Dallas Bragg argues recovery should be defined by the individual, not traditional programs built for straight white men in the 1990s. He says LGBTQ+ people face distinct trauma and chemsex challenges these models ignore. Real recovery might mean reducing harm, honest therapy, or handling emotions without drugs, whatever matters to you.
You get to define success on your own terms. You are the executive of your own life, the arbiter of your own sobriety. Traditional recovery models were created by and for straight white men in the '90s by Oxford group of conservative Christians. They weren't designed with our community in mind, with our particular intersections of trauma, stigma, shame, and the unique role that chemsex plays in gay culture. You don't have to follow somebody else's rigid rules about what recovery looks like. You get to be the executive of your own recovery. You get to decide which metrics matter to you. And maybe your version of success is reducing frequency and harm. But maybe it's learning to have sober sex. Maybe it's being honest with your therapist for the first time. Maybe it's making it through a difficult emotion without crying, without using. All of it counts. All of it holistically is recovery.
