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Affirming faith communities join Pride Month celebrations across Washington to heal historic wounds
From Spokane to Seattle, religious groups are showing up for LGBTQ+ communities this June — and for some, it’s deeply personal.
By Emma Maple | FāVS News Reporter
Main Points
Many affirming religious communities across Washington will be celebrating the existence of LGBTQ+ people this June, a move that, in some cases, aims to heal historic wounds caused by people of faith.
Matthew Danielson, executive director of Spokane Pride, said the best way to “combat Christian nationalism” is to bring “the open and affirming Christians under the fold of Pride.”
For Spokane Pride, that is done intentionally by outreaching to and including organizations of faith in events during Pride Month.
‘A big portion of healing for me’
The interweaving of faith and clear support for LGBTQ+ people is personally important for Danielson, a gay Christian, and Spokane Pride’s President Jacob Schwartz.
Growing up gay in a conservative area with a non-affirming church, Schwartz said he struggled to align his faith with his LGBTQ+ identity.
Learning to live with his faith and identity in coexistence was “a big portion of healing for me,” he said.
“Getting to provide that opportunity for others, however it ends up shaking out, has become very important to me,” he added.
Spokane Pride is supported financially by religious institutions, and its largest single donor in 2025 was the Episcopal Diocese of Spokane, according to Schwartz.
This year Spokane Pride will host a celebration that includes a Pride Parade and vendor booths.
Faith groups that will be officially represented in the events include Episcopalians, Catholics, Unitarians, Presbyterians, Protestants, Jews and Buddhists according to Danielson.
The Faith Action Network, a multifaith statewide advocacy organization that fights for social justice, will participate in Pride events across the state according to Executive Director Joyce del Rosario.
Pride politics in Wenatchee
It will table at the Spokane Pride parade and will be present for Wenatchee Pride’s parade and events, del Rosario said.
Pride Month in Wenatchee has recently made headlines after the city planned to fly “family month” flags backed by the conservative organization Turning Point USA, rather than the traditional Pride banners noting a celebration of diversity. The city did later declare June 2026 as Pride Month, which it had done at least twice in previous years.
Del Rosario said being involved in Pride is “the common good.”
“We care about all of those of us who are marginalized and oppressed in various ways,” she said. “We want to see all people thrive.”
The Northwest Washington Synod, a regional governing body of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, will also participate in Pride events by bringing up to 200 people to march in the Seattle Pride parade.
“We are proud to be a ‘Reconciling in Christ’ synod,” the organization wrote in a statement, referring to the Lutheran term for a regional group that has publicly declared itself affirming.
Religious institutions have marched in the Seattle Pride parade, and the First United Methodist Church of Seattle traditionally provides Communion at the end of the Pride parade for anyone who wants it.
Some religious institutions are hosting their own Pride events, including the community Pride Shabbat hosted by Temple Beth Am in Seattle and the interfaith pride service held at St. John’s Cathedral in Spokane.
Seattle-based Beloved Arise, a national organization dedicated to mentoring LGBTQ+ youth of faith, has also declared June 30 to be the annual “Queer Youth of Faith Day.”
“It honors and uplifts LGBTQ+ youth who hold faith as a meaningful part of their identity,” the organization wrote in a statement.
Although some religious institutions have transitioned to affirming policies, not all have, especially among conservative communities.
Anti-LGBTQ+ demonstrators preaching about the sin of a LGBTQ+ lifestyle, and declaring that lifestyle destined to send people to hell, are a common fixture at Pride Month events.
Danielson, the executive director of Spokane Pride, said religious institutions can in some ways make “reparations” for the history of conflict between LGBTQ+ people and religious institutions by participating in Pride events.
The goal of including religious institutions in Pride is not to convert anyone, Danielson said.
“A lot of folks within the queer community have gone through a lot of trauma because of religious institutions,” he said. “Hopefully, seeing religious institutions involved in Pride can “give people that moment of pause, and hopefully a moment of safety.”
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