June 20, 2024

Living authentically can be terrifying. Chicago Theological Seminary and University Church in Chicago’s Hyde Park provided more than the liturgical and theological grounding to become an ordained United Church of Christ minister. 

They both enabled this gay biracial man to fully embrace my Blackness and queerness. Love and support from my chosen family in both sacred spaces gave me the courage to have PRIDE. The Rev. Benjamin Ledell Bragg-Reynolds, People’s Congregational United Church of Christ interim minister, served as a role model—even if he was unaware. 

His ministry and witness helped give me the courage to be fully Black and gay. God gave me the courage to risk losing the love of the white great-grandmother who raised me—Lucille Mae Denniston Wilson Harrington. 

By God’s grace and Grandma’s obstinance, she kept loving me after coming out to her twice. (She was descending into Alzheimer’s.) Grandma eventually forgot who I was, but never forgot I was fabulous and that she loved me for me. Her love and devotion gave me the courage to have pride.

Unlike my childhood church, which outed me, she never forsook me. Her love and commitment to making everyone feel loved, and my church trauma pushed me to answer God’s second call to ministry in the United Church of Christ. 

Ensuring Black and LGBTQIA+ people, who’ve been dehumanized and demoralized by society in many ways, are heard, loved, and seen is one goal. Giving Black LGBTQIA+ people and other LGBTQIA+ people the courage to have pride—through my example—is another goal.

My ultimate goal is to help create a world where all of God’s fabulous creations are heard, seen, loved, and valued. I dream that one day, this world will sing in perfect harmony, and everyone will live in peace and dignity.