Celebrating Love Made Visible

June is Pride Month, when the world's LGBTQ communities come together and celebrate the freedom to be themselves. Pride events welcome anyone who feels like their sexual identity falls outside the mainstream – although many straight people join in, too. The original organizers chose this month to pay homage to the Stonewall uprising in June, 1969 in New York City, which helped spark the modern gay rights movement.
“I've been thinking about the difference between tolerating and celebrating. When you tolerate someone, it's as if you're forcing yourself to acknowledge they exist. But when you celebrate someone, you're letting them know you actively appreciate their existence. They bring something valuable to the world, just by being them.”
​– AJ Willingham, CNN senior writer
Affirmative prayer: I give thanks for the wholeness of every person and for the beautiful ways we each express love. I am grateful for the dignity and joy of LGBTQ communities, and I celebrate the freedom of love made visible. There is no otherness. We are One, and there is blessing and goodness. Thank you, God, forever. Amen.

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