Yesterday I had the enormous fun and privilege of taking part
in the Brighton Pride Parade. This annual event attracts thousands of people to
the city to celebrate our hugely diverse community and to stand in solidarity
with those who identify as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual or Transgender, and I am part
of that community myself.
Yesterday for the first time I walked in the Parade in
Brighton (having walked in the London one on a number of occasions previously)
carrying one end of a banner identifying our group as Lesbian & Gay Christians.
It was a fantastic and wonderfully affirming experience. For too long there has
been mutual suspicion and distrust between the church and the LGBT community
for many reasons. Walking past over 170,000 people yesterday as openly
Christian AND gay the response was entirely positive. People were pleased to
see the church there walking alongside and within the community rather than
just being on the sidelines. With my free
hand, people were giving me high fives as I walked past, no matter that
ordinarily they might not consider even going through the doors of a church.
We were not there to preach, evangelise or brainwash. We were
there simply to walk alongside those who in the past the church has sometimes
ignored, marginalised and in some cases badly hurt. Those of us who are both
gay and Christian are in very real sense ambassadors for our God, who created
all of us in our fabulous diversity, and yesterday I for one was proud to walk
the streets of Brighton as an openly gay Christian. A wonderful day of
celebration and affirmation of human diversity for people of all faiths and
none. Long may it continue.
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