Proud to be an Ally this Pride Month

I have to say that I’m very excited that it is Pride Month. I am particularly excited to be living in the Bay Area this year and getting to go to the San Francisco Pride celebrations at the end of the month is something I have wanted to do for a long time. I’m also excited because I know the Grand Marshall of the San Francisco Pride Parade.

I am ally and I am deeply proud to be an ally. Over the years I have been asked many times why I am so deeply drawn to the fight for inclusion and equal rights for the LGBTQ community. I have a hard time answering that question because I cannot pinpoint a “became” an ally. It simply feels like part of who I am and has been that way as long as I can remember.

While I cannot answer how I became an ally I can, however, tell you the reasons it means so much for me to be an ally every day. Over the years my life has been deeply affected by my LGBTQ friends and I have learned more than I can possible say from them. They have taught me about courage as they have been themselves even in the face of the world asking them not to be. They have shown me what it means to love and love deeply and honestly. They have taught me about faith, staying in love with God even when the church brokenly says we don’t want you. They have shown me acceptance and they honor and affirm who I am. I am grateful for the lessons the LGBTQ community has taught me even at the same time mourning the brokenness of the rest of the world that gave the opportunity for these lessons to be taught.

So this pride month I proudly declare that I am an ally and would not have it any other way.