Quakers Celebrate LGBTQ+ Pride
Quakers celebrate LGBTQ+ Pride every day of the year. We love, support, and defend all gender expressions and sexual orientations in community.
If you'd like to march with us in NYC Pride on June 29, please RSVP here.
We are Quakers in NYC.
Quakers believe that there is something fundamentally worthy — “that of God” — in every person. That belief leads to beliefs in peace, love, acceptance, and radical action. If you value truth and integrity, tend to question authority, and believe in the power of community, you may find a spiritual home with Quakers.
A History of LGBTQI+ Acceptance and Inclusion
NYC Quakers cared for rioters during the Stonewall uprising in 1969 and have been participating in the NYC Pride March every year since its beginning. Quakers were the first religious group to march in Pride. Bayard Rustin, a gay civil rights activist who was an advisor to Martin Luther King, Jr., was an active member of the 15th Street Friends Meeting in Manhattan. In the 1990s Quakers founded the 50-bed Friends House in Rose Hill to serve people with HIV and AIDS. Morningside Meeting, the Quaker congregation that meets in the bell tower of Riverside Church, was one of the first congregations to marry a same sex couple — in 1987.
More recently, NYC Quakers united behind this statement defending transgender rights:
As Friends we embrace that of God and the Light in every person and respond with dismay to the current wave of legislation that seeks to demonize trans people and deprive them of life-giving treatment and their basic human rights. We urge our representatives and politicians to support legislation protecting the rights, safety, and human dignity of trans people.
Visiting a Quaker Meeting
You are welcome at the Quaker meetings in New York City — three in Manhattan and one each in Brooklyn, Flushing (Queens), and Staten Island — for mostly-silent, hour-long worship service at 11am on Sundays. During the silence, people do different things; for example they try to “center” themselves, pray to God, visualize peace, meditate, listen for the inner voice, etc. People who feel moved to do so rise and speak a message out of the silence. Quaker worship is a peaceful and moving experience, connecting with others on a deeper level. After about an hour we shake hands, share announcements, and gather for coffee, tea, and conversation.
More on Quaker meetings for worship
In a Quaker meeting for worship, everyone sits in a room where the benches or chairs face each other. This helps us hear each other and demonstrates we are all equals, all part of a shared community. A meeting is usually an hour long. You may enter the space at the start of the hour and take a seat wherever one is available. You can wear whatever you feel comfortable wearing. The silent, waiting worship begins as soon as the first person enters the room. A designated person may make an announcement or give a reading at the beginning of meeting. Otherwise, we sit together in silence to settle our minds and connect to something greater than ourselves. In the quiet we open our hearts to new insights and guidance. We listen for a message from our inner voice (AKA God, Spirit, love, the Light, Jesus, the divine, the eternal...). Occasionally someone is moved to share a message heard from that inner guide. If someone does feel divinely moved to speak, we listen and consider the message, and leave a space of silence afterward.
At the end of the hour, that designated person close the meeting for worship by shaking hands with their neighbor. Announcements, afterthoughts, and requests to be held in the Light (prayer requests) may follow. Many meetings offer a coffee/social hour after worship; feel free to grab some coffee, tea, or a light snack.
Most of the NYC meetings hold this kind of silent, unprogrammed worship. Manhattan Meeting holds a programmed worship service that's led by a pastor and incorporates readings, music, and spoken messages in addition to a period of silent worship.
Most of the Quaker meetings in NYC are unprogrammed, which means worship is mostly silent and not led by a pastor. “True silence is the rest of the mind,” William Penn, a famous early Quaker, wrote, “and is to the spirit what sleep is to the body, nourishment and refreshment.” The goal of this silence is to make ourselves more receptive to divine revelation. We sit together in silence so we can quiet our minds and connect to something greater than ourselves. In the quiet we open our hearts and lives to new insights and guidance. Sometimes we are moved to speak, to share what we have discovered. These pieces of vocal ministry are sometimes called "messages."
Quakerism has Christian roots, and many Quakers consider themselves Christians. Some do not. Quakers find meaning and value in the teachings of many faiths, and consider other religious beliefs as valid as our own. There are Jewish, Muslim, and Atheist Quakers. What unites us is the belief in the equality and divine essence in every person and the potential of every person to have a direct experience with the Divine/God/Jesus/Love/Spirit/Light.
Quaker Meetings in NYC
Most meetings for worship are 11:00 am on Sundays and can also be joined via Zoom; click the meeting name for more information.
Brooklyn Meeting is at 110 Schermerhorn St. & Boerum Place in downtown Brooklyn. It's an active meeting with 150-200 people attending 11am worship and announcements and a lively social hour afterward.
15th Street Meeting is east of Union Square in Manhattan, on the corner of Rutherford Place and 15th Street. A beautiful space that holds frequent peace- and justice-related events. Around 30-40 people attend worship.
Morningside Meeting meets on the 12th Floor of the bell tower of Riverside Church on the upper west side of Manhattan; enter at 81 Claremont Ave. Gorgeous views. Around 25-30 friendly people attend worship.
Flushing Meeting, built in 1694, is located at 137-16 Northern Boulevard, Queens. You can feel the centuries of history in this space. A dozen or so people come to worship. A People of Color Worship and Reflection Group meets there at 10 am on the second Sunday of the month.
Manhattan Meeting holds a pastor-led worship service at 9:30 a.m. in the 15 Rutherford Place building next to 15th Street Meeting in Manhattan. A few people attend in person, as does the pastor, with more people joining online.
Staten Island Meeting worships on 1st and 3rd Sundays each month. A small but enthusiastic group meets at the ETG Cafe, on the beach (!!), or online. Check their website for location.
