St. Louis Area Open & Affirming Congregations of the United Church of Christ

PrideFest 2018

It's that time of year again... Time to get ready for Pride! Gateway ONA churches will be volunteering at a booth, participating in the parade, and selling t-shirts!
​See below for how you can get involved.

PrideFest Booth
​Volunteer Sign-up

St. Louis 2018 PrideFest takes place 11am-7pm on Saturday June 23rd and 11am-6pm on Sunday June 24th, downtown at Soldiers Memorial Park. The Gateway ONA  Pridefest booth volunteer sign-up is live and online this year! We are using SignUp Genius, which is set up to send you a confirmation of your sign-up and reminders a couple days before the event.

We need seven regular volunteers and one clergy volunteer for each two hour shift Saturday and Sunday. Our Volunteer Coordinator will receive email notifications when there is activity on the sign-up. She will also email you details and additional information as it becomes available from the PrideFest organizers.
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If you need to change, edit, or delete your sign up, just go back into the site and make the change. Our coordinator cannot make changes for you!
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We can't wait to see you there!

PrideFest Parade

We are once again participating in the St. Louis Pride Parade, to be held downtown on Sunday, June 24. The parade steps off at noon, and participants are asked to arrive around 11am. This is our opportunity to share the message of God’s all-inclusive love, and our affirmation of the LGBTQ+ community. We make a bigger statement the more of us there are, so we hope you’ll plan to be a part of it! All ages are welcome!

To participate, please RSVP with Hannah Rice at First Congregational Church of St. Louis so we know to expect you, and so you can stay up-to-date on all the details. You can reach her at hrice@firstcongregational.org or 314-721-5060. As we move closer to the date, Hannah will send out updates about our staging area and time. You can also RSVP on our facebook event, where all details will be posted.

Once again we’ll have signs with each Open & Affirming church’s name to carry and display. This year we’re adding a wagon pulled by a tractor. We want those with limited mobility to be able to participate. The wagon has railings around it and there are stairs to help you get aboard. There are 15 seats available, so if you would like one, please register with Hannah.

​Rainbow Comma T-Shirts

This year Gateway ONA has moved t-shirt sales online! We have a RedBubble account where you can order the classic rainbow comma logo, or the UCC's new "3 Great Loves" rainbow comma logo. Standard shipping is 5-9 days, the products are delivered straight to your home, and the shirts will now be available year-round!

Classic Rainbow Comma

"3 Great Loves" Rainbow Comma

We are selling the shirts at cost, so Gateway ONA makes no profit on them. You pay only for your shirt and its shipping cost.

Due to limitations in Redbubble's interface, some of the shirt styles allow you to select white or grey background colors. We ask that you choose a "rainbow" color as the background color of your shirt. This is both so that the white writing on the shirt is readable, and so that we look colorful in the PrideFest parade.

Thank you, and please contact us if you have any questions or concerns.

Gateway ONA Resource line
​(314) 690 - 1435
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WE  ARE  UCC

The United Church of Christ (UCC) is a distinct and diverse community of Christians that come together as one church to join faith and action. We believe in a God that is still speaking, a God that is all-loving and inclusive.  We are a church that welcomes and accepts everyone as they are, where your mind is nourished as much as your soul.  Our faith is over 2,000 years old...our thinking is NOT.

WE  ARE  OPEN  &  AFFIRMING

To say that a UCC church is “Open and Affirming” means that it has publicly and specifically declared that those of all sexual orientations, gender identities, and gender expressions (LGBTQ) are welcome in its full life and ministry. ONA congregations offer a spirit of hospitality and show a willingness to live out that extravagant welcome in meaningful ways.

WE  ARE  GATEWAY

Gateway ONA is a coalition of LGBTQ Open & Affirming congregations of the United Church of Christ (UCC) in the St. Louis area.  We provide support to our member churches, run a resource hotline, host annual events to educate on LGBT issues and have a presence at PRIDE.