Love knows no boundaries, and everyone deserves to be celebrated and embraced for exactly who they are. As we join hands with the LGBTQIA+ community, this month and EVERY month, we want to applaud the immense courage, resilience, and beauty that each individual brings to our lives. We recognize and celebrate the unique identities, experiences, and journeys that have shaped our vibrant PCM community.
Love is love, and it knows no limits. We believe that God’s love transcends all and that we are called to love one another, just as we are loved.
So, we asked some of our PCM family and friends what pride means to them:
Pride Month is a time to celebrate that humanity is expressed differently from one individual to another. We trust that God has wonderfully made all people, and, as a response to God’s creative work, we should love and welcome all individuals. Jesus radically loved all of humanity and has called us to live in a way that reflects that love as followers of Christ.
Pride means: Beautiful colors that God created, beyond black and white.
Pride means: Love is love; loving one’s self is the beginning.
Pride means: God’s arms wide open, showering blessings on all; an open invitation to come as you are.
Who we are is important.
Love is love and it always wins.
You are safe with me.
You are not alone.
Being a voice, listening, and learning.
Standing up for what is right.
Celebrating who we are and that we’re here. Every damn day.
Celebrating Pride means supporting our LGBTQ friends and family in the part of their identity they feel is integral, and the core of who they are, even if it’s something we see as one small part of the whole awesome person they are. It’s recognizing the societal discrimination faced by them, reinforcing our belief in their full equality and outwardly celebrating who they are. When someone asks you to celebrate something about who they are, you should always say YES!
Pride is many things to me. It is the celebration of my closest loved ones in the face of a world which chooses not to love every piece of them. It is a celebratory parade, delicious food, cocktails, and a marching band. It is a rallying cry, a child crying alone in their room, a fight song, and a call for action. It is the queering of our theology. It is the voice of God calling each of us to live by the words of Micah 6:8: ‘Do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with your God’ as we stand up for our beloved community.
Pride means more to me than simply “Live and let live.” It means to be an advocate for all those who, are in some way different than those in power.
The phrase my parents lived and infused in me was “Don’t ever judge a book by its cover.”
