A cause for celebration during Pride Month

I posted this image elsewhere last night --- just because it made me happy in a time of general turmoil. And it still makes me happy, so here it is again.

The photo was taken Saturday after the ordination and consecration at Christ Church Cathedral in St. Louis of the Rt. Rev. Deon K. Johnson as the 11th bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Missouri. He's shown here with his mother, his husband (Jhovanny Osorio), and one of their two children.

The Diocese of Missouri, founded in 1814, currently incorporates 54 counties that form the eastern half of Missouri. The Diocese of Western Missouri, which covers the balance of the state, was created in 1889 when the impracticality of administering a very large state from St. Louis became obvious.

Bishop Johnson is a native of Barbados who studied at the General Theological Seminary in New York City and served congregations in Ohio and Michigan before accepting the call to serve as bishop in Missouri.

Although neither the first black bishop nor the first gay bishop in the Episcopal Church, he is the first "combination" --- and that's a cause for celebration during Pride Month.