Balancing Joy and Resistance: A Lesbian Therapist’s Reflections on Pride Month

We’ve made it to Pride weekend, Chicago! As a lesbian therapist, especially this year, Pride Month can feel a bit complex. From where I’m sitting these days, it offers both an invitation to celebrate loudly and a call to resist fiercely. My work lives in the emotional in-betweens of people’s lives, and in that space, Pride is never just a party or just a protest. It’s both. And this year, more than ever, I feel the weight and wonder of holding both joy and resistance at the same time.

So, here’s what I remind myself and my clients:

1. Joy Is Not a Distraction. It’s a Declaration of Radical Self-Care!

Joy, especially queer joy, is revolutionary. In a world that often tells us to shrink, to hide, or to be afraid, joy says: “I am here, and I am whole.” I witness this every day in my clients: the quiet victories of coming out to a friend, wearing what feels right for the first time, or simply surviving another week in a world that doesn’t seem to understand you.

Joy is not a distraction from the fight… it is part of the fight. When we celebrate, we reclaim our right to exist fully. When we dance at Pride, laugh with our chosen family, kiss our partners in public, or show up as our most unapologetic selves, we are resisting against a world that tells us to hide.

2. Resistance is Collective Healing

All of that being said, joy doesn’t cancel out the reality we live in. This year, many of us are feeling the sting of renewed legislation, online hostility, and the fatigue of being seen through a political lens. Pride Month doesn’t mean we get to take a break from the struggle… it means we bring the struggle into the light and choose how to respond.

In therapy, resistance often shows up as boundary-setting, speaking truth to shame, or confronting internalized oppression. In community, it can look like showing up to a protest, protecting queer youth, or even just staying informed and engaged. These are acts of resistance rooted in love, and they matter.

3. Living in the Tension

I often tell my clients: you don’t have to choose between being joyful and being angry. You can be both. We live in that tension all the time. We grieve while we celebrate. We protest while we dance. We demand change while we love fiercely.

As a therapist, I hold space for that complexity. As a lesbian, I live it. Pride Month is not about being happy all the time. It’s about being true to ourselves and each other. And that truth includes pain, resistance, and resilience.

This Pride, I Invite You to Hold Both

Hold the grief and the joy. The anger and the hope. The exhaustion and the pride.

Every moment of love, rest, and laughter is an act of defiance. Every time we show up for ourselves and our community, we carry the torch lit by generations before us.

To my clients, colleagues, friends, and community: I see you. I celebrate you. I resist with you.

Happy Pride!!