A Texas church recently offered “Free Mom Hugs” at a Pride parade in Austin, Texas, offering participants a taste of the love many of them no longer receive from their own families, usually because of their religious beliefs.

The person doing the hugging in that picture is Jen Hatmaker, a Christian author who was roasted by evangelicals for expressing support for the LGBTQ community. She supports marriage equality and believes same-sex relationships can be holy. Because she expressed those views, her books were pulled from LifeWay, a large Christian retailer, and she lost a significant portion of her fan base.

All that’s to say her offer of “mom hugs” is no empty gesture like we see some Christians offer at Pride parades.

Sara Cunningham, who gets a shout-out from Hatmaker for being the inspiration for the “mom hugs,” is the woman who offered to attend same-sex weddings in place of parents who refuse to attend.

Cassandra Stone at Scary Mommy notes that this act of love is something any group can do:

… This is such an easy, simple, literally free act of kindness that can completely make someone’s day. Unfortunately, it’s common for members of the LGBTQ community to have not-so-great relationships with their parents or other relatives — so this act of acceptance and unconditional love is a truly beautiful thing.

A lot of Christians pay lip service to the idea of “loving” the LGBTQ community. It’s the “sin” they don’t like, but everything else is okay, right? Unfortunately, their actions — like voting against same-sex marriage, refusing to sell them baked goods, restricting their ability to adopt children at federally funded agencies — say another. Hatmaker is the real deal, though. She’s someone whose walk matches her talk.

If only more Christians would follow her lead.

