“Protesting is an act of love. It is born of a deeply held conviction that the world can be a better, kinder place. Saying ‘no’ to injustice is the ultimate declaration of hope.”
—Amy Goodman, investigative journalist, columnist, and author

In the spring of 1975, I sat in a rocking chair in a studio apartment in Manhattan and contemplated the wreckage of the marriage that had been my attempt at being straight. For the first time, I said to myself, “I am a lesbian.”

On that cold but brilliantly sunny day it didn’t occur to me that I could be closeted. I was an activist; the only way I knew to live my life was to fight for what I believed justice demanded.

Tolerance, let alone acceptance, was a far-fetched dream. Unitarian Universalists were still five years away from ordaining gay clergy. Until 1986, it was legal in New York City to discriminate against queer people in employment, housing, and public accommodations. I was fired from three jobs. I was evicted twice. I was asked to leave restaurants because “we don’t want your kind in here.” My best friend—the mother of my godchild—ended our relationship because she believed I was immoral.

As an out lesbian, I couldn’t even try to work as a teacher or social worker. Instead, I was an office temp for eleven years. These were the harsh realities of the time.

Choosing to be an out lesbian was, and is, an act of choosing to be free. Yes, there were consequences, but one consequence that I never anticipated was the discovery of great joy.

That joy came from finding a strong, vibrant community of women who had created their own freedom. We faced being ostracized, we faced discrimination, we faced danger—but we had each decided that in spite of all that, we would be who we were, openly and proudly. Our claim to liberation and freedom was not something handed down to us—we were “the ones who would change the world.” For those of us who were lucky enough to live in that time and brave enough to risk our futures creating new ways of living for ourselves and with each other, it was intoxicating simply to be alive.

Those who came out later came out into a very different world. But always, the LGBTQIA+ “alphabet soup” requires the choice of how one will be who they are. Facing this choice and choosing freedom is the root of Pride.

Prayer
May we be inspired by the passion for justice and the courage to envision a better world that filled the nameless many who went before us. May we, too, dare to dream and choose to live in freedom.