2025 Pride Appeal

June 1, 2025

Dear Members and Friends of Dignity/New York,

The theme of this year’s NYC Pride celebration is Rise Up: Pride in Protest.  With all the legal and political threats that the LGBTQIA+ community is currently facing, this is certainly an appropriate theme.  Dignity/New York has its own proud history of protest, and we will stand with the entire LGBTQIA+ community in fighting to protect our hard-won rights and defending the most vulnerable among us, particularly transgender people.

In the Catholic community, we are experiencing a remarkable moment of challenge and change with the election of the first American-born pope.  Despite some disappointing early comments on the nature of marriage, we hope that Pope Leo XIV will continue with the more open and pastoral approach to LGBTQIA+ people taken by Pope Francis.  

As we do each year during this season of Pride, we are asking for your continued financial support.  The attached financial report shows our income and expenses over the first six months of the current fiscal year.  As you know, we count heavily on our Pride Appeal to help make up the difference between our weekly collections and our annual expenses.  This year, we are looking forward to the first DignityUSA national conference in three years, which several of our members will be attending.  With your help, we will be able to assist some of them with financial support.

We are sending out this year’s Pride Appeal by physical mail as well as email.  The Pride Appeal will also be posted on our website: www.dignityny.org  You may respond by sending a check to our mailbox (address below), by using the donate button on our website, or by online banking.

You may also use the reply form to renew your annual membership, which is a joint membership in Dignity/New York and DignityUSA.  The fee is $60 per individual, or $120 per couple.  However, membership is available to all regardless of financial ability, so please let us know if you would like to be a member but need financial assistance to do so.

Our annual Pride Liturgy and reception will be held on Saturday, June 28, at St. John’s, starting at a new time: 3:00 PM.  We hope this new time will allow our members and friends to participate in more of the other events of Pride weekend, including the Dyke March.  It should also allow us to enjoy a leisurely late afternoon picnic in the beautiful courtyard at St. John’s, weather permitting.

On Sunday, June 29, we will hold our annual Witness at St. Patrick’s Cathedral and take part in the NYC Pride March.  As always, we will have striking custom T-shirts for all participants in the Witness and March, designed for us by our own Daniel Velasquez.

We thank you in advance for your continuing support for our community, and all your many contributions of time, talent, and treasure.  We look forward to seeing you at our Pride activities and throughout the coming year at our regular Sunday night liturgies, both in person and virtually!

The Steering Committee of Dignity/New York

Chris Alberti, Robert Brande, Danny Larkin, James Osbourn, Lewis Speaks-Tanner, Jeff Stone

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You may contribute using a credit card by clicking on the “Donate” button at www.dignityusa.org and selecting Dignity New York. You may also mail a check made out to Dignity/New York to:

Dignity/New York, Inc.

PO Box 1554, FDR Station

New York, NY 10150-1554. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Financial Report

November 1st 2024 - May 1st 2025