"Until It Ran Into Me" with Lazarus Letcher

Lazarus Letcher joins Sober Stories host Beth Bowen to discuss gender, identity, race, and their intersection with sobriety. Beth and Lazarus talk about how Laz used to use alcohol as a way to perform masculinity, Laz’s experience as a trans man before and after sobriety, and how powerful it is to see queer, sober elders in their community. Laz explains what the recovery industry is getting wrong about race, gender, and identity, and how they have found use of the 12-steps through communities led by and for queer folks. Beth and Laz discuss the idea of “outside issues,” and how it’s impossible to separate the political from the personal, especially in sobriety. Laz and Beth and discuss the long history of drugs and alcohol being mobilized against the BIPOC community, and how ingrained drugs and alcohol also are with queer communities. Laz shares their views on how we can increase access to recovery for marginalized communities and then shares what brings them JOY when things feel hard. Lazarus shares what their story would be called: "Until It Ran Into Me."

 

Laz lives on Tiwa Pueblo land in Albuquerque, New Mexico. They're a Ph.D. candidate in American Studies and focuses on the history of Black and Indigenous liberation and queer studies. Laz is a solo musician and a violist with the indie-folk band Eileen & the In-Betweens and Black queer art collective Stages of Tectonic Blackness. Laz works as a tech consultant and is passionate about bringing more trans and Black voices into the field. In their free time, they can be found galavanting along the Rio Grande with their pups Mahler and Billie Holiday.

 

Key Takeaways:

 

• The perception of masculinity and what feels authentic through alcohol recovery.
• The evolution of the 12-step program and other sober spaces led for and by queer people.
• The challenges of substance use and the interception of BIPOC and Queer communities.
• What the recovery programs are getting wrong.

 

 

Resources mentioned:

 

• Recovery Dharma - https://recoverydharma.org/ 

 

Connect with Laz:

 

Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/l.nuzzles/

Website - www.LazarusLetcher.com

You can also view a film they collaborated on, “Return to Blackdom,” screening at the National Hispanic Cultural Center for the rest of the year.

 

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