Call It What It Is

My church observed Pride Sunday today, like we've done for years. We fly the Progress Pride flag for most of June (and a lot of other times for good measure), we have a rainbow sticker on our street-facing sign and on the glass door leading into the narthex, which also contains a small display window we decorated for the occasion.

PFLAG meets in our church and has support met-ups for various groups. Because of the way Christian communities have treated people in the 2SLGBTQIA+ community, that makes some visitors apprehensive, which is completely understandable.

What is not understandable to me is how some people think they can cloak bigotry within "religious belief."

At its heart, Christianity should really be about following the teachings and examples of Christ - loving our neighbours, feeding the hungry, healing the sick, etc. We all do some picking and choosing within the tenets expressed in the Gospel - very few of us sell our belongings and give the proceeds to the poor after all - but these ideals of compassion and justice should permeate what we call Christian acts.

So see a cartoon of a person holding a shield emblazoned with a cross over her children to 'protect' them from a rainbow, with the caption, "here's to all the other faithful holding the line this month!", it makes me unreasonably angry.

So let's break it down. 

First, these people should stop quoting Leviticus unless they follow all its other prohibitions, like not trimming their beards, eating shellfish, or wearing clothes made from two different fabrics.

Next, they should recognize that most of the Hebrew scriptures about "wickedness" that they cite to make their case are not referencing two adults in a loving, same-sex relationship, but human trafficking or the sexual abuse of prisoners of war.

Homosexuality as a word doesn't enter the Bible until a particular and comparatively recent translation, the Revised Standard Version of 1946, something I only recently learned.

In fact, the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah by the Angry Almighty in the O.T. was not due to licentiousness or sexual depravity, but because those communities refused to be hospitable and tolerated gang sexual assaults of outsiders.

Meanwhile, Jesus is repeatedly asking us to welcome the outsider. Consider how one of Jesus' most famous parables, the Good Samaritan, used the outsidey-est outsider imaginable to make his point - that all people deserve to be treated with compassion and respect.

But if you really want to make these people's heads spin, hand them a Bible and ask them to show you a verse where Jesus condemns homosexuality (for example).

Because they can't.

Because he doesn't.

You know what he does frown upon though?

Christians cozying up to power instead of standing up for the oppressed.

Hypocrites who pray loudly and publicly in Jesus' name but who support hateful laws and regimes.

And to be clear here, reasonable people can agree to disagree. I happen to feel that two adults in a loving, respectful same-sex relationship should be allowed to live free of judgement, shame, persecution, injury or death. I don't think two women holding hands in Edmonton should be spat at, but maybe you think that is just the cost of free spech. 

And if you think Matthew Shepard got what was coming to him (for, you know, daring to be an openly gay college student in Wyoming in 1998 and getting tortured and murdered for it), well, we just aren't going to get along.

And no one is demanding you celebrate or even observe Pride! Feel free to ignore it. I fail to understand how two people choosing to love each other (or trans or asexual or any other kids loving themselves for that matter) impacts anyone except them.

But when you speak to condemn these things, please do not hide behind Christianity, because there isn't anything in the teachings of Christ to justify hatred of other people. (Quite the opposite, actually!)

Please, for the sake of honesty and possibly the sake of your soul, just admit it. Call it what it is.  

You're a bigot.

Everyone else: Happy Pride!

Guest Pulpitations: The Work Continues

Last week, Fenya delivered the sermon for our congregation's 11th anniversary as an Affirming Ministry. Our Affirming Team put the whole service together and Fenya was working on her reflection right up until the day before. This is similar enough to my own process that I was unconcerned, but I was also unprepared for just how good it was, as well as the conviction with which she delivered it.

She also achieved something that made me a bit jealous - someone found her content a little bit too much, or too political, and walked out. Achievement unlocked, I say!

