UCC Churches Share Message of Equality in Pride Events All Over

Written by Jeff Woodard
June 29, 2010

Celebrating with purpose and pageantry and energized by a buoyant UCC presence, hundreds of LGBT communities across the nation have marched, sung and reflected their way through the June commemoration of Gay Pride.

Tradition held strong in Boston, where the Pride theme of "Riots to Rights - Celebrating 40 Years of Progress" took to various venues. Among the estimated crowd of 35,000 at the Pride parade on June 19, was Sen. Richard Tisei, a gay Republican who is the minority leader of the Massachusetts Senate and a candidate for lieutenant governor of the state. "A lot of people have done a lot of work over the years to get to where we're at as a state, and I'm proud to say I'm from Massachusetts," said Tisei.

Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick marched in the parade as a candidate for re-election – and as the parent of a lesbian daughter. "We have been working very, very hard to assure true equality for all residents of the commonwealth," said Patrick, whose daughter Katherine is a member of Old South Congregational UCC in Boston.

"I give thanks to God every day for living in a Commonwealth in which queer people are, and are becoming ever more, integrated into its fabric," said the Rev. Quinn G. Caldwell, associate minister of Old South and the church's first openly gay pastor. "I also give thanks for the UCC, with our 350-year commitments to education and dialogue, and our more recent commitments to tolerance and diversity, all in God's name."

Read about the rest of the country at: http://www.ucc.org/news/ucc-messages-of-equality.html?autologin=true