[Nevertheless] We Had Pride

I missed Pride. 

I didn't know when it was until I'd already scheduled and received RSVPs for a paint night at my church. While my eleven year old and I led paint night, my husband brought our nearly seventeen year old daughter to Pride to meet up with her girlfriend and also our transgender daughter and her trans boyfriend and whatever other friends they encountered.
 

Paint night was a lot of fun, as was seeing facebook photos of my teens having fun watching the parade. Our pastor was late coming to paint night, as she and her wife went to Pride beforehand. I told them it was an acceptable excuse.

As much fun as we had paint pouring, one of the best parts of the evening for me was the time afterward, when we sat around the table discussing what it is to be a Christian, to love others a Jesus taught us, and what all that has to do with the LGBTQ+ community. We spoke openly about sexuality, gender identity, and how non-Christian it is to put conditions on acceptance and love - how Jesus doesn't say to love, if ... or to love, except. He says to love, as ... as we love ourselves, as He loves us; to love radically, unconditionally, completely.

I may not have been able to make it to the Pride parade and festival, nevertheless, I had a dose of Pride right there at church - a community gathered in support of LGBTQ+, celebrating gender and sexual diversity, and our love for all, no matter how they identify or whom they love. Just as Jesus taught us.