The Pastor’s Pen – June 2025
June is Pride month, originally designated as a commemoration of the 1969 Stonewall Uprising. To honor this event, we recognize and celebrate the impact of LGBTQ+ individuals locally, nationally, and internationally and commit to ever-greater activism for LGBTQ+ rights.
PacificUU’s social justice team is working on the process of renewing our Welcoming Congregation status, led by one of our new members, Jackie Geist. You can read about this process at this link, and please reach out if you’d like to be involved.
In conjunction with our Welcoming Renewal and Pride month, there are numerous opportunities to participate in Pride events and activities. We will post flyers listing events on campus and share them in the newsletter.
Specific PacificUU events include:
- Be the “I” in Pride Banner Photo Wall in the Pacific Unitarian Universalist Church breezeway, all month. We will have a banner hung in the breezeway and we encourage you to take a selfie and post it to recognize #Pacific UnitarianPride, #PacificUUPride!
- PacificUU Pride Picnic, 12-2 PM, June 17th, South Coast Botanic Gardens.
- PacificUU LGQBTQ+/Allies Coffee Meetup, 10:30 AM to 12 PM, June 25, Gumtree Cafe, Hermosa Beach
- PacificUU Pride worship service. On June 29th, our worship theme will be a celebration of LGBTQ+ Pride.
In addition, here are just a few of the community pride events where I’d love to see PacificUU members. You can find dates/times/locations of these and others in the flyer in this newsletter and posted on campus.
- Local Pride events including Hermosa Beach and San Pedro Pride
- Downtown Torrance Pride is especially important this year – see flyer further down in this newsletter. Due to the resistance of the city of Torrance to Pride, this event is all volunteer led and planned!
- South Bay LGBQT+ Pride Center Pride Paddle and Lunch. The only Pride celebration on the water (that I know of)!
With gratitude for your continued love for PacificUU,
Pastor Joshua
