Dear Friends,

The beginning of June marks the beginning of pride month. Frankly, pride doesn’t always seem like a big deal to me anymore. Once upon a time Pride was a bastion of acceptance and authenticity, found nowhere else in my world. 

These days, I feel pretty accepted. I live in east van, I have mostly queer friends, and I have a (new!!) wife who loves me for exactly who I am. But I think the biggest change that’s happened is that I have continued to allow God to do the work of changing how I see myself. 

This is something I experience as a living testimony- every time I live another day choosing to lean fully into who I was made to be is another day when someone else can see that it’s possible for them. My most recent experience of this was when Marnie officiated my wedding to my aforementioned new wife. She spoke in ways that reminded people of my journey into acceptance of myself, but she also did so wearing a stole with a pride flag on it- lest there be any confusion about where she stood on the issue. 

This was personally meaningful to me, but I didn’t think much beyond it. It’s pretty normal to me to see openly affirming clergy, and it’s been a long time since I’ve been to any kind of non-affirming faith space. However afterwards when speaking to my LGBT+ friends I was reminded that this was not just novel for them, but in some cases restorative and deeply healing. It helped me remember that although I don’t need as many of these signs and reminders anymore, there are reasons to continue to live my life out loud, and many of those reasons are people I love. 

I wonder what you’ll be doing this month to let your loved ones know you are safe and they are loved?