This is only tangentially related, but in university, I became acquainted with the party gays, which meant I went to a few parties where there was plenty of drug use going on. I remember being initially very intimidated by this, but then realising how actually, I felt way less pressured to do anything than I would’ve done on a “regular” night out, with my mostly straight friend group. Additionally, I felt like people who I barely knew had my back, regardless of what intoxicants I may or may not have been partaking in on a given night.

Don’t get me wrong, this kind of atmosphere can be one of the most pernicious aspects of the LGBTQ community, especially because the wider context of things acts as pressure in and of itself. However, I was blown away by the sheer wholesomeness I experienced in settings where I wouldn’t have expected to find it (especially when I started university, shy and semi-closeted as I was).