Compliments from those who remained were effusive and sincere. Many people shared personal stories of bad experiences at churches in the past, and how much they appreciated Fenya's forthright declaration of what being inclusive and welcoming actually means. The title referred to how much work still needs to be done by affirming ministries, from the recent apology by the United Church of Canada to 2SLGBTQIA+ peoples and communities, to the need for support for trans people impacted by the Alberta government's use of the notwithstanding clause to shore up their unconstitutional banning of gender-affirming care.

I can't say what part of it compelled that one fellow to leave, but I know his spouse or partner stayed, so I am hoping there was perhaps a discussion at home later.

If you would like to see it for yourself (and I highly recommend it!), here is a link to the start of it (about 20 mins). Her speaking notes appear below, and you will just have to imagine it delivered with righteous conviction and matching intensity!

So proud.

THE WORK CONTINUES

When I agreed to deliver the sermon for affirmiversary Sunday, I thought I had a pretty good understanding of what it means to be an affirming ministry, but I wanted to learn more about how we got to where we are today. We became affirming back in 2014, when I was 15 years old. I was attending St. Albert United Church at that time, but at 15, much of my time was spent downstairs in the youth room, and I wasn’t nearly as in-the-loop about the goings-on upstairs.

Fast-forward to now, and I have become a fully-fledged member of the Affirm committee, so when the opportunity came for me to preach this Sunday, the other affirm committee members were more than happy to fill me in on the important St Albert United Church history that I missed. And now I get to share this information with all of you! I thought it might be helpful for those who have joined the church post-2014  in case you, like me, did not realize the amount of work it took for our church to become affirming. And for those of you who have been here since before 2014, hopefully you enjoy getting a brief review!

St Albert United Church's affirming journey spanned a total of around 9 years, starting in 2005 with the deliberative dialogue process. This involved 7 sessions of intense discussions examining the sanctification of same sex marriages, and at the end of those discussions, a resolution was presented to the church council for an inclusive marriage policy, which is one of the requirements to become an affirming ministry. The resolution was passed at the 2006 AGM with ⅔ of those present being in favour. 

Then in June of 2013 a group was assembled to finish the journey started in 2005 and to complete the application process for our church to become an affirming ministry. This process built upon the extensive work that had already been done while allowing for further necessary discussion and education. This part of the process was a lot of work and effort, and required the participation of the whole congregation. The Affirming ministry program offered educational activities and ideas to help the ministry explore issues of sexual orientation and gender identity, engage with the bible, plan activities to support justice for lgbtq2s+ people, and write an affirming ministry vision statement (which you hear every week when we welcome all regardless of age, race, gender, gender expression sexual orientation, belief, economic circumstance, ability, or background.) 

These conversations and activities challenged peoples’ way of thinking, and when reading some of the activities suggested, I can imagine they were not always the most comfortable experiences or easy conversations to have. And that makes me all the more proud of my congregation for doing them. 

Some of the discussions involved bringing in guest speakers. One of these was the late Dr. Lorne Warneke, a psychiatrist who specialized in helping trans individuals work through gender dysphoria. There was also a panel of lgbtq2s+ individuals and their families who shared their perspectives.

Some of the educational material provided by the affirming ministries program explained how some of the passages cited as arguments against homosexuality also condemn other behaviours we consider acceptable, such as creating images of people, birds, or animals (Romans 1:22) or eating foods such as shrimp that are deemed to be unclean-a practice that is also called an abomination in the Bible (Leviticus 20:25).

One suggested workshop included an activity sheet where people had to indicate how closely they obeyed different bible passages, such as:

(luke 18:22): Sell everything you have and give the money to the poor 

(1 corinthians 14:34) Women should keep silent in the church  

(obviously I’m not following that one particularly closely)

And other passages like:

(Deuteronomy 23 19-20) Do not charge interest on loans, except loans to foreigners

(deuteronomy 22:19-20) If a man claims the woman he married is not a virgin and her family can’t prove her virginity, she should be put to death

There was another activity exploring the concept of texts of terror - biblical texts in which women experience abusive male power - and how the story of sodom and gomorroah can be a text of terror for lgbtq+ folk, used to condemn all lgbtq people when it is clearly a story about multiple perpetrator sexual assault. The activity explored how developing a theology of blessing for lgbt folk also meant coming face to face with the horrors found in the bible. 

