This Pride story begins one evening in 2008 around the dinner table. Our older daughter, Claire, then a high school senior, said she had something important to tell us. And then she came out as a lesbian.

To say I was surprised is an understatement. I asked her if she was sure. Her sister, Margaret, said “Look at her, Mom. She has tears in her eyes. Of course she’s sure.”

My husband, Bill, and I were so proud of our daughters at that moment — Claire for having the courage to open up and share something so important, and Margaret for having the compassion and understanding to offer immediate support. Our girls grew up at the UU Church of Arlington; we know the Our Whole Lives sexuality education program contributed greatly to that courage and understanding.

Bill and I found great support at UUCA from parents who openly support their gay, lesbian, and transgender kids.  And — that’s what brought us to our first Capital Pride Parade. Gerda and Allen Keiswetter at UUCA had long been involved with Metro DC PFLAG, and when Pride rolled around that year, there they were offering encouragement.

We had never been to the Pride Parade (and in fact I’m kind of crowd-averse, and a little bit shy), but we knew we could walk with Gerda and Allen, so we decided to give it a try.  We hand wrote a sign “Of Course We Love Our Daughters” (we couldn’t leave out Margaret), Claire donned her “Nobody Knows I’m A Lesbian” t-shirt, and we set out into the crowds, music, costumes, beads, and condoms.

We weren’t prepared.  We weren’t prepared for the tears in people’s eyes as the PFLAG contingent passed by. We weren’t prepared to feel the deep pain in the LGBTQ community from lack of acceptance from family and faith communities. We weren’t prepared to be cheered simply for loving our children.  We weren’t prepared to feel so out, and so proud, and so public.

Walking with Metro DC PFLAG in that 2009 Pride Parade taught us about the about the power of presence — and about the power of standing, publicly, on the side of love.

Standing on the side of love — perhaps you’ve heard that phrase before? Inside our UU congregations, we know that affirming the inherent worth and dignity of every person is a bedrock principle. But outside our congregations, how will people know this if we don’t show them with our presence?  How will people find their way to our welcoming congregations if we aren’t there to guide them?

And so we are called, as Unitarian Universalists of all ages, to show up at the Capital Pride Parade again (and again…) to stand before the world and publicly affirm the inherent worth and dignity of every person.  We show up in congregational t-shirts, in rainbow kneesocks, in feather boas; we show up in strollers and with canes; we show up in hats, slathered with sunblock or wearing raincoats; we show up in love.

As we cheer and wave and high-five our way along the parade route know that it is more than a parade — this is standing on the side of love, and this is a powerful witness.

So I invite you: join the Parade, spread the good news of our welcoming faith — and have fun!