Friend:

Happy Pride Month! As a fierce defender of LGBTQ rights and equality from countless attacks from religious extremists, Americans United is honoring what is at the heart of LGTBQ Pride Month – the freedom to be who you are and love who you love.

Even though coronavirus restrictions may be preventing a full-blown return to the Pride Month celebrations of pre-COVID, there’s no escaping the feeling that normal life is slowly returning. In fact, this week the U.S. reported its lowest number of new coronavirus cases since the pandemic began.

In my June Church & State magazine column, I shared some of my reflections on the past 15 months of living through a global pandemic, and what that time taught me about church-state separation. I’ll share two big lessons with you here, but you can read my full column online, and, if you’re an AU member, look for it in your mailbox soon!

Opponents of church-state separation will take advantage of crises to assert religious privilege. Remember the coronavirus stimulus money, the Pay­check Protection Program, that directly funded clergy salaries and funneled billions of additional taxpayer dollars to private religious schools? Or how about the dozens of cases in which Americans United filed friend-of-the-court briefs because religious extremists were suing state and local governments to ask for a religious ex­emp­tion from public safety orders that temporarily restricted indoor gatherings?

Opponents of church-state separation are often opponents of science. The same folks who backed Trump to curry government favor for their religious beliefs also thwarted science repeatedly – with disregard for human life. They defied public safety orders and met during the most dangerous stages of the pandemic despite the many documented instances of massive virus spread from such gatherings. Now many refuse to be vaccinated.

As we carry on our mission to restore and protect church-state separation, I’ll be keeping these lessons in mind. But I’ll also be thinking of the rock-solid support that we had from you, our supporters. During a time of life-altering crisis, you were always right there with us to defend the foundational American principle of religious freedom. Thank you for being an indispensable partner in our movement.

With hope and gratitude,