When the educational workshops and discussions came to an end, the congregation took a vote at the AGM in June 2014 to officially become an affirming ministry, with 98% of those present in favour.

Now like I said, this process was a lot of work. It required people to face some really horrific things in the bible and things done to people in the name of christianity. But why was it important? Someone might wonder, “you know, we were already pretty welcoming before, why did we need to do all this extra work to become an officially affirming ministry?”

It’s important for a lot of reasons. It’s important because as we heard from our non-scripture reading today, the assumption that we are already welcoming enough hasn’t been the case for much of the church’s history. It’s important because we might think we were welcoming enough before becoming affirming, but members of the lgbtq2s+ community have had enough experiences indicating the opposite that it is understandable that that welcome is not assumed to be guaranteed. And that welcome is still not a guarantee in many churches today. 

Becoming affirming is important because open-mindedness is necessary, even if others around us might disagree. It’s important because in 1988 the United Church put out a report recommending that the church welcome lgbtq individuals in all aspects of the church, including the ministry. A poll came out later indicating only 28% of church members were in favour of this, and many conservative members of the United Church ended up leaving. It’s important because in the 4 years following that report coming out, the United Church of Canada lost over 78,000 members. Our decision to become affirming is important because St. Albert United Church lost members after passing the inclusive marriage policy and becoming an affirming ministry.

It’s important because Jesus didn’t tell us just to love each other. He taught us to love each other radically. He didn’t call for us to be “welcoming enough”. He calls us to give all our money to the poor. He calls us to wash each others’ feet. To give the shirt off our backs. “Already welcoming enough” just doesn’t cut it.

Becoming affirming is important because the church has homophobia and transphobia in its history, which has caused substantial harm to members of our community. It’s important because there is a lot of work to be done to make amends for the harms that have been perpetrated towards the lgbtq community. And that work starts with each and every one of us. We have a responsibility as individuals and as a congregation to not just say we are welcoming, but to show it in our actions. And one of the most important actions we can take is to put in the work to educate ourselves and learn how to do better.

In the story of Jesus healing the centurion’s servant, the centurion talks about how he can give an order and it will be done. His faith in Jesus operates in the same way, where Jesus himself doesn’t even need to go to the centurion’s house, but he only needs to speak the word and the servant is healed. We have faith that Jesus need only speak, and his will will be carried out. And when it comes to what Jesus has and has not spoken about, I want to point out that there is not a single time in the bible that Jesus ever condemns homosexuality. But you know what he is quoted saying?

 

Do not judge. 

 

Love your neighbor. 

 

Like the centurion commands his servants and his will is done, so too does Jesus command us, and it is through us that his will is done.

And the work to live out that message of love continues. Just because we became affirming in 2014 doesn’t mean that was the end of the journey. In fact, that was when a lot of the work actually started. Once we had put in the work internally to become affirming, it was time to share our affirming message with the rest of the world, that there are Churches and Christians who love the lgbtq+ community for exactly who they are. 

We have a pride flag flying outside for all to see. We are present in pride events and  parades and have hosted a ton of fantastic events like drag shows, film viewings, and educational panels with guest speakers. Most recently, we helped sponsor St. Albert's Pride in the Park this year, donating $3,000 from a community grant we applied for. And we have built a reputation for ourselves. I’ve heard us referred to as “the gay church on the hill”. 

(…to be honest, when we were called that it was actually done with the intention of being offensive, but I kinda love that as a nickname because that’s what we are known for. *And I also kinda love not letting bigots win at name-calling*). 

 

We’ve also had queer organizations ask to partner with us or use our spaces because they know we support them and that we exist as a safe place for them to be themselves. It’s a reputation I am incredibly proud of.

