By Jake Naylor

New beginnings don’t always arrive wrapped in hope and certainty. Sometimes they come quietly, disguised as small choices. Sometimes they arrive through grief, exhaustion, or the moment when staying the same feels more painful than change. And sometimes, a new beginning is simply the decision to keep going.

As we welcome 2026, this New Beginnings issue of Las Vegas PRIDE Magazine honors the many ways our community starts again: through movement, healing, creativity, advocacy, remembrance, and radical self-compassion. The stories in these pages remind us that renewal is not about perfection or reinvention. It’s about alignment. About finding our way back to ourselves, again and again.

This issue quite literally invites you to step outside. In our feature on Las Vegas PRIDE OUTside, we celebrate a program that began in 2015 as a simple request from the community: something LGBTQ+ focused, free, all-ages, and not in a bar. Eleven years later, PRIDE OUTside hikes continue to build connection, one trail at a time. Whether you’re joining the February hike at First Creek Canyon or simply inspired to move your body a little more intentionally, this story reminds us that wellness doesn’t have to be complicated. Sometimes it starts with fresh air, a steady path, and people walking beside you.

Health and wellness take many forms throughout this issue. Dr. Jeffrey Burke, a longtime voice in natural health and education, helps ground the chaos of recent years with refreshingly practical advice: sleep matters, hydration matters, real food matters, and movement doesn’t need to be extreme to be transformative. His message is simple but powerful, baby steps are still forward motion, and forward motion is everything.

We also explore wellness through creativity and connection. In our conversation with For The Birds Productions, performance becomes therapy, laughter becomes medicine, and community becomes survival. Their journey reminds us that art isn’t a luxury; for many queer people, it’s a lifeline. Creating together, being silly without judgment, and sharing space in real time can be deeply healing acts in a world that often feels overwhelming.

That idea carries into our feature on micro-habits, which reframes self-improvement not as a dramatic overhaul, but as tiny, consistent acts of care: one glass of water, one kind thought, one message of connection. These small choices, layered over time, create macro change and offer an accessible path forward for anyone feeling burned out by “resolution culture.”

This issue also makes space for stories that remind us new beginnings can be born from pain. From a deeply personal reflection on disability, medical trauma, and redefining wellness on one’s own terms, to a powerful recovery narrative rooted in harm reduction, peer support, and unconditional love. These voices speak to resilience earned the hard way. They remind us that everyone deserves the chance to come back to themselves, and that compassion saves lives.

We honor beginnings by remembering where we came from. Our historical feature on Le Café and its founder, Marge Jacques, preserves the legacy of a woman who dared to create a visible queer space amid great risk. Before there were protections, before there was celebration, there were pioneers. Their courage built the foundation we now stand on.

Join us for a night that refuses to let history fade into abstraction. On March 28, 2026, Red Dress 2026: Abra-RED-Dabra! transforms The Usual Place into something sacred; a spell circle where glamour meets grief, and joy becomes an act of survival. More than a fundraiser, Red Dress marks over two decades of radical care by the Sin Sity Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, whose work continues to ensure that people living with HIV/AIDS are not forgotten, dismissed, or left to fall through the cracks. Through SADAP, the Sisters turn celebration into access, magic into medication, and visibility into dignity. In a moment when queer health and bodily autonomy are once again under threat, Red Dress reminds us that transformation is resistance, and that community care is not nostalgic activism, but urgent, living magic.

Visibility also takes center stage in our profile of Kendall Jecky Sonquipal Cailing, who represents Las Vegas on the Miss International Queen–USA stage. Her story, rooted in immigration, survival, sisterhood, and purpose, reflects the evolving face of pride itself. Kendall reminds us that showing up authentically is an act of leadership, and that the American Dream is bigger, brighter, and more inclusive when trans voices are centered.

Art, too, offers us a way to begin again. Our review of Life Blows: The Escapades of the Real Lexi Ray celebrates a queer, tender, hilarious meditation on mental health, identity, and survival. Sometimes laughter is oxygen. Sometimes absurdity is what keeps us alive. And sometimes, going with the wind is exactly what we need.

Finally, we look forward with intention. From accessible mental health tools like CredibleMind, to our queer-focused astrology forecast for the months ahead, this issue encourages reflection without fear. The future is not something that happens to us. It’s something we actively shape, together.

As you turn these pages, I hope you find permission: to move at your own pace, to rest without guilt, to ask for help, to create joy, to remember your worth. You don’t need a perfect plan for this year. You only need the belief that you deserve a chance.

Because you do.

Here’s to new beginnings, however they arrive.

Jake Naylor
Editor-in-Chief
Las Vegas PRIDE Magazine

This article was originally published in the 2026 New Beginnings Issue of Las Vegas PRIDE Magazine, and can be read in its original format here.