Your Weekly Pride Source Digest
Week ending June 27, 2025
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Welcome to the first edition of your Pride Source: Substack Edition weekly digest! Each Friday, you'll receive a roundup of everything we've published on our Substack in the past week — or at least, that’s the plan. We welcome your input as an earlier subscriber to our community here.
In this digest, read about the content we’ve shared with the Substack universe: powerful personal essays, political coverage, community celebrations and more. Our goal is to bring together the stories that matter most to Michigan's LGBTQ+ community in a new way.
Marriage equality's fragile future
The man whose name became synonymous with marriage equality shares his concerns about the future of LGBTQ+ rights. Obergefell warns that the same Supreme Court that overturned Roe could target marriage equality next.
"It isn't a question of if a case to overturn marriage equality will make it to the Supreme Court, but when." — Jim Obergefell, 2024
Finally & Forever: Celebrating a Decade of Marriage Equality
Ten years after the Supreme Court's landmark Obergefell decision, we revisit Between The Lines' historic coverage from June, 2015. This digital time capsule captures the pure joy and euphoria that swept through Michigan's LGBTQ+ community when marriage equality became law.
"Forty-six years after the Stonewall Rebellion, almost to the day, marriage equality has finally become the law of the land." — from Between The Lines, 2015.
The Fight for Marriage Equality Is Far From Over. A New Book Honors the Long History That Made It Possible. (By Chris Azzopardi)
Jim Obergefell, Evan Wolfson and other marriage equality leaders discuss their new book "Love: The Heroic Story of Marriage Equality" and why understanding LGBTQ+ history matters more than ever.
"Young queer people need to know their heroes, they need to know their history. And that's what this project does." — Jim Obergefell
At the Altar of Equality: Michigan Religious Leaders Vow to Protect Same-Sex Marriage (By Bridgette M. Redman)
Michigan's affirming religious leaders speak out against renewed threats to marriage equality, sharing stories of couples like Kent and Diego Love-Ramirez who found sanctuary in faith communities that celebrated their love.
"Same-sex marriage has been the law of the land for more than a decade. The vast majority of Americans support it and I'm certainly not going to change any of our practices." — Bishop Bonnie A. Perry
LGBTQ+ advocacy and allyship
How to Be a Better Ally (Even If You're Already a Good One) (By Sarah Bricker Hunt)
Michigan LGBTQ+ leaders offer concrete strategies for moving beyond performative allyship to meaningful advocacy that creates real change year-round.
"What I feel that we need from allies is to show representation, but also, give my community opportunities." — Julisa Abad
'Don't Run Away': Garlin Gilchrist's Message to LGBTQ+ Allies as He Runs for Governor (By Sarah Bricker Hunt)
Michigan's lieutenant governor, now running for governor, reflects on 10 years of Pride attendance and his unwavering commitment to LGBTQ+ advocacy rooted in personal experience with his beloved Uncle Glen.
"Don't run away. Don't turn your back. Allies have to be allies on a consistent basis."
Personal perspectives and community voices
The Lasting Effects of Seeing a Pride Flag in the Classroom — By Elle Warren
A personal reflection on how simple symbols of acceptance could have changed a young person's experience of discovering their identity, and why visibility matters now more than ever.
"If I'm honest, I know that the mere visibility of non-heterosexuality would have been a game-changer for me."
We Are Currently Living Through the Absolute Worst 'Groundhog Day' Reboot (By D'Anne Witkowski)
From the Pride Source bi-weekly Creep of the Week column, D'Anne draws parallels between 2003 and 2025, finding hope in how far we've come while acknowledging how quickly rights can be threatened.
"It is easy to feel hopeless. I remember how hopeless I felt in 2003. I honestly didn't think I would ever be able to get legally married in my lifetime. I did not think things would get better.
But they did. Not in every way. But I was able to marry my wife, be put on her insurance when I had cancer and give our son two legal moms.
These are the things I remind myself of when I watch the country hurtling into a backwards time vortex. These are the things that I hold onto tightly to keep from being sucked into that hopeless past. It’s hard and my fingers hurt. But I’m trying my best."
Community celebration
Don't Miss Our Motor City Pride 2025 Video!
Catch all the action from Motor City Pride 2025, featuring videographer Logan Braun's documentation of the parade, Hart Plaza festivities and community celebration where love and affirmation took center stage.
Love and affirmation took center stage all weekend, as anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric took a backseat.
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