Frank DeBernardo, executive director of New Ways Ministry -- an outreach ministry to LGBTQ Catholics -- writes on the New Ministry blog this morning about his experience of the inauguration yesterday.
Inauguration times are truly times of hope and joy. Yesterday, I was down on the National Mall in Washington, DC, to see President Barack Obama and Vice President Joseph Biden take the oaths of office once again.
The hope and joy in the crowd was palpable. Bursts of applause broke out after every few sentences during the President’s inaugural address. Perhaps no applause was greater (especially from me) especially when Obama uttered the following words:
“We, the people, declare today that the most evident of truths – that all of us are created equal – is the star that guides us still; just as it guided our forebears through Seneca Falls, and Selma, and Stonewall.”
I have been working in the field of Catholic LGBT ministry for over 20 years, and it dawned on me yesterday, that 20 years ago, even in my wildest dreams, I would never have guessed or even hoped that I would hear a reference to Stonewall in a presidential inaugural address. But, there it was: the first time ever that LGBT people or issues were mentioned in such a speech.
But it got better.
Read the full posting here: Imagining Hope.
