Proud to be an Ally this Pride Month

I have to say that I’m very excited that it is Pride Month. I am particularly excited to be living in the Bay Area this year and getting to go to the San Francisco Pride celebrations at the end of the month is something I have wanted to do for a long time. I’m also excited because I know the Grand Marshall of the San Francisco Pride Parade.

I am ally and I am deeply proud to be an ally. Over the years I have been asked many times why I am so deeply drawn to the fight for inclusion and equal rights for the LGBTQ community. I have a hard time answering that question because I cannot pinpoint a “became” an ally. It simply feels like part of who I am and has been that way as long as I can remember.

While I cannot answer how I became an ally I can, however, tell you the reasons it means so much for me to be an ally every day. Over the years my life has been deeply affected by my LGBTQ friends and I have learned more than I can possible say from them. They have taught me about courage as they have been themselves even in the face of the world asking them not to be. They have shown me what it means to love and love deeply and honestly. They have taught me about faith, staying in love with God even when the church brokenly says we don’t want you. They have shown me acceptance and they honor and affirm who I am. I am grateful for the lessons the LGBTQ community has taught me even at the same time mourning the brokenness of the rest of the world that gave the opportunity for these lessons to be taught.

So this pride month I proudly declare that I am an ally and would not have it any other way.

We Can Be Silent No Longer

Over the years I have heard far too much hate coming from churches directed toward LGBTQ people. I have also seen many wonderful congregations and individuals who have been working for full inclusion for LGBTQ people within religious institutions. In the middle I have seen a lot of well meaning congregations stay out of the issue all together trying not to upset anyone believing that simply because they are not actively perpetrating this hate, they can stay out of the debate.

The recent suicides of 5 LGBTQ young people needs to act as a wake up call to us all. As people of faith and even more for those of us who are leaders have to recognize that our silence is, in a very real way, costing young people their lives. Those of us who believe that LGBTQ people are made in the image of God and that that God not only accepts them for who they are but longs for them to be exactly who they are, we have a responsibility to not allow hate dressed in religious language to be the only voice heard.

When we have people like Tom Prichard from the Minnesota Family Council making statements blaming the suicides on “homosexual indoctrination.” We can be silent no longer. I understand that for many in religious leadership there is risk involved with talking about this issue and taking a stand for inclusion, but think of it this way LGBTQ people everywhere risk each day by just being themselves, I simply find it unethical to choose silence because it is easier or less risky.

As religious leaders we must be willing to risk our own comfort, because there are people in our pews and sanctuaries that are looking for our guidance on this issue. There are many people who are inclined to do much to further the cause of inclusion if we only give them permission to do so. There are also youth and adults in our congregations that simply want to hear from someone that God really does affirm them, people who have been bullied, attacked (possibly physically), and demeaned simply for being who they are. This is simply not ok and we have say so.

Simple tolerance is not enough, to tolerate does not mean to be in solidarity with LGBTQ folks. No, only full inclusion goes far enough, and not a quiet inclusion that simply says this is what we believe, please leave us alone. We must practice an inclusion that all the world can hear, one that sends a message that says the Jesus we understand is not ok with people being stripped of their humanity. That those who call homosexuality an abomination do not speak for us or the Jesus we know.

I implore you be silent no longer, there are those out there who need to hear about the inclusive love of God in which we believe. There are those who need to feel the tangible inclusive love we can provide. As the Church we must repent, our silence has at the very least contributed to the deaths of many wonderful people who we were not there for. We can not let this continue to happen.

God have mercy on us for our silence. God help us as we move to real inclusion. God strengthen us for the struggle. God remind all that you love them for exactly who you made them.