This reputation has also incited some reactions of opposition. We’ve had angry letters detailing how upset our love of the lgbtq+ community makes people. How disapproving they are of our pride flag. We’ve even had people storm into the church to harass individuals engaging in bible study, arguing that flying that flag means we are promoting pedophilia. Which we know is absolutely not true. And our response to that incident was deciding to fly that flag even more than we had been before. 

Sometimes speaking out can be scary. … Sometimes it can be hard. … But that’s why it’s important. 

 

Oppression thrives in silence. And doing nothing only benefits the oppressors. 

 

Those who are discriminated against fight back in part simply by existing. But allies have to do it consciously. … Allies have to make the choice to do it. 

And it can have consequences. We might not make everybody happy doing what we do. It might make some people uncomfortable or angry. … But the safety of my queer siblings to live lives free of violence and fear is more important to me than people being comfortable. … And you know what? Jesus rubbed people the wrong way all the time. Doesn’t mean he was wrong.

We became affirming back in 2014. … But 11 years later in 2025, our affirming mission is even more important today.

 

It’s important because we are still seeing a rise in hate crimes based on sexual orientation. … It’s important because sexual and gender diverse youth are twice as likely to consider taking their own life. … It’s important because even though lgbtq+ individuals only make up 4% of Canada’s population, they make up 13% of all individuals currently experiencing homelessness.

 

Being publicly, intentionally, and explicitly affirming is important because earlier this year, the Alberta government passed 3 discriminatory laws that prohibit gender affirming care for minors, restrict students from using chosen names and pronouns without parental notification and consent, and ban trans women and girls from participating in sports. … These laws restrict access to health care, limit freedom of expression in schools, and curtail protections against discrimination.

 

And now that these hateful, discriminatory, unjustifiable laws are facing legal challenges, the government plans to use the Charter’s notwithstanding clause to advance these policies and circumvent the legal process entirely, shielding these laws from constitutional scrutiny. … This deliberately undermines the rights and dignity of trans people and sets a dangerous precedent for all Canadians. And that last sentence isn’t from me. … That’s a direct quote from the Canadian Civil Liberties Association condemning these decisions. … The CCLA warns that invoking the notwithstanding clause to advance discriminatory policies threatens the integrity of Canada’s constitutional democracy.

This is why our visible allyship is important. It’s important because the pronoun restrictions have left some trans youth with an impossible choice: to be outed at home or remain closeted at school. … It’s important because gender affirming care saves lives, is backed by decades of evidence, and is supported by every major Canadian Health Organization. It is important because the canadian medical association says that the healthcare law “requires doctors to disregard clinical guidelines, the needs of patients and their own. conscience.”. Our support of trans youth is important because this legislation is denying them the ability to access gender affirming care in schools and the medical system, which may be the difference between them surviving to adulthood or not.

Like I said before, … sometimes speaking out can be scary. … Sometimes it can be hard. … But that’s why it’s important.

As followers of God, speaking out and working against discrimination is not a choice, …it is a responsibility. … It is a core tenet of who we are and what we believe. 

In the reading from Isaiah, God’s people come to her, saying, “why have we fasted and you have not seen? Why do you take no notice?” and God proclaims that while they have followed specific religious practices, they lack sincerity because the true fast that she desires is not merely a religious act, but a lifestyle of love and justice.

We see from the reading in Isaiah that we can engage in all the religious practices and rituals we want, but if those actions are not alongside action towards liberation and justice, they ring hollow, …and lose almost all meaning. 

I want you to understand that I still believe these practices hold value, but coming here and being here is not the work that God calls us to do. 

Here is where we find community, where we recharge for the week ahead, where we find inspiration and feel God's presence. But the work … is out there. …God’s work is being done more by people of all faiths and no faith in food banks, at protests, and in the volunteer-run queer suicide hotline than it ever will be by any of us simply going to church.

