With the leadership of Bishop Julia Whitworth and the organizing efforts of a diocesan planning team, the Diocese of Massachusetts aims to have large and visible delegations of LGBTQ+ people and allies taking part in Pride celebrations around the diocese this June.
Bishop Whitworth will lead the delegation at the Boston Pride for the People Parade on Saturday, June 14, riding in a convertible. Parish banners are welcome, and there will be DioMass T-shirts! Those who aren’t marching are invited to cheer the 11 a.m. parade from the sidelines at a watch party hosted by Trinity Church in Boston on its Clarendon Street porch and lawn.
The diocesan planning team has also been compiling a growing list of Pride celebrations outside of Boston where a witness for love and joy can be made together in community. Visit www.diomass.org/pride-2025 for details and updates, and use the sign-up link there to indicated interest in participating.
“We are living in a time when people in the LGBTQ+ community are being harmed by hate-fueled public policies, violent events and alienating language. Often, these actions are rooted in misguided interpretations of Christianity. Having a loving presence of Christians—including members of the Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts—is more important now than it has been in decades,” the planning team has said in its outreach.
“God’s got your back”:
The Rev. Malia Crawford, the rector of the Church of Our Saviour in Arlington and a member of the planning team, reiterated that message in a phone interview.
“At this time, I think it’s really powerful and important to make a strong declaration of what we really know about Jesus’ love. A Christian message of radical love and God having our backs is really important right now,” she said.
So much so that the slogan “God’s got your back” will be emblazoned on the backs of the T-shirts the planning team is designing for Diocese of Massachusetts Pride marchers.
“To express the power of God’s love in a very incarnational way is just really authentic to who we are,” Crawford said.
Every Episcopalian is invited to consider joining a Pride celebration in some way. “Praise and joy are such an important countermeasure to despair, and if people out there have only heard of Christianity as a message of bad news, my hope is that our presence will be an example of joy and radical love and acceptance coming from a Christian perspective,” Crawford said.
Planning team volunteers have created publicity resources for congregations and groups to use in organizing their participation, and abundant Episcopal Church Pride resources are also available. Visit www.diomass.org/pride-2025 for links, sign-up and details.
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From the E-Crier of May 29, 2025. Subscribe to the weekly newsletter.