Parishioners make offerings during a Pride Praise Ecumenical Worship Service at Saint Paul’s United Methodist Church in St. Albans on Sunday, June 7, 2026. Photo by Glenn Russell/VTDigger ST. ALBANS — An unassuming sign out front of St. Paul’s United Methodist Church told the history of th e building with a message that rang true for that day’s service.  “As the building has evolved, so has life within the church.”  In front of an altar decorated in rainbows and flashing lights, five pastors from churches of different denominations around Franklin County hosted a Sunday service on June 7 in honor of Pride month.  What started as a conversation between a local organizer and a Catholic reverend has become an annual tradition, bringing together Vermont’s LGBTQ+ community and churches of different denominations across Franklin County.  The June service gathered about 75 people, many of whom were older Vermonters and families with young kids. Pastors took turns giving sermons that preached inclusivity as a chorus of voices responded “amen.”  “God loves you without condition,” said Rev. Jessica Moore, pastor of the First Congregational Church of St. Albans just a couple doors down. The nave carried her voice as she offered a prayer of confession. “We have to own the unpleasant history of this church and how it’s treated our queer siblings,” Moore said  The church must do better, because it knows better, she said, and people must confess the ways they fall short. Then Moore offered what she said was a prayer of transformation that preached of God’s love for all creatures and for forgiveness for times people fall short of loving all creatures.  Those in the pews turned to each other and shook hands. “You are a beloved child of God,” they said to one another.  Scott Bushey is the president of St. Albans Pride Corps, an LGBTQ+ advocacy group. He has helped organize the service with the collection of nearby churches for the last three years, he said.  It started with Rev. Barb Fichter of the Catholic Apostolic Church, who was one of the Pride organization’s first volunteers, according to Bushey. Then Bushey met Pastor Preston Fuller, whose church hosted the service that Sunday, because Fuller sat on the city’s belonging, equity and inclusion committee. He continued to meet other pastors in town, who together proposed the idea of starting a church service to celebrate Pride.  “It’s a big deal because you don’t find that everywhere,” Bushey said, referring to the churches’ acceptance.  Bushey, who was originally born in St. Albans and raised Catholic, is now 50 years old and lives in Fairfax. He remembers a time when Franklin County wasn’t so accepting.  Growing up, Bushey said he always felt like an outsider. And when he came out as gay in his 20s, he didn’t feel accepted by people in town. He moved to Saranac Lake, New York, where he lived for about 12 years and felt more free to be himself, he said.  These days, Bushey describes Franklin County as “like swiss cheese,” with a lot of pockets of “the other” spread throughout, he explained, which makes it feel like home.  Although Bushey considers himself to be spiritual rather than religious, he thinks the annual services are an important part of welcoming the queer community in the county.  “Church and religion is the core base for a lot of communities,” Bushey said. And if you aren’t creating an inclusive community, you’re dividing it, he said. Read the story on VTDigger here: Pride in the pews: Franklin County churches celebrate LGBTQ+ community. ...read more read less