Uplifting and supporting any of God’s cherished and beloved children is a form of worship. … As Christians, this is the fast that we have chosen. To bring the homeless poor into our house, …to cover the naked. … To loose the bonds of injustice, to undo the straps of the yoke, and let the oppressed go free.

God calls us to action. … Jesus calls us to love one another, and like the centurions servants, he need only speak and it will be done. 

And we learn from the reading in Isaiah what happens when we answer this call:

“If you remove the yoke from among you,

the pointing of the finger, the speaking of evil,

if you offer your food to the hungry

and satisfy the needs of the afflicted,

then your light shall rise in the darkness

and your gloom be like the noonday.

The Lord will guide you continually

and satisfy your needs in parched places

and make your bones strong,

and you shall be like a watered garden,

like a spring of water

whose waters never fail.”

Thanks be to God.

Paneling Pride Vs. Prejudice

I was pretty nervous - I had just watched a very well-done and moving documentary about reluctant gay activist Delwin Vriend called Pride Vs. Prejudice that we had screened at our church for PIE Day, and I was about to introduce a very prestigious panel. I was very gratified when the three panelists laughed at my introductory joke: "A lawyer, a professor, a playwright, a senator, a member of the order of Canada and a drag performer all walk into a church….and it's only three people!"

Kris Wells, Darrin Hagen, Doug Stollery and Yours Truly

The panelists in question were writer, director, and composer Darrin Hagen (familiar to many Edmontonians as a member of  Guys in Disguise), the co-counsel on Vriend v Alberta, Douglas Stollery, and Impact Producer Kristopher Wells.

The Affirming Ministry Team at St. Albert United Church had asked for permission to screen the film as part of PIE Day, an opportunity to support the 2SLGBTQIA+ community with acts that are Public, Intentional and Explicit. Senator Wells, having spoken at our tenth Affirimiversary back in October, kindly arranged for us to not only show the movie but suggested a brief panel might be a useful educational experience as well.

When we met earlier in the week to talk about the event, some of us were concerned about bigoted individuals perhaps coming in to make a ruckus or disrupt things, but Darrin said he was honestly more concerned about the "I have more of a comment than a question..." people monopolizing the time. In the end we agreed that as moderator I would ask them each a questions or two and try to keep the session around 15-20 minutes.

The film itself is incredible and I highly recommend checking it out when you get a chance. It will undoubtedly end up on some screening service or another after its time on the film festival circuit wraps up, but I fully intend to purchase the BluRay at the earliest opportunity. They are taking the film to festival in Poland shortly, but the film's website also lists screenings like ours if you want to see it sooner.

Even as someone who remembered the headlines from the case at the time, hearing from the people directly involved with the case and its aftermath was absolutely fascinating; hearing Delwin Vriend himself recall being fired from his position at King's College right here in Edmonton for nothing more than being gay is chilling. Hearing how he was denied a hearing by the Alberta Human Rights Commission is infuriating and seeing how passionate lawyers working pro bono took his case all the way to the Supreme Court of Canada in 1998 is empowering.

Reading about the case and the decision gives you an impression of its importance, but not the struggles and personal impacts along the way:

• Learning that Justice McClung of the Alberta Court of Appeals turned his back on counsel Sheila Greckol while she was making her argument, in a brutal and flagrant display of disrespect.
• Hearing that someone had placed religious pamphlets condemning homosexuality on every seat in the chamber of the Supreme Court before the lawyers.
• Watching former city councillor Michael Phair get emotional as he talks about the death threats he received following the decision, while regressive activists were trying to pressure the PC provincial government and Premier Ralph Klein to invoke the notwithstanding clause. 

A good documentary not only provides clarity, it also produces insight. The best of them provoke an emotional connection to the subject matter or people involved, and at our screening you could hear laughs, applause and tearful sniffles as the story played out over 80 minutes.

Afterwards I got to engage the panel briefly, and I dearly wish I could remember their responses verbatim, but I was just too wound up and excited.

