Get ready for next year by planning ahead to recognize important holidays and events in LGBTQ communities. You can work with the leadership of your community of faith to incorporate these into worship, educational programs, outreach events, and more. Select which holidays, events, and commemorations are most applicable to your situation and make plans accordingly.
Some of the events you might want to consider adding to your calendar include:
- Your local Pride celebration;
- History and awareness days and months, such as:
- Black History Month (February), Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month (May), Latinx History Month (Sept. 15-Oct.15), and Native American Heritage Month (Nov)
- Days that highlight specific parts of the community, such as asexuals and bisexuals.
- Transgender Day of Remembrance (Nov. 20) and Transgender Day of Visibility (May 31)
- HIV/AIDS Awareness days, FaithAIDS Day, and World AIDS Day (Dec 1)
Here are a few places to get started:
- Check with your state or local community organizations, such as a community center, LGBTQ oriented newspapers or magazine, and statewide equality groups to find out the dates of specific events in your community.
- QSpirit, a blog dedicated to queer spirituality, offers this list of sacred dates. This includes suggestions for “queering” different religious holidays.
- Wikipedia has a list of LGBT awareness dates.
- You can find a listing of international Pride celebrations.