God, it’s Pride Month, and a lot is going on. Pride Month is always busy for the LGBTQIA+ community, whether we are attending parades and festivals, creating good trouble at city council meetings and state legislatures, organizing prayer services and drag shows, or simply living our lives at the beginning of summer. We turn to you today with a prayer for Pride Month, a prayer for our beloved Queer community, a prayer for our allies and our families, and a prayer for a country and a world still conflicted in its affirmation of our humanity.

We pray for those who are celebrating Pride Month, those who are living into a reality of Queer liberation which challenges heteronormative assumptions and values. They are the people who are creating the future even if it shocks and surprises. They have the courage to creatively question the status quo and transgress it. They pull us forward even when we feel more comfortable in our traditions. We know, God, that they are our prophets, the people you sent to shake us up and build your Kin-dom now among us.

We pray for those who can’t find time to celebrate amid the work for justice. God, we know that no matter how many Pride flags we hang up or how much rainbow clothing we wear, the work of justice continues every day. We recognize in our intersectional communities there are people who are simply trying to survive, without the luxury of time to attend festivals and parades.

We pray for people remembering the past. We ask your mercy and grace on the giants of Queer history and every Queer person who lived their lives and went before us to eternal life with you. For Queer people who lived before “queer” and LGBTQIA+ were defined as terms and identities. The Queer people who were subjected to cruel methods to “cure” them or to punish them including people who were fired from jobs, discharged from the military, or had their lives ruined. We remember the fierce people who spoke up and fought back at the Compton Cafeteria and at the Stonewall Inn. We memorialize the Queer people indiscriminately killed at places with names like the Upstairs Lounge and Pulse Night Club. We honor the Queer people, many of whose names we will never know, who did what society told them to do, married different gender partners, raised families, and tried to be “normal” (whatever that is). We continue to bear witness to the Queer people who were shunned, shamed, and left for dead during the dark days of the HIV/AIDS epidemic and the ongoing stigma associated with being HIV positive or having AIDS.

We pray for those who are scared, for those who look at bills being proposed and passed at the state and federal level, which marginalize our community further. The Transgender community, in particular, is under assault with bills that ban their safety in public bathrooms, eliminate their access to gender-affirming care, police how they express their gender, and attempt to erase the dignity and humanity that you created. God, protect your children as they consider interstate and international moves to find safer and more affirming places to live. Bless and comfort the families that are being torn apart because these laws all too often target children and youth. Grant courage, gracious God, to those who step up as plaintiffs in lawsuits challenging the heinous laws already passed.

We also pray for those who are hopeful and those who have chosen to cling to hope because the alternative is too great a sacrifice to make. Multiply their hope, God, and lead them into moments of calm amidst the storm. As they hug their loved ones tightly, smile when smiling seems difficult, and practice gratitude, make them quiet beacons for anyone who thinks that hope is far off and disappearing into the darkness.

While we wrestle with celebration, hope, fear, and living our lives, we hold close to our hearts every Queer person who’s not yet out. God, bless and strengthen each person who thinks coming out isn’t part of their journey. We especially pray for people who can’t come out because of concerns for their physical safety because they might lose their home, their employment, or even their families. God, you are both a creator and a parent, help their families embrace them warmly in full support of their holy identity as LGBTQIA+, a divine identity that you created for them.

And because Jesus commanded us to pray for our enemies, we ask you to bless the people who agitate against our community. We pray you would intervene and change the hearts and minds of anti-LGBTQIA+ politicians, organizers, and pastors. Thaw the frozen hearts and calm the violent minds of people who hurl hate at us, threaten our lives, and physically assault us. Help us have hearts of forgiveness and dream of the laughter of our children as our only revenge.

So, God of infinite love and infinite diversity, during Pride Month, remind us of the people—both Queer and allies—who have helped us reach this moment. Help us remember that we stand on the shoulders of giants who thought themselves quite average. May we celebrate our past when you have blessed us, enliven our present as you bless us now, and work for the future of your Kin-dom on Earth when you will continue to bless us. We ask this in the name of Jesus, your son, and our liberator. Amen.