I asked Darrin about his directorial decision to juxtapose the historical clips and modern day interviews of those involved with shots from a queer history bus tour of Edmonton (led in part by none other than Michael Phair) and he confessed it arose in part out of his need (and distaste, apparently!) for shooting 'B-roll' for such projects. Seeing Vriend share parts of his story with people on that bus really underscored the sense of history behind it.

Doug graciously redirected my question about the challenges of working on such a high-profile case as one of the few 'out' lawyers at the time to how much more impacted other people had been, including Phair and Vriend himself. He also talked about the current US President's decision to blacklist legal firms who had represented people he considered enemies (removing their security clearances without cause, among other things), making it riskier to be perceived as being in opposition to him, and making it more difficult for them to get quality legal representation.

But he also took the opportunity to thank the United Church of Canada for seeking intervenor status on the case so that when other faith-based groups tried to assert that 'religions' were not in favour of making sexuality a discernible and protectable human right, the UCC could stand up as the largest protestant denomination of the time and make it clear that this was simply not true.

Finally. Dr. Wells spoke about the timeliness of revisiting the Vriend decision, not only terms of  its 25th anniversary when production started and the 20th anniversary of gay marriage in Canada, but also in light of the recent backsliding for the rights of 2SLGBTQIA+ individuals, particularly in Alberta. Gay and trans youth have had many supports including gender affirming care moved out of reach, and earlier this week, the unionized City of Edmonton employees announced they had been told to remove Pride flags from Edmonton Public Library properties in a commitment to 'neutrality.'

The senator also tied the need for increased education and activism to our current trade war and annexation situation, generating vocal support and applause when he said, "I never want to see us as the 51st state of anything, do you?"

Well over a hundred people came to our screening, most of whom were not regular attendees at our church, which was gratifying to see. We also had a free will offering with proceeds going to St. Albert Pride in the Park, which will hopefully help them increase its impact this summer after some organizational challenges last year. 

Everyone I spoke to was impressed and moved by the film, with many people asking where they could watch it again; when I find out, I will be sure to post it here.

Before leaving I made sure to let all the panelists know how much we, and particularly I, were that they were able to attend - these are very busy people - and to be such gracious guests! I especially thanked Doug, who, when we were discussing possible panel questions had expressed a preference for one, but gave me a two paragraph explanation for the other just so I would have it.

It is gratifying and reassuring to know that individuals committed to justice and equality and education still exist, and that there are others who can help bring their stories into the public eye.

And gosh, if someone sees Pride Vs. Prejudice and decdes to dramatize it so that even more people can learn about it - so much the better!

10th Affirmiversary with a Dangerous Senator

St. Albert United Church became an affirming ministry in 2014 and celebrated its 10th 'Affirimiversary' today; 10 years of being overtly inclusive to sexual minorities. It's a strange time to reflect because I personally thought we would be farther along now, societally, in terms of accepting people of differing sexualities or gender identities.

And yet, here we are. Disinformation, misinformation, outright lies, discrimination and hatred cloaked under religious freedoms or ersatz protection of children set the agendas of the day and continue to polarize the electorate. Manufactured rage, duping 'low information voters.'

But someone told me today that ten years of holding your ground, maintaining a safe and inclusive place, may not be an outright victory, but it certainly is worth celebrating.

That person was one of the speakers at todays' service, Kristopher Wells, and I got to introduce him. Here's what I said:

Kris Wells is an educator and activist with tremendous ties to 2SLGBTQ+ communities Edmonton and Alberta and beyond, and was also a key participant in one of the very first panels we held when we became an Affirming Ministry ten years ago. He’s been a public school teacher right here in St Albert, a diversity consultant for Edmonton public schools and helped develop the first sexual and gender identity school board policy in Western Canada. 

