Shine Out Loud — How Prism Organizing Reaches Many Through a Welcoming Arch of Love, Patience, and Kindness

Red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet are the beautiful hues that grace the LGBTQ+ Pride flag we have come to know and proudly wave today. These very colors and what they represent become more visible through Prism Organizing, a multi-hyphenate community organization that aims to bring a platform to everyone. Lavender had the incredible opportunity to sit down with its founder, the Rev. Oby Ballinger, a Minnesota native who was inspired by the impact of community, unity and togetherness on his childhood.

Ballinger says that Prism intends to lead and love with arms open enough to embrace the many different identities, walks and demographics of diversity we as a human race have the opportunity to experience. Ministry has been the channel for Ballinger to practice love, and Prism the propeller to lead a movement that welcomes with warmth. A movement where all who gather are encouraged to lead with light, using light as a navigator in times that seem a bit dark.

But this light into the unknown welcomes curiosity, and this collaboration becomes a woven cloak of change through courage. Prism has donned this cloak via its listening sessions. These are opportunities for the community to come together to do check-ins and re-adjustments where necessary. The intention is to ensure everyone’s voice is being heard. With respect to any belief system, any sexual orientation, any preferred identity, your voice and thoughts matter.

Ballinger shared with us the origin of listening sessions: “These go back as far as the Civil Rights movement and earlier. They’ve been in practice in most community organizing spaces that I’ve been a part of over the last 25 years.”

When we take examples of history that work, we find that there are closer solutions to the chaos of everyday life.

“The idea is, gather the community together to become a student of the community,” Ballinger says. “To ask: ‘What does this community treasure and love?’ ‘What’s hard about being community in this time and place?’ ‘And, if we were to work on some things together, what might be on your wish list?’”

To be a student of the masses is true leadership, and where Prism is able to fully commit itself to bringing necessary resources to a “central location of community, allies and advocates.”

Prism’s call to service is observable through their mobilization of faith leaders to bring assurance and support to the LGBTQ+ community and accountability to policymakers. Change starts with those who know that a change is needed.

Community is about uniting and celebrating the beautiful diversity that comes in different variations. Different shouldn’t scare us; it should encourage us to be curious to ask those three questions Ballinger asks at listening sessions. It should lift us to a place where there is a connection so ethereal that healing happens. And finally, it should remind us that we are different with intention because there is a gift of wholeness waiting for us to embrace one another.

Prism has charged the LGBTQ+ community, faith leaders, non-practicing people and allies alike to be courageous enough to gather for something beyond ourselves, a blueprint for future generations to understand what it means to don this cloak of unity. To shine out loud: violet, indigo, blue, green, yellow, orange, red! There is a torch that has been burned, signifying the loud echoes of the many that gather in warmth. Hope is actioned with intention and voice.

Ballinger closed with this profound perspective: “Community helps people remember that they are not alone. To learn from them what matters. To learn their desire for a community that gathers.”

This was the perfect reminder that spaces like this matter, to remind people that they are wanted and assure they are heard. Prism’s goal is to continue to get information out about community gathering opportunities that go beyond annual Pride festivals and serve as a daily, maybe weekly, confirmation that you have a neighbor and a friend.

If you would like to learn more about what Prism has in store for the future, please visit their website, prismorganizing.org