Today was great. I stood with gay and lesbian Mormons, both active and inactive, and their friends, supporters and allies. I proudly held up my sign "LDS <3 LGBT". Today I marched with Affirmation at NYC Pride. They came from all over... a woman from Westchester, a man from Raleigh, a girl from Scarsdale, a couple from Manhattan and even a gentleman from Salt Lake City who was in town on a business trip…among many others. I felt so happy standing behind the Affirmation banner with these people. With these courageous people who aren't afraid to stand up and say "We love you. We support you. We are here with you." I posted this picture to twitter:
I am so proud. I am so happy that I was there.
I want everyone to know that no matter the church says, Christ says to love one another. So here we are - being as Christ-like as we can. Here I am, showing my love to all of you.
The best part of the day? Right when I got there, a woman (in her church clothes) approached me. "Excuse me, can you please take a picture of me and my son in front of the banner?" "Of course," I said. So she hands me her iphone and walks towards the sign. A teenage boy wearing his rainbow gear walks up next to her and she puts her arm around him…and they smile. I took the photo and held back tears as I handed her phone back to her. What an amazingly wonderful mother - to walk with him and to support him and show her PRIDE in her son. I was so touched.
These are some of our signs:
My favorite sign was "All are alike unto God" 2 Nephi 26:33. Though the scripture is talking about black and white, bond and free…it applies here. I loved seeing a scripture from the Book of Mormon that was so uplifting and spread the same message we were there to support.
I ended up ducking out early as I had said I'd be at church today (though I skipped 2 meetings and only made it to Relief Society) - the lesson was on the qualities of Christ. When the teacher asked us what we thought of when we think of Christ, my immediate response was "Love one another." It's one of the most important lessons we can take with us in this life - and it's the lesson that I saw so many people live today.
Happy Pride Everyone.