He’s been the faculty director of the University of Alberta’s Institute for Sexual Minority Studies and Services, MacEwan University's first Canada Research Chair and was the founding director of the MacEwan Centre for Sexual and Gender Diversity, as well as the editor-in-chief of the international Journal of LGBT Youth and co-creator of Pride Tape, 

He is also one of Alberta’s most recently appointed Senators and has been described by some pundits as ”the most dangerous senator in Canadian history”! He has some information to share before taking questions previously submitted by the congregation, so please welcome the Hon. Dr. Kristopher Wells!

Kris gave a wonderful address about our Affirmiversary coinciding with LGBT history month, and then answered some great questions that had been submitted beforehand by members of our congregation.

Throughout his talk, he consistently touched on the importance of allyship, of being there for people, both institutionally and individually. He expressed his gratitude for the warm welcome and sincere well wishes on his appointment, saying that it helps mitigate some of the backlash, like our own premier calling him a "radical leftist agitator," or the 'most dangerous senator' designation hung on him by the right wing blogosphere. (He confessed to me when I was outlining his introduction that he was trying to feel out if it was appropriate to get t-shirts made with that on it, as he does treat it as a badge of honour.)

Kris' remarks made it clear that we are in a rough spot right now, particularly given the agenda of the current provincial government. He made it clear that policies and legislation passed and yet to come are going to cause harm to a vulnerable community, and those passing it will have to live with their consciences after facilitating them - as will any of us complicit in our silence.

But he also made it clear that the best solution is to just keep telling the truth. To combat and refute mis- and disinformation when we encounter it. To be active and informed and to vote.

As he put it, "Education has always been the answer. As a senator, I now have a larger classroom, but I don't see my job as having substantially changed."

I am going to love having this guy in Ottawa - if he is a danger, it is only to a pernicious status quo. And ten years from now, I bet SAUC will still be holding its ground, flying a rainbow flag and continuing to welcome everyone.

Pride Sunday 2024

The St. Albert support and advocacy group OutLoud was forced to close its doors a while back, which means it is very likely that there will be no Pride in the Park Festival late in June as there has been in previous years.

Our church has always put up a table at the event, so I wrote an email to the other members of my church's Affirming Ministry Team, confirming the sad news and also mentioning a recent poll describing flagging support for 2SLGBTQIA+ people (despite the same poll stating that 12 % of Canadians identify as a sexual minority in Canada, and 22% of those younger than 35.

Our minister asked if I could perhaps speak to this as part of our Pride Sunday observances this morning, and I said I would be happy to. Well, not happy, precisely, but certainly willing to draw attention to it!

Pride today is intended primarily as a celebration, but we must never forget its origins in protest.

As we heard, June is Pride month in North America in part because of commemoration of the riots that took place in June of 1969 following police raids at a gay bar in NYC. Police raided the bar, called the Stonewall Inn, ostensibly for serving liquor without a license, but the crowd on hand pushed back and eventually trapped the officers inside the bar for a time.

Almost everything in Stonewall was broken and the windows boarded up the night of the riot. By the next day, graffiti supportive of the LGBTQ community appeared on the boards, and a demonstration arose there later in the day. Hundreds of protestors, both gay and straight, protested there off and on until the fifth of July.

Since then, Pride has become a global movement, celebrated in some areas with joy, sombrely observed with activism in others. Urban legend has it that the first Pride parade in Edmonton was a number of gay men running down Jasper or Whyte Avenue with paper bags on their heads, as being gay had not yet been decriminalized, but a proper Pride movement was born in response to the Pisces Spa raids in 1981

But we probably won’t have a Pride in the Park event in St. Albert this year, because OutLoud, the support and activism group that organized it, was forced to close its doors just a few weeks ago.

Edmonton moved its Pride events to August but hasn’t had a parade since 2018. And I have mixed feelings about this.

On the one hand, I really appreciated the opportunity for a public show of support for sexual minorities, reflected in both delighted parade watchers, but also people marching in support of gay rights and equality, like our own United Church.

But on the other hand, with hate crimes on the rise, and bigots seemingly feeling more emboldened every day, part of me is glad I won’t have to worry about marchers being jeered, or assaulted, or driven into, or worse.

