Paint Branch Unitarian Universalist Church in Action! 2024 Capital Pride March

Paint Branch Unitarian Universalist Church ~ Diversity Anti-Racism Transformation Team

Written by Eric Eldritch and Margaret McLellan who organized the PBUUC members participating in 2024 Capital Pride

Celebrating LGBTQ+ Pride in the nation’s capital always comes with an enormous slate of events. This year an interesting trifecta aligned back-to-back: Saturday, Pride Parade Pride, Sunday, Pride Festival and Monday: Pride Interfaith Service.

he 2024 Pride Parade This spring, 11 Unitarian Universalist congregations registered a contingent of over 100 marchers for Pride and the crowd was estimated at over 500,000 attendees. The energy and collaboration was truly amazing! After six months of planning emails, texts and Zoom meetings, congregational representatives finally got to meet each other, in person, in the parade staging area! Though the start of the Pride Parade, was greatly delayed for security checks, it offered marchers a great chance for UUs to chat and connect and build greater community

Meaningful Connections: Reflecting on the day, Eric Eldritch said “I finally meet Breanna Williams in person, an amazing leader who called us together. She and I connected around similar experiences of working in federal libraries, organizing community events, coming to UU later in life and recently serving on successful Ministerial Search Committees for our congregations.” Breanna said “I joined Davies in 2017, and now serve as Vice President of the congregation. I was excited to put out a call for participation and I was equally excited at the response from so many local congregations!”

Paint Branch Co-sponsored the UU Pride Parade DARTT funded the production of 30 double-sided posters that marchers carried in the parade. DARTT wisely advised that the poster material be durable, the messaging be evergreen, and signage housed to be reusable. The result is that the banner and the posters are now available as a “Pride Kit” for any local Welcoming Congregation to use in events that promote UU values, pride, equality and/or social justice. Kristine Ouedraogo, President of Davies and Eric Eldritch of Paint Branch collected input from the committee and teamed up to create the large UU banner and 30 handheld posters. Kristine served as the Canva-Whisper for the digital artwork, and Eldritch served as the McGuyver for the handles and housing. Margaret McLellan served as the Shepherd of Paint Branch to call and guide Paint Branch marchers from the Greenbelt metro and down through the parade site maze.

Paint Branch at the Pride Festival: On Sunday, Capital Pride offered hundreds booths for thousands of attendees. Eric Eldritch did community outreach at the booths. Rob Boston tabled at the booth for Americans United for Separation of Church and State. See their article: Proud to Be At Pride https://www.au.org/the-latest/articles/au-pride24-separation/

Pride Interfaith Service: Foundry United Methodist Church hosted (Monday 6/10, 7pm) the service. Rev. Ebony Contreras and Eldritch both served asplanners and presenters who helped develop and deliver the 2024 service theme: Our Origins. Our Present. Our Future. Totally Radical!