Guest writer this week is Jim Allardice, Commission Lay Pastor
This Sunday—Pride Sunday—is a day to celebrate, a time to look back and a time to look ahead. To most Americans, just half-a-century ago “queer” meant odd, bizarre, or just plain strange; however, for over a hundred and fifty years it had been a self-identifier of the gay community. Today queer is both an inclusive umbrella word used by the LGBTQ community in general, and specifically those on the spectrum of gender and sexual fluidity, but the definition itself is fluid. Words often move and shift with time as does attitude.
52 years ago, Stonewall Inn in New York, a gay and transgender dance bar, was raided by the police, one of dozens of such violent attacks that year; however, the patrons, led by a Black transgender woman fought back, and the modern LGBTQ movement came out of the closet and stepped into the light of the world. Today we mark that day with Pride parades, and at MPC a Rainbow Pride flag flies outside of the churchnext to a blue and pink Trans Flag: today, all are welcome in our pews.
Looking back to 1978 when San Francisco Supervisor Harvey Milk was assassinated, some MPC folks joined the candlelight vigil in his memory. Over time, openly gay men and lesbians felt comfortable in our pews, and in 1988 the church declared itself a “More Light” church indicating we are working toward full participation of LGBTQ people in the witness of the church and the recognition of same-sex marriages and the ordination of gay men, lesbian and transgender ministers. For many years, each June MPC members joined in San Francisco’s Gay Pride Parade, and in the early years of this century, same-sex weddings were conducted.
God is gender-free, and yet the world outside our little bubble can be uncertain and even dangerous for those who don’t fit neatly into the male and female binary of sexual orientation and gender identity. We are fortunate that queer-ness and trans-ness are explored among the young adults and youth of our church, and the queer folx who worship with us are opening our eyes to the systemic LGBTQ prejudice, discrimination, and violence in the world and continuing the growth in MPC’s awareness, acceptance, and embrace of the LGBTQ struggle for freedom of religious expression.
~ Jim