“The PC(USA) has come a long way but still has a long way to go to be a leader in prophetic love and celebration of all in the Queer community,” says Courtney Hoekstra, Associate for Advocacy Committee Support in the Presbyterian Mission Agency. “As Queer folx, we bring something powerful and essential to the table when we’re able to live into our truest and best selves. 

LEXINGTON, Kentucky — On Wednesday, Aug. 25, the Presbyterian Week of Action will turn its attention to the LGBTQIA+ community with events including a children’s story time and a poetry and story slam.

“I hope that people will understand that the LGBTQIA+ community is just that: a community,” says the Rev. Ashley DeTar Birt, a member of the planning team for the day. “It’s a community filled with a variety of different people, different voices, different perspectives, all united in the fact that we’re all created in the image of God. We are all blessed with the same saving grace of Christ. We are all connected through the same Holy Spirit flowing through every one of us.”

The Second Annual Presbyterian Week of Action, Aug. 23-29, is designed to bring attention and action to people and communities living under different forms of oppression, a response to the PC(USA)’s Matthew 25 invitation and Hands & Feet initiative. It is seven days with online  events each day designed to illuminate the issues the focus group for the day face.

“The PC(USA) has come a long way but still has a long way to go to be a leader in prophetic love and celebration of all in the Queer community,” says Courtney Hoekstra, Associate for Advocacy Committee Support in the Presbyterian Mission Agency. “As Queer folx, we bring something powerful and essential to the table when we’re able to live into our truest and best selves. This day is a small step in the direction of the PC(USA) acknowledging just that.”

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