 Happy Pride Month, friends!
Pride is a celebration of the dignity, personhood, and the beauty of diversity in the LGBTQ+ community. It's also a reminder of the importance of visibility, of advocacy, and of the work yet to be done in a pursuit of equality for all. Last year for Pride, I shared some of my family's very favorite Pride-themed children's storybooks. [Click here for last year's post]. As I mentioned in that post, while I loved each of the storybooks, I couldn't help but notice that our storybook library was lacking in the voices and perspectives of BIPOC individuals overall (and in Pride-themed titles in particular). After publishing the post, I also noticed a similar pattern with a lack of transgender authors on our shelves. I committed to doing better, and the good news is - over the past twelve months, our library has become significantly more diverse! So for Pride 2021 I've compiled another list of children's storybooks, all of which we have on our shelves at home. Each of the five books below are either (1) written by a BIPOC author and/or illustrator; (2) written by a transgender author and/or illustrator; and/or (3) depicting the perspectives of BIPOC family life in a particularly meaningful way. To all my LGBTQ+ family: You are seen. You are valued. You are loved.
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As Pride month comes to a close I'm so glad to have had the chance to add my voice to this important video project. (Happy Pride to all my LGBTQ+ siblings!) Here's a description of the video from its creator, Queer Grace Community: "This Pride, forty church leaders from across denominations came together to say clearly to the LGBTQIA+ community: We did wrong. We are sorry. And we are taking steps to repair the damage done, and to transform our churches into the loving space they were always called to be.  Cape Coral Pride (March 2020, before pandemic shutdowns changed everything) Happy Pride, everyone!
I've shared many times about how much the Remaley family enjoys reading together. Storytime is one of our favorite parts of the day! To celebrate Pride Month, I pulled together a few of our favorite storybooks that speak to the experiences of LGBTQ people and themes. Each of these books make regular appearances in the lineup throughout the year (but especially in June, and in the days leading up to and following our local Pride festivals!) To all my LGBTQ+ family: You are seen. You are valued. You are loved.  I was so excited to learn that Matthias Roberts would be publishing a book. My faith and sense of self have been nurtured over the past few years as an active listener of his podcast Queerology: A Podcast on Belief and Being. I was eager for the wisdom he’d be bringing into the world, now in literary form!
And yet, the immediate feeling I felt when receiving his book for my advance review was not excitement. In fact, my first thought when opening the package was this: “I wish it had a different subtitle, because I’m not going to be able to carry this thing with me anywhere I go."  Look at those baby faces! Megan and I have followed the work of photographer Adam Bouska ever since he and his partner Jeff Parshley founded the NOH8 Campaign in 2009.
We've spoken passionately about efforts for LGBTQ equality throughout our lives, so we were thrilled to have the opportunity to participate in an official NOH8 photo shoot in May 2011. My seminary friends will likely remember our portrait hanging in the living room of my seminary apartment (alongside the NOH8 portraits of Jane Lynch and Pauley Perrette, naturally). "You have heard that it is said, an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. But I say to you..."
The words are difficult to hear. "You have heard that it is said, you shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But I say to you..." As it turns out, they're difficult to preach, too. 
I’m not usually one to do anything in the spur of the moment. In fact, I was recently described as being “someone who needs to make plans to be spontaneous.” (I wear that as a badge of honor, by the way).
Sometimes, however, something occurs that is so big… so unbelievable… that it calls for throwing caution to the wind. This was one of those times. |
AuthorI'm a husband, a father, a news junkie, a theatre enthusiast, an amateur foodie, a wannabe barista, and an ordained pastor in the Presbyterian Church (USA) currently serving as Associate Pastor of Faith Presbyterian Church in Cape Coral, FL.
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This blog is maintained personally by me and does not necessarily represent the views of the Faith Presbyterian Church congregation or any other congregation I have served. Every effort is made to give proper attribution for quotations, images, and other media used on this page.
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