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Happy Black LGBTQ+ History Month!

As we begin this month together, I wanted to pause and speak a word of gratitude and encouragement. Black History Month is not only about remembering the past. It is about honoring a living legacy of courage, creativity, faith, and survival. It is about naming the people who carried us here and celebrating those who are shaping what comes next.

I want to give thanks for Black LGBTQ+ people in history who made space where there was none, and I also want to celebrate Black LGBTQ+ people making history right now. I am especially grateful for Black LGBTQ+ pastors, lay leaders, conference ministers, organizers, artists, worshippers, community members, and visionaries in the United Church of Christ and beyond. Your presence matters. Your leadership matters. Your courage continues to help people encounter a God who is loving, kind, compassionate, and affirming.

I want to encourage you, this month and beyond, to offer gratitude to these leaders. Send a note. Make a call. Thank them publicly (if that makes sense).  Speak their names out loud. Too often Black LGBTQ+ leaders are expected to carry heavy loads quietly. Your encouragement, appreciation, and public gratitude matter more than you know.

Yesterday, I was deeply moved watching Black and queer R&B singer Durand Bernarr accept his first Grammy Award. His words felt like a blessing for this moment and for this movement:

“To all independent artists out there and to every Butch Queen who was made to feel like you were too much, I am the proof that you needed and the sign that you have been waiting for,” he said. “Be yourself!”

That is the heart of the work of the Open and Affirming Coalition of churches and faith communities.

Our work is about helping create spaces where people on the margins, and their families, are affirmed, loved, encouraged, and supported in encountering a God who delights in who they are. This is why affirmation, gratitude, and encouragement are not extras. They are essential.  Thank you for your work!  

I also want to thank you for your patience and commitment with us as we continue to grow. Last year was a busy and deeply transitional year for the Coalition. We are now in the process of expanding our programs and our staff, and I am genuinely excited about what is ahead. We are preparing to move in new, bold, and powerful ways to support churches, leaders, and communities across the country.

As we step into this next chapter, I want to invite you to support this work financially if you are able. (Click here to Donate Now!) Your gift helps us build affirming spaces, resource leaders, expand our reach, and show up in moments when LGBTQ+ people, especially Black LGBTQ+ people, need faith communities to be clear, courageous, and loving. Every contribution matters, and your generosity makes this work possible.

Thank you for believing in this movement. Thank you for walking with us. And thank you, especially, to Black LGBTQ+ people whose lives, leadership, and joy continue to show us what is possible.

With gratitude and hope,

Rev. Derek A. Terry
Acting Executive Director
Open and Affirming Coalition of the United Church of Christ