Rev. Michelle's Message May 29, 2025

This Sunday we will celebrate Unity’s 5th Annual Pride Sunday Community Celebration. I am so excited to be part of a spiritual community that dedicates an entire Sunday service every year to honor and celebrate the LGBTQ+ community.

I have been a strong ally of the LGBTQ+ community for many years, but today I feel it is more important than ever to center the needs of this particular group whose basic human rights are currently under attack and whose very lives are threatened by recent legislation.

Trans and nonbinary people are having their identities erased by a government that insists on the existence of only two genders. In some states, trans people are losing access to vital gender-affirming medical care. They are being forced to use public bathrooms that do not match their gender identity and expression. In some cases, trans people are also being forced to revert to their birth names, even when that renders important documents like passports invalid or unusable.

Gay, trans, and queer youth have always been at disproportionately higher risk for suicide, but recent research conducted by the Trevor Project is dire. In California,

• 35% of LGBTQ+ young people seriously considered suicide in the past year, including 39% of transgender and nonbinary youth.

• 11% of LGBTQ+ young people attempted suicide in the past year, including 14% of transgender and nonbinary youth.

• 88% of LGBTQ+ young people reported that recent politics negatively impacted their well-being.

• 53% of LGBTQ+ young people ages 13-17 reported being bullied because of their sexual orientation or gender identity, and 36% of those ages 18-24 reported the same.

As if that isn’t bad enough, the current administration is seeking to defund vital suicide lifeline services for LGBTQ+ youth beginning in October 2025.

There is also a resurgence of support for conversion therapy—a dangerous, harmful, and abusive practice used to try to change a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity. In fact, the U.S. Supreme Court recently announced that it will hear a challenge to a current Colorado state law that protects young people from conversion therapy.

These devastating developments are why Pride protests, marches, and celebrations are now more important than ever. The LGBTQ+ community must be made ever more visible and protecting their basic rights must be a focus of any social justice movement.

In addition to leading our Sunday Pride Celebration at church, I am honored to be giving the invocation for the City of Del Rey Oaks Pride Flag raising ceremony as well, which will take place this Sunday June 1 at noon at the DRO City Hall.

While current trends are certainly alarming, our Sunday Pride Celebration at UMB will focus on hope and joy. I hope you’ll join us for this fun and uplifting service!

Rainbow Blessings,

Rev. Michelle