For Communities Ready to Do This Well
How communities can move beyond good intentions and become visible allies to the LGBTQ+ community.
Pride is more than a public celebration. It is rooted in protest, shaped by history, and carried forward by communities who have navigated exclusion, resistance, and resilience. For many LGBTQ+ people, Pride holds both joy and tenderness at the same time. It may be a celebration of identity and it may also carry the memory of religious harm.
When spiritual communities show up at Pride, they are communicating something. The question is: what?
This free five-part mini-course equips spiritual leaders, lay leaders, and volunteers to participate in Pride in ways that are informed, trauma-aware, visibly affirming, and aligned with their principles and values. This course centers formation, safety, and embodied allyship.
Across five concise modules, you will explore:
- How to build year-round practices of affirmation beyond June
- The layered meaning of Pride: celebration and resistance
- Common gaps in LGBTQ+ literacy among faith communities
- Why kindness alone does not automatically create safety
- Religious trauma and becoming a trauma-informed presence
- The difference between intention and impact
- Volunteer preparation and consent-based spiritual offerings
- Leadership visibility and what it communicates
This course is not about performing inclusion. It is about practicing it.
Whether your community is new to Pride participation or seeking to deepen its impact, this training will help to move from goodwill to grounded action in principle, From a one-or-two-day presence to creating sustained belonging.
Course Facilitators
Renee Snodgrass
Renee is a founding leader and former president of West Shore Pride. She brings both organizational expertise and lived experience to her work in LGBTQ+ advocacy, helping communities think thoughtfully about visibility, safety, and collaboration.
With a professional background in project management and higher education administration, Renee approaches Pride planning with clarity, structure, and a deep commitment to creating spaces where people feel genuinely welcome.
James Masters
James is a Licensed Unity Teacher and LGBTQ+ advocate committed to expanding safety and belonging within spiritual communities. He serves as the Program Coordinator for Folx with Faith, an LGBTQ+-centered initiative within the New Thought movement focused on affinity spaces, education, and leadership formation.
James previously served as Vice President of West Shore Pride, where he helped support community-centered Pride initiatives rooted in visibility, collaboration, and thoughtful engagement. He is also a board member of the Faith & Trauma Center and integrates trauma-informed ministry practices into his work with congregations navigating questions of gender, inclusion, and theological growth.
Through courses such as A New Thought on Gender and other resources, James helps leaders move from good intentions to grounded, embodied inclusion.
If you are ready to show up thoughtfully, responsibly, and consistently, this course will guide you there.
