How Pride Month sparks pride in our office

While waiting to speak with an administrator at Calvin College back in the 70s, I got sidelined into a tiny office. I never learned whose office it was, but I never forgot a little piece of paper tacked on its bulletin board. A child had scrawled in crayon: God don’t make no junk. What makes it more interesting is that different colors were used for each word, and that was before all the significance of rainbow these days. 

That crumpled little piece of paper sticks in my mind as we begin Pride Month. 

At a time when there are more unkind words spoken, more unpleasant thoughts expressed, more unreasonable and unfair rules and laws discussed and enacted, I’m proud to discuss Pride Month from the view of HUMANITY FOR PRISONERS. 

We deal with this on a daily basis. The HFP office probably gets around 100 requests for help per year from the lesbian-gay-transgender community behind bars. As of today, among our 10,000 clients we have about 80 transgender persons. 

According to The Washington Post about 1 in 3 transgender adults was 10 years old or younger when they began to understand that their gender was different from their sex assigned at birth. “Forty-five percent of them said they felt unsafe at school, the place where they spent most of their time and where acceptance or rejection can make a deep impression. The isolation and discrimination that many trans people experience can lead to depression, substance abuse, self-harm and suicide, experts say.” 

Just ask our team. People who identify as LGBTQ+ and are in prison often experience many additional challenges. There’s not only discrimination, but also a total lack of understanding and concern regarding their care, treatment and support needs. Besides that, LGBTQ people experience a higher prevalence of mental illness. And again, prison staff have little training in handling mentally challenged inmates. 

It breaks my heart watching major Christian denominations and major national politicians insist that if someone is not exactly like me, he or she must be ranked as a second-class citizen with fewer rights and more rules. 

It warms my heart to tell you how we approach things in the HFP office. When you call our office it makes no difference who you are (some are sons and daughters of prominent people; some have foreign names we cannot even pronounce!), what crime you have committed  (from wrongful conviction to murder!), what color your skin happens to be (our client list is a cross section of many colors, races and ethnic groups!), or what you believe (we serve Christians, Muslims, Buddhists, Wiccans, Atheists, Jews and perhaps more!). Moreover, topics like sexual orientation and gender identity do not even enter the picture!

I’m proud to say, in Pride Month, 2023, that in the HFP office, love, kindness and compassion win! Every day! 

It’s our position that all have been created in the image of God, and that God don’t make no junk!