Help ReconcilingWorks welcome a new Reconciling in Christ (RIC) community:   Hope Lutheran Church in Long Grove, Illinois. Their welcome statement reads: “Hope Lutheran Church is a place where everyone belongs. We believe all people are created in God’s image, and our differences make us stronger. Whoever you are, wherever you come from, and whatever your story […]

  LGBTQIA+ Icon Phyll Opoku-Gyimah (Human rights and LGBTQ+ activist) “We are not living in some ideal world where we all have the rights that we deserve. So pride is much more than just a celebration” “I would go back to my younger self at the age of nine or ten and I would say: […]

LGBTQIA+ Icon Beverley Palesa Ditsie (Musician, writer, filmmaker, and human rights activist) “What kind of intersectionality do you practice that does not see the oppression of others? I am not interested in a system of hierarchy. I am interested in a system where we are equal.” “No one has the authority, moral or otherwise to […]

ReconcilingWorks extends deep gratitude and joy for our partnerships through the Reconciling in Christ (RIC) program. Beginning in 1983, the holy work of this ministry now represents 13% of ELCA and 7% of ELCIC congregations, synods, and ministries. On Mondays through June we are celebrating all RIC Partners who became RIC in June. Below is […]

LGBTQIA+ Icon Arsham Parsi (LGBTQ+ activist) “I am very, very optimistic because I believe in people power. We have an expression in Farsi that you can do whatever you want if you just decide to. I have decided to bring change to Iran and decriminalize homosexuality. It will happen because homosexual rights, queer writes, are […]

LGBTQIA+ Icon Sameer Jha (Stanford student, LGBTQ+ activist, and author) “You don’t start out changing the world. You start out making small changes. Even within yourself. Educating yourself is already helping people around you. Small changes are important.”   June is Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Intersex, and Asexual (LGBTQIA+) month. This month is a […]

The June 2026 Newsletter is here! Choose how you'd like to read it by clicking on the PDF or the Flip Book. Read a PDF Read an online Flip Book Click on the three dots on the bottom right to access controls such as Full Screen.  

LGBTQIA+ Icon Alexya Salvador (Teacher and reverend) “As a pastor, I try to teach people that differences are not a threat, because people often believe that anything that is not in their own vocabulary, that is not part of their reality, should be seen as a threat and, therefore, combated.” “There’s nothing that binds Christ […]

ReconcilingWorks remembers the horrific tragedy at Pulse Nightclub and honor the 49 beloved lives stolen, the countless survivors, and all those whose hearts were forever changed by that night. Pulse was more than a nightclub. It was a sacred space of joy, belonging, celebration, and community—especially for LGBTQIA+ people, and deeply for the Latinx queer […]

Help ReconcilingWorks welcome a new Reconciling in Christ (RIC) community:   Dreams & Visions in Baltimore, Maryland. Their welcome statement reads: “Dreams and Visions is a spiritual sanctuary in Baltimore where Queer folks and committed supporters find hope and healing through creativity and community. We seek to pattern our lives after Jesus of Nazareth, the healer, […]

LGBTQIA+ Icon Audre Lorde, 1934-1992 (Writer, womanist, librarian, LGBTQ+ and civil rights activist) “It is not our differences that divide us. It is our inability to recognize, accept and celebrate those differences.” “There is no such thing as a single-issue struggle because we do not lead single-issue lives. Our struggles are particular, but we are […]

LGBTQIA+ Icon Larry Kramer (Playwright, author, film producer, public health advocate, and gay rights activist) “This is always history’s greatest failure, its inability to believe what it sees, what, almost always, someone sees.” “Being gay is a natural normal beautiful variation of being human. Period. End of subject. Therefore, any argument which says differently is […]