May 23, 2024

Delmarva Pride Festival 2024

As I scan social media, it’s wonderful to see so many pictures of proms, graduations, and year-end celebrations at schools and community groups. It was fun to be at the Multicultural Festival earlier this month, and I look forward to other annual celebrations coming up in our congregations and the wider community.

I am particularly looking forward to the Delmarva Pride Street Festival on Saturday, June 15, from 11 a.m. – 4 p.m. in Easton. Again this year, UUFE and UUCR will have a joint table at the festival with projects for children and information about our congregations.

It feels particularly important to be an active presence at the festival this year. At the national level, and, sadly, in pockets right here at the local level, the LGBTQ+ community is being targeted. During the tension of this election year, a record number of anti-LGBTQ+ laws and policies are being proposed and, in some cases, enacted, which take away basic freedoms. These efforts to discriminate, exclude, and dehumanize those who are a part of the LBGTQ+ community are in direct opposition to our UU values of equity and inclusion.

Pride events are visible expressions of the full breadth of our community. Through festivals, we come to celebrate the many ways we live our lives. Pride festivals are a showing of love and a reminder that we all benefit when everyone is fully embraced. 

If you’d like to assist at the UUCR/UUFE table at the festival, please contact Mary Lou Malone through the UUFE office at uufe@goeaston.net.

In hope,

Rev. Sue