Pride

This year is the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall riots in New York – an event which was the catalyst for the modern LGBT movement.

‘Pride’ marches, days, weeks and months have become ubiquitous throughout the Western world – especially in the English-speaking countries. The politicians and the corporations are falling over themselves in the rush to identify with ‘Pride’.

Educators want to ensure that children are ‘Proud’. You are automatically suspect as a politician if you do not tweet your enthusiastic approval for any and all things Pride. Corporations are equally concerned to let people know they are ‘on side’ – whether it’s supermarkets having special LGBT sandwiches, or bank cash machines being coloured rainbow, or drinks companies providing beverages coloured according to one’s perceived sexuality – no one wants to miss the party. The Pride march in London even had a Red Arrows flypast. It seems as though LGBT ‘rights’ have now become the sacrament of our society.

Chinks in Stonewall

But all is not well in the Church of Stonewall. There have been some interesting and new developments as the sexual revolution threatens to eat itself.

Firstly there is the civil war within the LGBT movement between Stonewall and the Trans Exclusionary Radical Feminists (TERFs). Stonewall and other LGBT groups have decided that the cause célèbre for today’s society is the Transgender part of their acronym. But a significant number of feminists and those who identify as lesbians are concerned that the full-scale adoption of Queer Theory (the belief that gender is just a social construct and has nothing to do with biology) will cause damage to the women’s liberation cause. They have good reason to be concerned – women’s sport is being decimated by men who identify as women yet retain the male physical advantages. Women have been redefined as ‘menstruators’ by ‘woke’ journalists. We are told that men can become pregnant. The TERFs are fighting back – and the resultant bitterness is not a pleasant sight.

Others within the Gay Rights movement expressed concern at the overt sexualisation and lewdity on display in some aspects of the Pride marches. They again rightly questioned whether they want gay rights to be tied in with sexually perverse practices.

At the other end of the movement, Peter Tatchell, who wants primary school children to be taught about these practices, has complained that Pride ‘is becoming too corporate and commercial. The big corporates are the only ones who can afford extravagant expensive floats. They overshadow the community groups. I’m all in favour of a party, but there’s not enough about LGBT rights at Pride’.

Pride and humility

What should the church’s response be? Certainly not that of the former evangelical Baptist minister, Steve Chalke, who tweeted:

‘I love Pride weekend; it’s the public declaration by the LGBT+ community (and committed allies such as me) that despite the homophobia and transphobia that still seeks to exclude and discriminate, we will celebrate as we work to give birth to a world of equality!

‘On Pride weekend, why do so many parts of the church still struggle to welcome, celebrate and offer equality to everyone regardless of their sexuality, gender or even faith? And how can we change it?’

Chalke’s response is described in Paul’s analysis of the Roman culture of his day:

‘And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. Though they know God’s decree that those who practise such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practise them’ (Rom. 1:28-32).

But while we reject the approach of those like Chalke, who deny the Lord who bought them, we cannot go the route of anti-Pride demonstrations.

The apostle Paul did not march on the streets of Athens, Corinth, and Rome, waving banners stating ‘down with that sort of thing’! Instead he preached the Good News to those who were lost in their search for identity, and he insisted that the church live up to a different sexual standard than the world around.

Rather than ‘Pride’, the churches’ approach is to be one of humility. Rather than the worship of lust, it is to be the practice of love. Our modern world is regressing to the pagan goddess of Aphrodite. Christians want to progress to the God who IS love – Jesus Christ. Those who confuse the two are not helping either the church or the world. These are days of great danger and darkness, but they also offer a wonderful opportunity to let the light shine all the brighter.