It is that time again. PRIDE Month! Every June, many of us celebrate PRIDE, honoring LGBTQ+ people, our lives, accomplishments, and resilience. As you read this, the streets in your hometown may be lined with banners announcing the upcoming PRIDE parade; storefront windows are abundantly decorated with affirming messages like “love trumps hate” or “love is love.” From logos to curated book displays at our local library, we can find PRIDE deeply affirming and celebratory. 

Pride is beautiful! It is life-affirming to be celebrated and declare your love for yourself and your beloved. Whether it is joining an affirming community in a parade or a gentle reminder of your worth and dignity on a rainbow t-shirt, PRIDE month can bring revolutionary joy and healing to our community. Our existence and our resistance is beautiful and worthy of celebration. 

We know this PRIDE month may feel different. Maybe your school has removed books that include stories with LGBTQ+ characters. Maybe the PRIDE flag that used to fly outside your church’s door or in front of City Hall has been vandalized or stolen. Perhaps you and your community are grieving the loss of a loved one, the loss of a community member who has moved for their safety, or the loss of hope that things will get better. Maybe your PRIDE celebration includes a memorial or dedication. 

PRIDE is complicated. The love, grief, and unbridled joy moves through us 

It is a time when many of us hold our partners, our chosen family, and our beloved close because we know that “love is love” is not just a slogan. It means offering housing to someone whose home is no longer safe. It means cards and celebration on Nonbinary Parents Day. It means learning and celebrating new names, pronouns, and bodies. Love is embracing the joy in becoming who you know you are and the humility and care of being one who may be invited to witness this transformation. 

Today, it is important that we remind ourselves that the first PRIDE was a riot and lift up the legacies of Marsha P. Johnson and Silvia Rivera. In June, we witness new cycles of “No Police in PRIDE” campaigns. Some LGBTQ+ organizations will inform us of all the corporations that churn out PRIDE-themed advertisements while donating millions to legislators who vote to ban trans children from sports and trans people from bathrooms, vote for discriminatory policies that leave many in our community without homes or jobs, or healthcare, spread pinkwashing messages that worsen the genocide in Palestine, abandon disabled people to an ongoing pandemic, and use the carceral system to police our identity. 

PRIDE is political. PRIDE has never represented one cohesive and aligned community. Just as Silvia Rivera gave voice to a gay liberation movement that ignored the needs and contributions of trans and non-binary people, PRIDE continues to be an important site of political struggle that calls us into accountability and the work for collective liberation. 

PRIDE, like our LGBTQ+ community, is so many things. For Side With Love, PRIDE is an opportunity to faithfully continue the work of LGBTQ+ liberation and gender justice. It is an opportunity to reflect on where movements have fallen short of our highest ideals and recommit to centering BIPOC, trans, disabled, and other marginalized LGBTQ+ people who are still marginalized due to multiple and intersecting oppressions. It is a time when we honor our legacy of protest and disruption by affirming protest and disruption when communities are struggling for their liberation. PRIDE is an invitation to root in a radical history so that we may reach a liberatory future. 

This month, we will share short reflections from UUs on what PRIDE means to them this year. Find these posts on our Instagram at @SideofLove. 

Happy PRIDE!

In faith and solidarity,

Nicole Pressley 

Resources

• Donate to the Pink Haven Coalition

• Watch our webinar, The Body Politic: Faithful UUs Showing Up for Trans Justice

• Support TransLash: telling trans stories to save trans lives

New from inSpirit: UUA Book and Gift Shop!

T-Shirt: Every Body is Sacred

T-Shirt: Create Climate Justice

T-Shirt: Promise of democracy

See all merchandise available for Side With Love and our campaigns at InSpirit!

June Programming from Side With Love

Monthly Mixer

Monday, June 10 at 8:00pm ET

We know that these times ask a lot of us and that we need one another to stay in the work with hope, joy, impact, and accountability. Join us if you are doing the work on the ground, if you are showing up for and with Side with Love, and/or if you are just learning about Side with Love. Come connect with one another, build community across issues, and have some facetime with our staff. Register now.

Climate Justice Revival Info Session

Thursday, June 13 at 1:00pm ET

Are you excited for the first-ever UU Climate Justice Revival ...but...still have so many questions? Is it on zoom or in person? Can kids participate? Is it a regional or national event? When we do new and different things, questions are expected! Come to the UU Climate Justice Revival Info Session and get all your questions answered! Register now.

Stop Cop City Monthly Huddle

Thursday, June 13 at 2:00 PM ET

We’ll review what’s happening and what you can do with Stop Cop City more broadly. Join us to get activated or to jump back in. Register now.

Blessing for Mental Health Awareness Month

May is Mental Health Awareness Month. We are grateful to share with you a blessing to honor all of you, from Side With Love Disability Justice Associate Rev. Amanda Schuber.

Spirit of Life, Source of Hope and Healing,

We open our hearts to the boundless love that surrounds us. Each of us is touched in different ways by the complexities of mental health. Today, and every day, let us remember that wholeness is our birthright, and each of us is a precious part of the vast tapestry of existence.

May we embrace a theology of hope, one that celebrates the wholeness within each soul, beyond any perception of brokenness. Let us acknowledge that our struggles and pains are not signs of failure, but threads in the intricate weave of our humanity.

In times of struggle, may we find the wat forward. May we hold onto the truth that we are never alone; we are part of a loving community that supports and uplifts one another. Together, we can accompany each other in this life, offering compassion and understanding to ourselves and to others.

Let us affirm that every person is deserving of care, dignity, and respect, and may we create spaces where mental health is spoken of openly and without stigma, where seeking help is seen as a strength, and where every story is heard with empathy.

Spirit of Love, guide us to be beacons of hope. May we find strength in our shared journey, knowing that we are interconnected, and that together, we can foster a world where every mind and heart can thrive.

Blessed be. Amen.

Communication – Communication – Communication