Press Release
May 20, 2025
Eastern Sierra United Methodist Church Celebrates Pride Month
Get ready to celebrate! What better time to embody the Eastern Sierra United Methodist Church (UMC) slogan — Open hearts. Open minds. Open doors – than Pride Month in June? Pride is a time to celebrate the diversity of God’s creation and a chance to affirm our LGBTQ+ family, friends, and neighbors and their right to live openly and authentically. While progress has been made, LGBTQ+ people still face discrimination and violence in many parts of the world. The Eastern Sierra UMC advocates for LGBTQ+ equality and stands in solidarity with those who are still fighting for their rights. Just as Pride festivities provide a space for LGBTQ+ people to feel safe, supported, and celebrated, our church seeks to create a safe, welcoming, and affirming space that supports and celebrates the LGBTQ+ community.
Eastern Sierra UMC invites local LGBTQ+ folks and allies, regardless of faith, to celebrate Pride Month with a special Sunday service, two movie nights, and a vendor table at the 4th Annual Eastern Sierra Pride Festival marketplace.
Kate Hunter, Pastor of Eastern Sierra UMC, acknowledges that many LGBTQ+ people have been traumatized by past church experiences that made them feel excluded, noting. “In so many cases, faith communities describe queer uniqueness as a sign of brokenness, leaving LGBTQ+ people of faith at odds within themselves. The reality is that God created all of us with tremendous diversity and beauty. We should celebrate that. The image of God is in everyone and all are welcome here.”
Pride Month celebrations kick off with a special Pride Sunday service on June 1 at 9:30am at the UMC in Bishop at 205 N. Fowler Street. Pride Sunday is a celebration of the image of God in everyone and the diversity of humanity. There is no better way to celebrate the fact that we were created in the image of the Divine than by being unapologetically ourselves and becoming the people God called us to be: authentic, whole, complex, and made to love. On Pride Sunday, we cry out for justice and rejoice in the beauty of our embodied selves. We remember the suffering of those who came before us and imagine new ways of loving ourselves and our neighbors.
On Thursday, June 5, the community is invited to Eastern Sierra UMC’s monthly movie night, The 3rd Space – Movie Club, at 6:30pm in the church fellowship hall at 205 N. Fowler Street. Monthly movie night is a free and sober event, open to all. The 3rd Space will be screening the 1997 comedic farce, The Birdcage. The film revolves around the owners of a colorful Floridan drag nightclub, Armand (Robin Williams) and Albert Goldman (Nathan Lane), whose son wishes to marry the daughter of right-wing Senator Kevin Keeley (Gene Hackman). Armand and Albert devise a plan to welcome the unknowing conservative family into their South Beach home for an evening of innuendo, irony, and hilarity.”
Eastern Sierra UMC will be at the Eastern Sierra Pride Festival Open Market on June from 10:00am to 6:00pm. Come by our table and say hello. The festival will be at Canyon Lodge, Mammoth Mountain, in Mammoth Lakes June 7 and 8. Visit www.easternsierrapride.org for more details.
Eastern Sierra UMC’s final Pride Month event will ask “What if the word ‘homosexual’ was never meant to be in the Bible?” Join us the fellowship hall at 205 N. Fowler Street on Saturday, June 21 at 6:30pm for a free screening of 1946: The Mistranslation That Shifted Culture (www.1946themovie.com). 1946 is a challenging and enlightening feature documentary that follows the story of tireless researchers who trace the origins of the anti-gay movement among Christians to a grave mistranslation of the Bible in 1946.
“We are a group of people, all at different places on our spiritual journey, gathering together to learn, question, and walk in the footsteps of Christ, says Kate Hunter. “Here questions are encouraged, burdens are shared, and there is always enough food to go around. You are welcome here.”
For more information, please contact The Eastern Sierra UMC at 760-872-7701, [email protected], or visit www.esierraumc.org.
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