Christianity and Gay Pride

Introduction



There is gay Christian pride or Christian gay pride. One can be proud of being both gay and Christian.



As gay pride events have become more visible, many Christians wonder how they should respond to gay pride. Some Christians are opposed to the concept of gay pride. They feel gay people should be ashamed of who they are and any public celebration of queer sexuality is wrong. The excesses of a few gay pride events leave other Christians feeling very uncomfortable with homosexuality. Because they know so little about gay people, they may judge all gay people by a few excesses at pride events. While the excesses of gay pride events are not godly, gay pride is theologically sound.



History



Not many years ago, people in the United States could be fired from their jobs for being gay. The jobs of gay people who worked for the government and for the military were very at risk. In the United States, it was illegal for gay people to express their love for one another. In some countries, it is still illegal to engage in sexual activities with another member of your gender. A few countries of the world execute people for having sex with a member of their own gender.



Gay pride parades have their roots in a protest against systematic and systemic persecution by the police and the courts. Police made a raid on the Stonewall gay bar in New York. Gay people resisted arrest. This event sparked the start of public protests to end persecution and discrimination against gay people. The gay pride parades started as an effort of frustrated people within the queer community to end discrimination and violence against gay people.



You can read a little about the history of the gay pride parades at the About and the InfoPlease web sites. A series of informative interviews about the Stonewall protest and the gay rights movement can be found on the National Public Radio web site.



Christians who know church history can identify with persecution. During the early years of the Christian church, Christians were put in prison and killed for their faith. The civil authorities were persecuting people for being Christian. Both Christianity and the gay community share a history of discrimination and persecution. Unfortunately, discrimination and persecution of Christians and gay people continues today. Some Christians do not understand how much they have in common with the gay community. Instead of working closely together to ensure their mutual human rights are respected, many Christians actively work to keep gay people from having the same rights other members of society enjoy.



Gay Pride



A good working definition of pride is proper, reasonable and justified self-respect. Gay pride is when gay people have proper, reasonable and justified self-respect. There is nothing wrong with gay people having proper and justified self-respect. In fact, God expects gay people to have pride, a pride that is justifiable and reasonable, because it is based on what God has done for humanity.



Gay Pride and the Bible



Bi Gay Queer Lesbian Questioning Created Queer PROUD OF WHO I AM I am God's kid (John 1:12) I am our God’s friend (John 15:15) I am joined with our God (1 Cor 6:17) I am a citizen of the kingdom (Eph 3:19) I’m chosen by the Son of God (John 15:16) I am truly blessed and comforted (Matt 5:3-4) I am living with no condemnation (Romans 8:1-2) I’m reconciled and am at peace with God (Col 1:20) I’m one nobody can charge or accuse (Rom 8:33 -34) I’m able to triumph in Christ through God (2 Cor 2:14) I’m already sitting with Christ in the heavenly (Eph 2:6) I cannot be separated from Christ Jesus’ love (Rom 8:35) I am just as sweet a perfume as Christ is to God (2 Cor 3:15) I can approach God boldly and with confidence (Ephesians 3: 12) I am completely redeemed from the curse of the law (Galatians 3:13) I am justified (Rom 5:1) and I am a holy temple for God to inhabit (Eph 2: 22) I am working with God (1 Cor 3:9) and I’m showing God's workmanship (Eph 2:10) I am confident all the good things God has started in my life will be completed (Phil 1:6) I am redeemed and forgiven (Colossians 1:14) and I am adopted as God's child (Ephesians 1:5) God’s queer child Straight? Lesbian Trans Gay Bi

In the Bible, God speaks to gay people. He tells gay people, "You have wonderful reasons to have pride in yourself." Those reasons can clearly be seen before creation, before birth, at creation and at Calvary.



God chose humanity before the world was created. Ephesians 1:4 informs gay Christians that they were chosen by God before the world existed. God did not wait to see how things would go before choosing you. According to Ephesians you were chosen before the world was around, before you had a chance to do a thing that would make God like you. You did not have to act loving, do impressive humanitarian work, wear designer clothes or make love to the right person to earn God's love. The Lord's love for you is not a new, fickle love. His love for you, a gay person, is older than dirt! God loved you, just the way you are, before you existed! You can take pride in the fact that God sought you out and chose you before the world was created.



Isaiah Chapter 44 indicates God formed gay people in the womb. You are not an accident. You are not defective. God formed you in the womb and made you who you are. Galatians 1:15 states the Apostle Paul was chosen before he was born. Just like the Apostle Paul, you were chosen to be a Christian before you were born. You can have pride, because God chose you and picked you to be on His team.



The account of creation in Genesis Chapter 2, tells us humans were created by hand. Humanity was not made by computer controlled robots. People were not a project of mass production. Like other valuable and rare masterpieces, gay humans were handcrafted. Genesis Chapter 1 tells gay people that they are created in God's image. Anything made in the image of God is valuable. You can have pride because you are a valuable masterpiece.



1 Corinthians Chapters 6 and 7 say you were bought with a price! The price paid for you was the life of the Son of God. Jesus died on Calvary to pay the price, so you could be saved. The business community understands that the value of an object is always set by the market. God set your value in the universe's market and He set the value very high! No higher price could have been paid for you. The richest, most powerful being in the universe said you were more valuable than everything He had. So the Son of God died for you. You can take pride in being gay, because you are of infinite value and the cross of Calvary proves that.



Romans 5:8-9 But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. In Greek, the word justify carries the meaning to vindicate, approve and honor. Gay Christians are vindicated, approved and honored by God, as gay people, because of Christ's atoning death. And nobody, gay or straight, has the right or the authority to put down or condemn people God has vindicated, approved and honored.



Gay Christians have the same reasons to have pride as straight Christians. Gay and straight Christians are equally called before the world was created, are equally formed in the womb by God and are equally redeemed by God. Gay Christians can and should have pride in who they are by creation, by birth and in Christ. To advocate that gay Christians should not have pride is to advocate that gay people feel and express no gratitude to God for being children of the King. When gay Christians are denied gay pride, they are asked to deny their Creator's role in their creation and birth, and is to deny their Redeemer's role in their salvation.



Benefits of Gay Pride



Some gay people find pride to be one time of the year when they do not feel alone, isolated, cut-off, rejected, hated and despised. Pride helps gay people feel they are not a tiny, powerless minority group. Through pride, many gay people find a sense of belonging, a sense of being worthwhile. Society has long taught gay people to hate themselves. By taking pride in who they are in Christ, gay people can start the long process of overcoming self-hate. Standing side-by-side with God, gay Christians are an accepted, loved, connected and powerful majority!



Gay Christians can find meaning in pride. They are start to feel able to freely and openly celebrate who they are in Christ. God wants that! God wants gay people to stop hating and fearing themselves, because those who live secret lives of pain are not able to fully celebrate their identity in Christ. Through gay pride, God calls gay Christians to live as though the world waits for them, waits for them to passionately praise God, to love as faithfully as God loves and to celebrate life, as they walk hand-in-hand with Christ into eternity.





Sign reads, "This is a gay that the Lord has made." You can rejoice and be glad in the gay God created. You can rejoice and be happy with how God made you!





















