At the 2nd annual Fort Lauderdale Interfaith LGBTQ+ Pride Service on June 10, held in 2025 at Sunshine Cathedral and in 2026 at the United Church of Christ in Fort Lauderdale (formerly known as First Congregationalist), Bishops Durrell and Robert were among the featured speakers. Bishop Robert was the first speaker and his responsibility was to speak to why such gatherings are necessary. His remarks are as follows:
Why We Are Gathered …We are gathered because love has called us here.
We are gathered from different traditions, languages, stories, and experiences, yet we come with a shared longing: to make space for truth, for blessing, for healing, and for hope.
We come because every human life bears sacred worth, and because the work of honoring that worth is not finished.
In many faiths, there is a conviction that each person carries a spark of the holy and deserves to be seen with dignity and love. That conviction brings us together today. We must be reminded that each person is worthy of respect, love, and belonging.
We are gathered because Pride is both celebration and witness.
It is joy, but it is also remembrance.
We remember those who came before us, those who told the truth about themselves when it was dangerous, those who prayed, marched, sang, resisted, grieved, and kept going so that others might live more freely.
Interfaith Pride services often make room for that sacred remembering, honoring elders, ancestors, and advocates whose courage widened the circle of welcome. Here tonight, we are part of creating a remembrance as part of creating sacred space together.
We are gathered because faith can be a place of
refuge, not rejection;
a place of truth, not shame;
a place of courage, not fear.
When communities of faith gather during Pride Month, we testify that no one should have to choose between their spirit and their identity, between belonging and honesty, between safety and visibility.
We gather to say, with our presence as much as our words: you are welcome here, you are beloved here, and you do not stand alone.
We are gathered, too, because our gathering itself is a promise.
It promises that difference need not divide us.
It promises that many traditions can stand side by side in reverence and still speak a common language of compassion and justice.
Interfaith Pride worship has emphasized that people of many religions can be united in welcome, peace, and shared resistance to exclusion.
And we are gathered as a faith community in Pride Month as a reminder that celebration alone is not enough.
Our prayers must become practice.
Our songs must become solidarity.
Our blessings must become action.
To gather in this way — is to renew our commitment
to protect the vulnerable,
to tell the truth about harm,
to make room for joy, and to keep building communities where all people can live openly and flourish fully.
So why are we gathered?
We are gathered to bless and be blessed.
To remember and to rejoice.
To grieve what has been lost and to strengthen what must still be built.
To bear witness to the sacred dignity of LGBTQ+ lives.
To stand together across faiths and say that love is stronger than fear,
truth is stronger than silence, and community is stronger than exclusion.
We are gathered because this moment matters.
We are gathered because each person matters.
We are gathered because the Holy is present wherever people are seen, honored, and welcomed in the fullness of who they are.
And so, we gather—with gratitude, with humility, and with hope.
