Touchstones in Our Stories - October is LGBT History Month and AllianceQ is honoring the past and building a more just future

Chalice Press President and Publisher Brad Lyons kindly said, “It’s a bit lengthier than usual, but…”

My “Acknowledgements” section in the 2022 devotional journal Colors of Hope is quite lengthy.

Imagine an awards show when a winner keeps rambling and the music starts playing over them. They continue to name important people, just faster; and the music gets louder until we’re relieved by a commercial break. What happens on stage? How long do they really get to ramble?

More importantly, who would you name in your ramblings? What people, groups, and places are touchstones in your journey?

Since its publication, I’ve joked about the long list that most never read. And I’ve intentionally referenced the Acknowledgements section in every interview or book study conversation. I use the Acknowledgements to invite readers and hearers to do their own reflection.

What people, groups, and places are touchstones in your journey?

I invite you to create your own “Acknowledgements” and to embrace the re-membering. Will you reach out to individuals who are living? Will you honor ancestors that have made way for you? Will you contribute financial resources or time to the group or organization that was formative in your becoming? Some groups/communities in my story were formative in my undoing and that is profound, too.

October is LGBT History Month and AllianceQ is honoring the past and building a more just future. We are inviting you to reflect on touchstones in your stories, and contribute to our movement.

Ways to re-member, celebrate and build with us:

Reflect on your stories. What people, groups, and places are touchstones in your journey?

Share one or some of your touchstones with us and/or through your social media. Perhaps this is a written reflection or a photo of the person or place. Use #AllianceQtouchstones if you post on your own.

Review some LGBTQ+ history and the history of AllianceQ. Keep reading. Scroll, scroll some more, and celebrate historical touchstones in our community.

Build up our movement by making a special contribution to the AllianceQ Touchstones