About this episode

Sara Cunningham discusses her journey from a Christian mom to the founder of Free Mom Hugs and the impact of her advocacy for the LGBTQIA+ community.

Description: It's Pride Month, and we couldn't think of a better time to bring back one of our most beloved episodes. Sara Cunningham — founder of Free Mom Hugs — first joined Jen back in 2018, when she was a Christian mom from Oklahoma City who had just started showing up at Pride parades with a handmade sign and a button. A lot has happened since then. What began as one mom extending her arms to strangers has grown into a global movement. Free Mom Hugs now trains advocates, lobbies legislatures, and shows up year after year for LGBTQIA+ people whose own families walked away. Sara hasn't just built an organization — she's built a lifeline. In this conversation, Sara and Jen revisit the journey that started it all: how Sara moved from the church to the Pride parade without losing her faith, what it meant for her son Parker to come out into a family still finding its footing, and how the stories of people who had lost everything — their families, their churches, their sense of belonging — fell into her arms and changed the course of her life. They also talk about what it takes to turn personal pain into structural change, and why showing up — physically, politically, and…

People in this episode

Host: Jen Hatmaker

Guest: Sara Cunningham

Topics covered

• Pride Month
• LGBTQIA+ advocacy
• family acceptance
• faith and identity
• personal transformation

Keywords

• Pride
• Free Mom Hugs
• LGBTQIA+
• advocacy
• faith
• family
• acceptance

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Free Mom Hugs

Places: Oklahoma City, LGBTQIA+

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