Glide Memorial Church believes in the power of storytelling, so our exhibit begins with a storytelling conversation with Minister Marvin K. White, Janice Mirikitani and the Rev. Cecil Williams about how Glide became a space of welcome and witness with the LGBTQIA+ community. This conversation will connect you to the heart of this exhibit.
Beyond welcoming and affirming, Glide Church has centered the voices of LGBTQIA+ individuals through activism, organizing and in worship at Sunday Celebrations. This is a living exhibit with space to add more stories and multimedia. If you have stories you think should be added, please let us know at churchoffice@glide.org Your story, like the one shared on Pride Sunday in 1996, is worth listening to. The video below demonstrates this value as the Rev. Cecil Williams set aside the formalities of worship to support and uplift Larry, a member of the Glide Ensemble.
The groundbreaking actions and advocacy at Glide Church, that began in 1963, continue to be radical for contemporary faith communities. Glide’s work, in the past and the present, is intersectional work. In times when communities are pit against each other, with a false belief there is competition for limited resources, Glide continued to build bridges between race, culture, sex, gender, faith and secular life.
As you view the historical materials in this exhibit, please note the racism, sexism, transphobia and homophobia that resides in the ink, on the screen and lives in the stories. We have included trigger warnings for some of the content we think is the most likely to trigger individuals. Some may want to view the exhibit in pieces over time. Others may want to skip sections. We encourage you to take in what you can, hold on to the love and release the pain.
The next article may be triggering to some, it is included at the start of this exhibit so you can see the way printed stories about sexuality, gender identity and race were used to provoke, scandalize and insinuate that church is only for a select group. This article also falsely implies that Glide Church was seeking to help LGBTQ individuals become straight, as you will see throughout this exhibit, that was not Glide’s goal. Glide used articles like these, which may be consider bad press by some, to expand welcome and share unconditional love.
Courtesy of the GLBT Historical Society, Don Lucas Papers, Box 19, Mattachine Documents
No matter who you are or what you are going through, Glide Church is here for you. No matter how you identify or the names people have called you, Glide Church is here for you.
May this exhibit be an invitation for you to join us every Sunday from 9 – 11 am, in person or on our livestream.
May this exhibit be an invitation for you to share your story.
May this exhibit be a salve for some of your wounds.
May this exhibit bring you hope and unconditional love.
If this exhibit has inspired you to learn more about Glide Pride, you can connect here.