Michigan Bishop Bonnie Perry will celebrate the second full weekend of Pride Month with Anglicans in Dublin, Ireland, beginning with preaching at the fifth annual livestreamed Pride worship service at Christ Church Cathedral on June 13.
Perry, a lesbian, told Episcopal News Service in a phone interview that she’s still “in awe” at having been invited to lead Pride Month programming at Christ Church Cathedral.
“In 2006, when I was the first out lesbian on a ballot in the Diocese of California, the archbishop of Canterbury spoke out against my candidacy,” said Perry, who’s been bishop of Michigan since 2020. “I came in dead last in that election for a number of reasons, but one of the reasons was the overwhelming sense that the Anglican Communion did not want another LGBT person in the office of the bishop after [former New Hampshire Bishop] Gene Robinson.
“If someone had told me nearly 20 years later that I would be flying out to Ireland to preach at their pride service as the bishop of Michigan, I would have been amazed.”
LGBTQ+ issues have always been a significant part of Perry’s ministry. In 2007, she co-founded and became a co-convenor of the Chicago Consultation, a network of Anglican theologians, clergy, community leaders and activists who work for full inclusion of LGBTQ+ people in The Episcopal Church and in the wider Anglican Communion.
The consultation was involved with passing resolutions at General Convention in 2009 and 2012, including the affirmation of opening all orders of ministry to LGBTQ+ people, eliminating canonical discrimination against transgender people and providing The Episcopal Church with a liturgy for blessing same-sex marriages. Today, most of the Chicago Consultation’s work is concentrated in sub-Saharan Africa.
In 2023, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer appointed Perry one of 13 commissioners for the state’s LGBTQ+ Commission.
Ireland became the world’s first country to legalize same-sex marriage through a popular vote in 2015. However, the Church of Ireland, a member of the Anglican Communion, doesn’t permit same-sex marriage.
Christ Church Cathedral has been hosting its annual Pride Service since 2021. It’s organized by Changing Attitude Ireland, a Church of Ireland-based organization that seeks to promote love, understanding and justice for LGBTQ+ people from both within and outside the church.
“I am delighted with the raising of the profile of the service this year when, on Friday 13 June we will welcome Bishop Bonnie Perry of the diocese of Michigan to preach at the annual service in the cathedral. Bonnie is a leading voice in promoting LGBTQ+ issues in The Episcopal Church,” the Very Rev. Dermot Dunne, dean of Christ Church Cathedral, told ENS in an email. “I am very happy to represent the community of the cathedral in its support for the LGBTQ+ community and to identify publicly with all the issues facing that community in these troubled times.”
This year’s Pride Month is taking place as hate crimes targeting LGBTQ+ people continue to increase worldwide. Between Oct. 1, 2023, and Sept. 30, 2024, 350 known transgender people worldwide were murdered, though the number may be much higher, according to data compiled by the Trans Murder Monitoring Project, an initiative of Transgender Europe, a Berlin, Germany-based nongovernmental organization.
Globally, LGBTQ+ people are also at risk of suffering from mental health issues because of discrimination, homophobia or transphobia, social isolation, rejection, negative experiences of coming out or being afraid to come out. Many LGBTQ+ people have also been denied or received unequal health care treatment, according to the Mental Health Foundation, a United Kingdom-based organization committed to addressing mental health issues through education and advocacy programs.
After the Pride service concludes, the cathedral will host a reception and celebration honoring Belong To – LGBTQ+ Youth Ireland, the country’s national organization supporting young LGBTQ+ people. During the reception, Dunne will present a €3,000 check to Belong To.
On June 14, Perry will lead a workshop on The Episcopal Church’s decades-long journey toward LGBTQ+ equality and inclusion. She also will discuss community organizing for the Church of Ireland, addressing how to best connect with people of different perspectives when engaging in discussions of same-sex marriage and other LGBTQ+ issues.
On June 15, Perry will preach at Christ Church Cathedral’s livestreamed Trinity Sunday worship service. Matthew “Matty” Zaradich, a former parishioner of Perry’s when she was rector of All Saints’ Episcopal Church in Chicago, Illinois, now lives in Dublin and is planning the cathedral’s Pride service. He told ENS that having Perry preach during the service this year “is an absolute joy.”
“Bringing [Perry] to my new home in Dublin for our Pride Service at Christ Church is profoundly meaningful,” Zaradich said in an email. “What I learned from Bonnie then still grounds me now: where there is love, there is holiness; and where there is holiness, there is God. Her preaching will be a gift to our community, and I know it will leave an indelible impact.”
Perry said this will be her first time visiting Ireland, and she’s “super excited” to be there with her wife, the Rev. Susan Harlow, a pastor in the United Church of Christ.
“Christ Church Cathedral is graciously welcoming to people who are LGBTQ+, and I am happy to be a part of it,” Perry said. “It’s truly an honor.”