by Lisa Dunson
June has arrived, ushering in the sacred, defiant, and exuberant celebration of Pride, a season that transcends vibrant parades and rainbow banners draped across streets and storefronts. And while we honor these powerful symbols of visibility and resistance, Pride is, at its core, a profound affirmation of identity, love, liberation, and the ongoing struggle for justice and dignity for all in the LGBTQIA+ community. Pride is protest. Pride is praise. Pride is a prophetic witness. It is the courageous, ongoing declaration that queer and trans lives are not only valid, they are also holy. They are beloved. They are made in the image of a God who delights in diversity, who queers the norm, and who shows up most powerfully among the marginalized.
This year, World Pride descends upon Washington, DC, a city whose monuments tell a complicated story of power and resistance. It is the capital of an empire, yes, but it is also the birthplace of movements. It is where policies are written that can either liberate or destroy. So, this month, when queer people from around the globe gather in this city, our presence is no accident. It is divine choreography. It is sacred timing. It is, in every way, for such a time as this (Esther 4:14).
World Pride in DC is a loud and luminous refusal to be erased, a global chorus of LGBTQIA+ voices crying out in the wilderness of oppression and proclaiming with boldness: “We are still here! We are worthy! We are free!” This is not just visibility, this is testimony. It is the echo of a long line of ancestors, saints, and prophets, many of them Black and Brown trans women and drag queens, who refused to be silent in the face of hatred. Their resistance, their beauty, their love made possible our collective survival and flourishing.
And yet, we do not gather this Pride Month under illusions of safety. The political landscape is marked by increasing hostility: anti-trans legislation, book bans, healthcare discrimination, threats to bodily autonomy, and white supremacist rhetoric dressed in the language of religious piety. We see the most vulnerable among us, trans youth, disabled queer people, undocumented LGBTQIA+ folks, and Black and Brown queer bodies, caught in the crosshairs of systemic violence and theological malpractice.
Yet still!! Still our joy refuses to be extinguished. Still, we gather. Still, we dance. Still, we proclaim the goodness of queer life in the very belly of Empire, because joy, in the face of death-dealing systems, is a revolutionary act. And love…expansive, queer, embodied love… is a force more powerful than any hate the Empire can muster.
As followers of the radical, brown-skinned, Jewish rabbi from Nazareth, one whose life was lived under occupation, whose ministry upended Empire, and whose table was always set for the outcast, we at the Alliance of Baptists are called to stand unapologetically on the side of the oppressed. We are called to be repairers of the breach, builders of the kin-dom, and co-conspirators in God’s ever-expanding liberation project.
And we loudly and proudly reaffirm, without hesitation or qualification, the full inclusion and sacred worth of LGBTQIA+ people in the church and in the world. We celebrate queer and trans clergy, theologians, visionaries, and freedom fighters who lead us in imagining a more just and joyful world. We confess the harm the church has done and commit ourselves anew to a gospel of healing, truth-telling, and radical inclusion.
Pride was born not from comfort but from confrontation; from the fire of Stonewall, from the resistance of Compton’s Cafeteria, from the blood and brilliance of those who refused to believe that holiness was reserved for the few. And that same fire still burns in us today.
So let us mark Pride not just with celebration, but with commitment. Let us rededicate ourselves to dismantling systems of domination, racism, transphobia, homophobia, ableism, and xenophobia wherever they appear, especially within our own institutions. Let us create spaces where queer and trans people are not merely tolerated, but centered, cherished, and safe. Let us preach and live a gospel where liberation is not an afterthought but the starting point.
To everyone who marches, mourns, and ministers this Pride: we see you, we honor you, and we bless your sacred, defiant witness. We stand with you boldly, fiercely, and without apology. Not in silence. Not in shame. But in pride, in power, and in love. So, wave the flags high for the world is watching.
May our rejoicing be as relentless as our resistance!
The Reverend Lisa Dunson is the President of the Alliance of Baptists Executive Committee and is a member of the Ministerial Team at Covenant Baptist UCC. She also serves as Co-Chair of the African American Women in Ministry (AAWIM) Global Engagement Committee and on the Executive Committee for the Potomac Association AAWIM.
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