Wishing You a Happy Pride 2024!

Pride season is upon us! It is a blessing and a joy to celebrate our LGBTQIA+ communities. Without these communities, Unitarian Universalism would not be what it is today.

I must say that as this pride season begins I am holding a heavy heart. The genocide in Gaza continues unabated and my heart breaks. I get particularly angry when people say that Israel is the only safe place for LGBTQIA+ people in the Middle East. This is a practice called pink washing. If you’re not familiar, here is a definition of pink washing - “Pinkwashing refers to when a state or organization appeals to LGBTQ+ rights in order to deflect attention from its harmful practices.”

There is certainly much to celebrate this year and there is much to grieve. Let us hold all the complexities as we move forward into this pride season. Remember, pride began as a protest. That legacy must live on today.

With love and care,

–RevJ

Here are some ways to get involved with Pride:

Attend Queer Contra Dance on June 15th:

Step (one, two, three) into a world of inclusive dancing with Queer Contra Chicago, on Saturday, June 15th at 7pm in The Loft! Originating from 17th-century European country dancing, contra dance brings pairs together in long lines to move to live folk music. Traditionally, the roles for each pair are referred to as “ladies” and “gents,” with gents being the leaders and ladies being the followers. At Queer Contra, they embrace non-gendered roles, where dancers can be either a "lark" or a "raven" and it's up to each pair to choose who is who and they can switch whenever they want. Beginners are always welcome and encouraged to attend the pre-dance lesson at 6:30pm. Suggested donation of $10.

Join us for Pride Sunday, June 30th:

On Pride Sunday, June 30th, we are thrilled to welcome Yuka Layme, the leader of the Chicago chapter of Drag Story Hour, to our Pride Sunday service. Yuka will be performing as well as reading a story during our "Time for All Ages," bringing a unique blend of storytelling, creativity, and inclusivity to our community. Join us as we celebrate diversity, foster understanding, and create a joyous space for all to enjoy. This service is a wonderful opportunity to embrace the spirit of Pride and the values of love and acceptance that we hold dear.

Join us afterward for a refreshing twist during this year's PRIDE parade at our 2U Lemonade Stand hosted by the vibrant 2U kids and youth, under the guidance of Sue Dunmore! The excitement is brewing as our middle school students have already started crafting colorful posters this past Sunday. If your kid(s) would like to be part of this joyous celebration, contact Sue Dunmore.

Donate to Our Plate Share:

Give to our June Collection Plate Share recipient Lighthouse Foundation of Chicagoland. The Lighthouse Foundation is a Black LGBTQ+ led, multiracial social justice organization that advances justice for Black LGBTQ+ people across Chicagoland through empowerment, education, and entertainment.

During the summer of 2019, Progress Bar banned rap music, Beatnix called the police on customers who objected to them selling confederate flag vests, and the largest LGBTQ+ center in the Midwest refused to fire a security firm owned by an off-duty cop with white supremacist ties. Lighthouse Church of Chicago UCC teamed up with Affinity Community Services and the Chicago Black Gay Men’s Caucus to host a protest that garnered 150 supporters. Progress Bar revoked the ban.
In July, Jamie Frazier launched Lighthouse Foundation as a stand-alone social justice organization by hosting a Racial Justice Summit that packed the room with over 100 LGBTQ+ nonprofit staff, clergy, and community members. The event built cross-racial solidarity and initiated a vision of LGBTQ+ equity across the Chicagoland area. By August, we had worked with Antifa members to write and hand-deliver a petition to the LGBT Center signed by 150+ people from 40+ institutions demanding that they fire Walsh Security. After many meetings and a press conference, the center eventually replaced Walsh with a Black LGBTQ+-owned firm trained in de-escalation. We had won our first racial justice campaign!
In the years since, we’ve decided to focus on systemic interventions, endeavoring to transform institutions for more widespread and long-lasting change. We launched the first Black Queer Equity Index in the US in 2020, using a consensus organizing model which builds on existing partnerships to deepen relationships among LGBTQ+ institutions, center Black LGBTQ+ leadership, and engage in sustained reparative work. Through our spirituality, arts programming, and workforce development programming, we continue to support Black LGBTQ+ people in seizing power for themselves by creating spaces where we can connect with one another, build power, and help our community thrive.

Check Out Our Library:

Our library has over a dozen titles highlighting the LGBTQ+ community. For more books on LGBTQ+ stories and spirituality, visit our Digital Library by clicking here, or by going to SecondUnitarian.org, navigating to About and then click "Our Library" and search "LGBTQ" or "Queer."

