouns have been recorded as far back as 1789.

Coming Out Day should NEVER feel like pressure for you to come out or an opportunity to shame someone who is still in the closet. The only person you have to listen to about coming out is yourself.

There’s no such thing as being too much. If you find yourself thinking you’re asking for too much, I encourage you to look back on your previous relationships with a new perspective—you weren’t asking for too much—they simply didn’t have enough to give you.

Every election season brings up anxieties and can put strain on different relationships in your life as people are pulled toward different policies and candidates. Our current election season has been especially fraught from all ends of the political spectrum.

Nobody likes to be told who they are. Everyone wants to be respected for where they are currently in their gender identity journey. Not only does everyone want to be respected for who they are, but they have a right to be respected.

If you’re a gender non-conforming person or a transgender person, it can be tiring and discouraging to live in a world where there is pressure coming from all sides to present, or not present, yourself a certain way. Whether you are out or have to remain in the closet, you are worthy of love and respect and deserve to find the gender expression that feels most like you.

Using gender-expansive language, like non-binary pronouns, challenges the strict ideas of the gender binary. This can feel like using a completely different language to the one you grew up with.

Many of us learned growing up that if you’re going to be loved, you need to make yourself small. When I say small, I don’t mean physically small, but energetically small. This often looks like contorting yourself by any means necessary to accommodate another person.

While all relationships are unique, poly dynamics are especially so since the expectations, communication, and respect extends beyond two people. Whether you are a hinge or a meta, it is important to take everybody’s wants and needs into consideration when deciding what kind of relationship you’ll have with all parties involved.

All of our relationships have structures. There is a set of expectations between you and the barista making your morning coffee, to the predictability of a good morning kiss from a partner.

Few things are more beautiful than the love, care, and giving that happens in healthy relationships. That can include accommodations and compromise. But, to be healthy, accommodations need to be fully consensual, recognized, and accepted.

It's not uncommon for people in polyamorous relationships to struggle to balance their own emotional needs with those of their partners. This can often lead to challenges in communication and boundary setting.

Have you ever caught yourself blaming others for how you feel or react? When we experience painful or uncomfortable emotions, we often think of them as a problem that needs to be solved because we don’t like feeling them. It’s important to remember that what we feel is ultimately our responsibility and we must reflect on whether the feelings are coming from someone violating our rights or not.