Pride

June is Pride Month—a time of parades, protests, glitter, and glorious self-expression. But for many of us raised in religious traditions, the word “pride” can still carry a charge. We were taught that pride is sinful, that it “goes before the fall,” and that humility was the more virtuous path. And yet, when it comes to the LGBTQ+ community, and all marginalized and discounted people, pride is not about arrogance—it is about dignity. It is about standing tall after being told to shrink, about loving yourself after years of being told you’re unlovable. In this light, Pride is not a fall—it’s a rising.
There is a pride that isolates and inflates the ego—and there is a pride that heals. When a marginalized group has been told for generations to stay quiet, to stay hidden, to disappear, then visibility itself becomes sacred. Pride, for queer people, is a declaration of worth in a world that too often denies it. As Oscar Wilde, the brilliant queer mystic and rebel, wrote: “To love oneself is the beginning of a lifelong romance.” That kind of love is not self-indulgence—it’s survival. It’s spiritual repair.
The work of Pride is not just personal—it is profoundly collective. Arundhati Roy reminds us, “Our strategy should be not only to confront empire, but to lay siege to it… with art, with hope… and with our ability to tell our own stories.” Every time we show up with truth and beauty, we challenge systems of oppression and shame. Pride is not a costume. It is a testimony. It’s a sermon of selfhood in a world that still tries to edit, erase, or soften the edges of queer identity.
At Unity San Francisco, we affirm the truth that every person is a divine and unrepeatable expression of God. We know that God is not scandalized by your truth—God rejoices in it. So this Pride Month, let’s not only celebrate—we consecrate. Join us this Sunday and let us walk proudly, love fiercely, and tell the stories that set us free.