Bishop Budde hopes Pride Month can be 'antidote' to 'unnecessarily hurtful' rhetoric [View all]
Source: The Hill
06/09/25 4:11 PM ET
Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde, who asked that President Trump “have mercy” on LGBTQ children and immigrants during a prayer service he attended in January, says she hopes Pride Month celebrations this year help LGBTQ people heal from months of amped-up speech and policies targeting their identities.
“I pray that it is a really joyful, inspiring gathering where people feel safe, where they feel seen, where they feel supported, where they can laugh and learn,” Budde said about Pride in an interview with USA Today published Monday. “Maybe it is a good antidote to some of the meaner rhetoric that has been unnecessarily hurtful. And just be a balm for people. We all need that.”
Budde, the Episcopal leader for the Washington area, made national headlines when she used a prayer service following Trump’s inauguration to make a direct plea to the president — who sat in the first pew of the National Cathedral with first lady Melania Trump, Vice President JD Vance and second lady Usha Vance — on behalf of “people in our country who are scared now.”
“There are gay, lesbian and transgender children in Democratic, Republican and independent families, some who fear for their lives,” Budde said during the service. She said most immigrants, even those without proper documentation, were good neighbors, and the vast majority are “not criminals.” She told ABC’s “The View” in the days following her sermon that she would welcome a one-on-one conversation with Trump but would not apologize, as he demanded in a lengthy post on Truth Social. “I am not going to apologize for asking for mercy for others,” Budde said.
Read more: https://thehill.com/homenews/lgbtq/5340912-bishop-budde-pride-month-trump/
As FYI - this is Bishop Budde.
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