HELLO HOMO: One Year of Homo
Hello Homos!
This week marks one year of HELLO HOMO, and I’m overwhelmed and sitting in reflection. First, I want to thank all the readers who have submitted questions, shared the column, and engaged in meaningful, community-centered conversations over the past 12 months.
Second, thank you to the amazing community leaders who have generously shared their time, perspectives, and voices with our readers.
My goal with HELLO HOMO was to engage community by facilitating important conversations and at the same time cultivate resources to help build resilience in our communities.
When HELLO HOMO was launched, it centered on the election and focused on pooling helpful resources and information for local and national initiatives. The Girl with a Microphone, State Representatives Brian Sims and Leslie Herod shared valuable insights to support folks as we moved through a pivotal election season.
Near the end of 2024, interviews focused on HIV awareness and how to engage conversations around status along with religious trauma and the holidays.
Throughout the year, I received a lot of questions related to substance use and abuse. Culturally, I have seen the relationship to binge drinking and substance abuse change drastically since the pandemic. I hope the interview with Carl Erik Fisher M.D. and Salina Estitties helped others in our region shape, or simply just consider their relationship to substances and how it aligns (or doesn’t) with their intrinsic values.
Pride took center stage this past summer focused on diversifying what Pride is and who it is for. Anastasia Krystals, Kim Salvaggio and Z Williams helped OFM readers to hold multiple perspectives and really consider the history of Pride in relation to its current iteration, nationally and locally.
Looking back, I am moved by each person I sat down and how they were each so community focused. From Johnny Sibilly’s advocacy and leadership through Queer POC visibility to Felony Misdemeanor sharing her motherly drag tips for first timers, so much care poured out of the folks I interviewed. I loved how I too learned so much about niche queer community and culture like when Pup Sam Savory shared the histories and origins of pup play and pup culture.
It has been an honor to do this project. I have to say, I was the most nervous interviewing CPR’s Ryan Warner. It was an intimidating experience as a newbie interviewer, interviewing the expert here in Colorado. Our discussion focused on “breaking the frame” and gaining new perspectives. That interview was very meta for me if I’m being honest.
My most recent interview with therapist and author Rebecca Minor echoes these themes of care, community building, resilience and fresh perspectives in our ever-changing world.
As HELLO HOMO has reached its one-year goal, I am also finding an ending to this project (at least for now) and going on hiatus to focus on several other projects in the works.
My biggest hope for my readers is to inspire all of you to ask more questions. In the current socio-political climate, and this era of social media, we are very polarized and didactic. Too many people are just offering so-called “answers” and rigid thinking. Without curiosity it all feels forced. I deeply believe that communities would greatly benefit by simply asking more questions and taking time to listen to each other.
So please, when you are confronted with harsh perspectives or notice rigid thinking and bias within yourself or others, slow down and be curious. I invite you to be courageous and ask: Why? Why do I think or feel this way? Why is this person on TV or Instagram saying what they are saying? Why do they want me to side with them? “Why” can go a long way. I hope HELLO HOMO has inspired you to be more inquisitive.
Again, thank you to my contributors, my loyal readers and followers, and to OFM. HELLO HOMO, in its one year tenure, has been a joy and an honor.
Disclaimer: Hello Homo is for informational and educational purposes and is not a substitute for mental health treatment. Hello, Homo (Jesse Proia) is not providing mental health advice, diagnosis, or treatment to readers. If you or someone you know is experiencing a mental health crisis or emergency, please contact 911, 988 or go to the nearest emergency room.