It feels weird to see all this opposition to what feels like a simple proposition: that love is love. That adults should be allowed to love other adults of the same gender. Or of a changed gender. Or of no gender at all.

And yet we see it. We see it all the time.

You hear it too, right? People at the grocery store, or the water cooler at work.

“I don’t know why those people need a special day.”

“More of this woke BS…”

“I mean, I’m fine with it, I just don’t want to know about it.”

“There is no place for those discussions in schools.”

And I know there are people who wanted to be here today who can’t make it, but I am also confident that some people chose not to be here because they don’t want to listen to people like go on about stuff they don’t care about. And that’s fine. It saddens me, but it's fine.

We became an Affirming Ministry nearly a decade ago, and to me, it just felt like a natural progression; we had undergone some significant soul searching and deliberative dialogue, and as my daughter is fond of reminding me, when you know better, you do better. We decided to take the big step from being implicitly welcoming of everyone to explicitly welcoming a group that had experienced tremendous persecution from people of our faith.

The backsliding since then has been staggering. And I don’t just mean the eyrolling when someone notices your preferred pronouns in your email signature.

• The vandalism of rainbow crosswalks. 
• The petition against Pride recognition by the municipal government in Westlock.
• Prominent hockey players refusing to wear Pride jerseys.
• The opposition to teaching about sexual orientation and gender identity or SOGI in schools.
• Right wing trolls labelling those who defend sexual minorities as “groomers” by trolls, both online and in-person.
• Cranks disrupting council meetings with fearmongering about “the gay agenda”
• The increase in hate crimes against sexual minorities.

A recent Global News headline stated “Poll finds declining Canadian support for LGBTQ2 rights and visibilityPoll finds declining Canadian support for LGBTQ2 rights and visibility”, a drop the man from Ipsos described as “precipitous”.

According to this poll this poll, in just three years, the number of Canadians supporting LGBTQ+ individuals being open about their sexual orientation or gender identity with everyone has dropped from 61 to 49 per cent.

Support for gender-affirming care for adolescents with parental support has gone from 59 to 48 per cent.

Another poll last September showed Albertans as the least likely to speak up in defence of homophobic or transphobic comments online.

So, to be clear - treating our brothers and sisters and others who are gay, or lesbian, or bisexual, or trans, or queer, or intersex or asexual or two-spirited doesn’t just make some people uncomfortable - it makes them angry.

There are a lot of what I call ‘Talibertans’ in this province, who would gleefully recriminalize same-sex relationships if they thought they could get away with it.

I have a hard time wrapping my head around it, honestly. How am I impacted if two women get married? How does having two grooms in a wedding party make my lifetime commitment to my own partner any less worthy or honoured?

And these folks are too quick by half at quoting the Old Testament to defend their _____ - if they did even a minute’s research they would realize pretty quickly that the Hebrew Scriptures are not talking about two consenting adults moving in together. And even if they were, I don’t see you stoning people for working on the sabbath or wearing two different fabrics at the same time or not trimming your beard corners or whatever.

The fact that so much of this animosity comes from people who claim the same faith identity as I do, but who conveniently forget critical lessons like “judge not, lest ye be judged” or “let he who is without sin cast the first stone” or even “love one another, as I have loved you”, makes my eyes spin, when they aren’t actively weeping.

I think a lot of us here believe that love is love - without conditions, without exceptions, without limitations.

And that, my friends, is why I believe we are here.

To continue telling these people who are hated by some, that they are loved by many, they are loved by God, and, I hope, that they are loved by us.

To continue to speak up in advocacy for those trying to make a more tolerant world for themselves and others.

To make a place for those who are often shunned by their own families.

To speak up in the face of willful mis- and disinformation, prejudice, bigotry and hatred.

And to do all this, even in the face of ignorance and opposition, with love.

Because in a world that feels like it is growing angrier and less tolerant with every passing day, love may be the greatest protest of all!

Amen