Here are a few popular titles:

by Lee Harrington & Tai Fenix Kulystin
In a wide variety of pagan paths, many forms of modern magic and mystery hold an expectation that all parties are heterosexual, cisgender, and, in many cases, white. In Queer Magic: Power Beyond Boundaries, Lee Harrington and Tai Fenix Kulystin bring together a diverse and passionate collection of authors and artists who break out beyond that belief and explore how being LGBT+ is not just acceptable when exploring magic, but powerful.
Whether you identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, asexual, transgender, agender, genderqueer, or some other queer orientation, or you are curious about tools to access magic beyond what is often discussed, this book is for you. Each piece is a unique and passionate chance to look into your own relationship with magic, break out of the tales of what your practice "should" look like, and expand your awareness into the queer magic as well as your own power beyond boundaries.
by Charlene A. Carruthers
Includes bibliographical references and index Drawing on Black intellectual and grassroots organizing traditions, including the Haitian Revolution, the US civil rights movement, and LGBTQ rights and feminist movements, Carruthers challenges all of us engaged in the social justice struggle to make the movement for Black liberation more radical, more queer, and more feminist. She offers a flexible model of what deeply effective organizing can be, anchored in the Chicago model of activism, which features long-term commitment, cultural sensitivity, creative strategizing, and multiple cross-group alliances. Carruthers provides a framework for activists committed to building transformative power, encouraging young people to see themselves as visionaries and leaders.
One of America's most influential activists, Charlene A. Carruthers has spent over a decade developing leaders as an effective strategist, community organizer, and educator. She is a Black lesbian feminist and founding national director of the BYP100 (Black Youth Project 100), a leading organization of young activists in the movement for Black liberation. Her work has been featured in outlets including the Nation, NBC News, BBC News, Huffington Post, the New Yorker, Al Jazeera, Ebony, USA Today, and the Washington Post. Carruthers was born, raised, and still resides on the South Side of Chicago.
by Jay Michaelson
The myth that the Bible forbids homosexuality—the myth of “God versus Gay”—is behind some of the most divisive and painful conflicts of our day. In this provocative and game-changing book, scholar and activist Jay Michaelson shows that the Bible does not prohibit same-sex intimacy but does quite the opposite. In fact, the vast majority of the Bible’s teachings support the full equality and dignity of LGBTQ people, from the first flaw it finds in creation (“It is not good for a person to be alone”) to the way religious communities grow through reflection and conscience. Michaelson argues passionately for equality—not despite religion, but because of it.
With close readings of the Hebrew Bible and New Testament, the latest data on the science of sexual orientation, and a sympathetic, accessible, and ecumenical approach to religious faith, Michaelson makes the case that sexual diversity is part of the beauty of nature. The recognition of same-sex families will strengthen, not threaten, the values religious people hold dear. Whatever your views on religion and sexual diversity, God vs. Gay is a plea for a more compassionate, informed conversation—and a first step toward creating one.
by Maxwell Poth
What's it like to grow up queer in America today? LGBTQ+ representation in the media is at an all-time high-and yet so is anti-LGBTQ+ legislation aimed at queer and trans youth. In this powerful volume, seventy-three LGBTQ+ kids and teens from fifteen different states throughout the USA tell their stories in their own words. They share the challenges they've faced coming out or coming to terms with their own identities; they write about their families, their schoolmates, their teachers, and their queer communities; and they offer messages of love and support to their LGBTQ+ peers. These stories of resilience, heartbreak, and self-discovery are accompanied by portraits from photographer Maxwell Poth and a foreword from actress and activist Isis King. Poth, the founder of the nonprofit Project Contrast, which seeks to amplify the voices of queer youth and address the mental health crises facing LGBTQ+ communities, has a knack for bringing out the joy and confidence of his subjects. His images echo the sentiments of the bright, young Americans who've shared their stories in this book: We see you. We love you. You are not alone.

As we look ahead, let's carry the spirit of Pride Month throughout the year, continuing to foster an environment where every person feels seen, valued, and celebrated. Together, we can create a community that truly embodies the principles of justice, equity, and compassion, ensuring that every individual—no matter their identity—knows they belong. Join us in our ongoing commitment to love and acceptance, and let’s make every month a celebration of diversity and inclusion.

Here are some ways to get involved with Pride: