In this episode of Christian Mythbusters, Father Jared tries to break the myth that PRIDE month and the church cannot go together. You can hear Christian Mythbusters in the Grand Haven area on 92.1 WGHN, on Wednesdays at 10:30 am and Sundays at 8:50 am. You can also subscribe to the podcast on Apple here.

The transcript of the episode is below, or you can listen to the audio at the bottom of the post.

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This is Father Jared Cramer from St. John’s Episcopal Church in Grand Haven, Michigan, here with today’s edition of Christian Mythbusters, a regular segment I offer to counter some common misconceptions about the Christian faith. 

Happy Pride Month! I’m enjoying seeing all the rainbows and messages of support all over social media as we celebrate PRIDE and raise up our LGBTQ siblings and their ongoing fight for equality and justice in the world and the church.

I know in our area there probably aren’t many churches that are planning on celebrating PRIDE and so I thought this might be a good week to break the myth that PRIDE month and the church cannot go together.

First, a little background on the onth. In the 1960s, homosexual acts were illegal in nearly every state of our country with the exception of Illinois. If you were a restaurant and had openly gay employees or served openly gay customers, you ran the risk of being shut down. Because of this, most gay bars were operated by organized crime, which (on one side) paid police to look the other way and (on the other side) blackmailed wealthy customers. It was even a crime in New York City to dress as a member of the opposite sex. 

When it came to the Stonewall Inn, the payouts had stopped, most people think, triggering the police to decide to shut down the bar for good. On a hot summer night in late June of 1969, eight undercover police officers entered the bar and began arresting the bar employees along with any drag queens or cross dressing patrons.  

More police arrived  and, according to witness reports, the crowd was enraged when the police roughed up a woman dressed in masculine clothes. The Stonewall Riots began and lasted for three nights, launching the start of the Gay Rights movement. A year later, on the first anniversary of the police raid at the Stonewall Inn, New York gay activities organized the first Gay Pride Parade. It began with just a few hundred people but by the time it reached Central Park it had thousands of people joining in.  

So, why should the church celebrate PRIDE month? 

Well, let’s be honest, the church has for far too long been on the side of oppression, dehumanization, and the rejection of our LGBTQ siblings in Christ. Christian leaders have lauded therapies to convert gay people, to make them straight, with deadly consequences and a markedly high increase in the risk of suicide for those who underwent such therapy. Many Christians in our country have fought (and continue to fight) the gay rights movement every step of the way.

But not all of us. 

The Episcopal Church began reconsidering our stance on LGBTQ persons and the church in the 1970s, culminating in the 2003 election of Gene Robinson, an openly gay and partnered priest, as the Bishop of New Hampshire. After marriage equality came to our country, our church also changed our own canons and authorized a liturgy bringing sacramental marriage equality to the church as well.

We do this because Jesus tells us that the law and the prophets hang on love of God and love of neighbor. Because love of God and love of neighbor must be the lens through which we read the Bible. We do this because those six tiny verses in the Bible (none of which were said by Jesus) simply do not provide enough evidence that there is anything wrong in being trans or bisexual or gay or in loving someone of the same sex. 

The verses in Leviticus that are part of a ritual code which also forbids shrimp and clothes with two different fabrics. There is the story of Sodom and Gomorrah, which is really a story about rape (something we can all agree is wrong). Furthermore, Ezekiel 16 tells us that the guilt of Sodom was not homosexuality but that they “had pride, excess of food, and prosperous ease, but did not aid the poor and needy.” 

The New Testament verses likewise don’t conceive of sexuality the way we now know it exists today. Paul speaks against people going against nature and choosing an unnatural sexual relationship—but we now know that some people, by nature, are gay, bi, or trans. And other verses attributed to him on this question are actually, in the Greek, rejections of the Greco-Roman practices of older men using younger boys. 

None of these verses in Scripture condemn a naturally gay person who simply wants to live in a holy and committed relationship with their partner. 

And as a priest I have been abundantly blessed by my LGBTQ colleagues and parishioners. Many of them have experienced horrible discrimination in their life and yet they have persisted in being people of love, strength, and faithfulness, people who model in their life the Christian virtues of mercy, justice, and sacrifice. 

So, it’s a good idea for churches to celebrate PRIDE month. Even if your church isn’t fully affirming like mine, maybe you can find another way to observe the month. Perhaps you can encourage your leaders to repent for the dehumanizing language you have used in the past, or the way you may have handled these questions with less love and sensitivity than you would now. 

And if you long ago gave up on church because your LGBTQ or an ally, don’t give up on us yet. The Holy Spirit continues to move and change the church—and I hope you find a community that believes you are just as fabulous as God thinks you are. 

And if you’re someone who lives in West Michigan, I’d invite you to join me on Sunday, June 27, downtown Waterfront Stadium in Grand Haven, for a special pride mass to celebrate all of God’s beloved children. 

Thanks for being with me. To find out more about my parish, you can go to sjegh.com. Until next time, remember, protest like Jesus, love recklessly, and live your faith out in a community that accepts you but also challenges you to be better tomorrow than you are today. 

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