Why Christians should celebrate Pride.

Loving the LGBTQ+ community isn't an optional thing for people of faith.

When I designed some Pride merchandise for my Etsy shop, I figured it would annoy some of the Christians who follow me. Many devout Christians believe it is a sin to be gay or trans—or anything they are not, or haven’t experienced for themselves. Making shirts with slogans like “Love wins,” “You are enough,” and “Free mom hugs” felt a little bit rebellious. Subversive, even. Which is ridiculous.

Just to be clear—this isn’t about me. I am not doing anything remarkable, nor am I in any way, shape, or form experiencing hardships or discrimination.

It’s about something much bigger: About how messed up it is that Christians, a people group that should be all about love—giving love, expressing love, sharing love, promoting love—seem to show everything but love when it comes to the LGBTQ+ community.

Before I go forward, I want to be clear that I’m not talking about all Christians. Some people—and some churches—are able and willing to love, accept, and affirm people without hesitation. I’m so thankful about that. And countless other really great people of faith feel a genuine conflict in their hearts—they know all people are worthy of love and that all are loved by God, and they try genuinely to show them that love, but they’ve been taught that people in the LGBTQ+ community are sinning. One on one, they can accept and maybe even affirm them, but the teachings they’ve heard run deep and they’ve been conditioned to “help” them by telling them they’re sinners, because saving someone’s soul is more important than potentially offending them. I know people who adore their children or family members or friends and will do anything for them, will not let anything keep them from the relationship, but deep in their hearts they’re torn because they still believe people are making a choice that doesn’t align with the Bible as they’ve been taught it.

But having spent a couple decades in the evangelical community, I’m aware that relatively few people in that culture are able to love this community without limitation.

There’s a persistent myth in some corners of the Church that loving the LGBTQ+ community is somehow an optional, even risky, act for Christians—something reserved for the liberals or those trying to be culturally relevant. They believe those of us who do affirm the LGBTQ+ community are compromising our values for the sake of making people feel good. They want to trounce out the Bible verses that mention homosexuality, conveniently forgetting (or simply never having known) that “abomination” and “homosexuality” are words that weren’t added to Bible translations until recently. And that the scriptures that condemn it don’t actually mean what they were taught. (I give thanks and highly recommend Colby Martin’s UnClobber: Rethinking Our Misuse of the Bible on Homosexuality, which has good, solid teachings on these topics.)

But if you want to be “biblical,” let’s look at the teachings of Jesus.

“By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”
— John 13:35 (NIV)

If you call yourself a follower of Christ, love is not optional.

Jesus gravitated toward those on the outside.
He touched the untouchables.
He listened more than he lectured.
He elevated the stories of the marginalized, offering dignity and honor in a world that withheld both.

That’s not conditional love. Not love after coming to some sort of agreement. Not love after theological alignment. Not love contingent on changing a foundational part of who you are.

Just love.

So I would venture to say that a Christian not only can love their LGBTQ+ neighbors, but must—not in a patronizing way, not as a “project,” not in spite of who they are—but fully, freely, and without reservation.

Because anything less than that is not the gospel.

If your understanding of Jesus allows you to withhold love from someone because of their identity, you may need to return to the Gospels and meet him again.

If your theology leads you to anything less than compassion, humility, and proximity, it’s not Christlike—no matter how convincing it sounds.

Loving the LGBTQ+ community isn’t a threat to your faith. It’s a test of it.

I’ve heard many kind-hearted, loving Christians say that they can love the LGBTQ+ community, but they can’t celebrate Pride because they won’t celebrate sin. First of all, I don’t believe it’s a sin to be who God made you to be. I’ve heard the argument that being gay is similar to being an alcoholic—it may be an inherent part of your makeup, but it’s something you have to resist. That just because you’re made that way, it doesn’t mean it’s right to indulge it. I don’t believe this is the same thing at all. Again, I’d refer you back to that UnClobber book I mentioned earlier.

If your gospel isn’t good news for everyone, it’s not the gospel. It is not enough to say “I love you” while keeping your distance. Love crosses the street—not moving away from someone, but moving towards them. Love sits down at the table, and scooches over to make room for one more. (And another and another.) Love leaves behind what is comfortable and ventures into uncomfortable territory. It opens minds and is willing to learn what it doesn’t understand. It doesn’t reject individuals but loves people for what makes them unique.

Love doesn’t see gender or sexuality or race or religion—love sees the image of God reflected in every person, every face, every form.

If we’re serious about following Jesus, we cannot exempt ourselves from loving the people he went out of his way to embrace. One way to love them is to celebrate their inherent beauty, unique abilities, unfathomable talents, and capacity for love. To allow them the dignity of being who they are. To step outside of our comfort zones and ensure they have the same rights and privileges that we have enjoyed simply because, for whatever reason, our bodies or the people we love happen to fit within the bounds of our society’s comfort levels.

We don’t get to choose who is “in” or “out”. Our role—our task, our privilege—is simply to love.

Walking in the footsteps of Jesus compels you to love the LGBTQ+ community, not despite your faith, but because of it.