gAy A: The Queer Sober Hero Show

The GAy A podcast delves deep into the lives of those in the LGBT community who have overcome struggles with addiction and is a riveting listen every episode! The stories are inspiring and motivational as well as interesting. I highly recommend this podcast for anyone interested in learning more about sobriety, especially those in the LGBT community where addiction so much more common and prevalent. Keep up the amazing work Steve!

I’ve listened to every episode up to this point, and I genuinely admire Steve’s vulnerability and commitment to sharing his recovery journey. That said, this particular episode—centered around a failed adoption and the resentments it created—left me feeling unsettled. Not because of the subject matter, but because of how it was processed and presented. I understand Steve is only around 75 days sober at the time of this recording. Early sobriety is raw and often messy, and this podcast has captured that authentically. But this episode dives into extremely personal and painful territory—detailing the behavior of a mentally ill teenage girl in ways that feel graphic, emotionally loaded, and, at times, inappropriate for a public platform. It risks re-traumatizing others while framing the story as if it’s been resolved. There’s a recurring theme of spiritual bypassing here—pain and blame dressed up as acceptance. Despite a closing message of letting go, most of the episode carries the weight of unresolved resentment, moral certainty, and displaced blame: the girl, the foster system, the caseworker, the husband, and even himself. The emotional tone contradicts the stated resolution. What also stands out is how the narrative centers Steve’s own childhood fantasy of becoming a parent—less as a path to provide care, and more as a means to prove something to himself. The adoption attempt becomes another object of obsession in a lifelong pattern of “loving things too much,” and the transition from child to dog at the end reinforces a feeling that emotional substitution is happening rather than deep healing. I don’t say any of this to tear Steve down. I say it because this episode is clearly trying to make sense of deep hurt, and I think it would’ve benefited from more time, distance, and internal work. I respect that he’s willing to go there—and I hope in future episodes, he continues revisiting this experience with more reflection and growth. His honesty is powerful. I just don’t think the processing is fully there yet.

Steve is doing so much good for the queer recovery with this podcast

I just finished my first podcast of Swift steps with jewels and Emily and Steve and what they do is absolutely amazing it makes me see that there really are other people out there that are going through the same things I’m going through and to get through it by the love we have for Taylor and her music I can’t wait for the next episode!!!