There’s a wonderful story in The Durham News about the LGBT-affirming churches in Durham that march in the NC Pride parade to counter the anti-gay houses of worship that show up with their “turn or burn” signs and show that there are churches with open arms for LGBTs of faith.

For years, the presence of Christian groups at the N.C. Gay Pride Festival and Parade held annually in Durham were folks with bullhorns on the sidewalk suggesting that these visitors to the city take their festivities elsewhere.

In the past few years, however, attitudes have been changing and some area congregations have begun marching in the parade, handing out literature and riding on floats. The message is that people don’t have to choose between their sexual orientation and their religion.

One church, Calvary United Methodist, is well-known for showing up to hand out bottles of water to overheated parade marchers, offering an invitation to worship on the label of the botte.

The Rev. Laurie Hays Coffman, the pastor, said one of the high moments in her ministry came a few years ago when a young man stepped out of the marching crowd, put his arms around her and said it was the first time he had seen anyone from a church at a parade without a bullhorn inviting him and his fellow walkers to get out of town.

Other churches attending Pride this weekend are regulars Watts Street Baptist, Pilgrim United Church of Christ on Academy Drive, Binkley Baptist in Chapel Hill (carrying a banner that says “All are Welcome in this Place”). Watts Street will have a Noah’s ark themed float this year, with the organist dressed as Noah(!) Pilgrim will have a booth at Pride and march in the parade; its senior pastor, Rev. Ginger Brasher-Cunningham, will hold an Ecumenical Communion service at 11 a.m. The parade kicks off at 1PM.

The presence of these houses of worship is another spoke in the wheel of my keynote at Pride. The problem these bigoted “Christians” have to contend with is that their myopic worldview is there is only one Christian POV (never mind any other faiths)  – this nonsense is what, in the end, is going to sink the bible-based anti-gay movement. For the American South, a region steeped in religion — and hypocrisy — this is the kind of pushback needed to marginalized those who judge (while sinning the other six days of the week), rather than condemn religion itself.

The week after Pride, Pilgrim United Church of Christ will have a celebration to commemorate 10 years as an open and affirming congregation, on October 3 from 10-noon. The event will feature The Common Woman Chorus (friends of mine are in the group), and the Rev. Yvette Flunder of City of Refuge UCC in San Francisco will speak. Flunder does amazing work.

(Herald-Sun):

Ten years ago, some members of the church were concerned about how becoming an Open and Affirming congregation would affect them. The congregation overall was supportive, but there were a few reservations, said Dan Barco, a member for 25 years. UCC congregations are independent, so while the process was presented at the denominational level, churches choose for themselves whether or not to become Open and Affirming.

“As a congregation, the topic was unsettling for some,” said Barco. “It’s also painful to engage in conflict.”

He was chairman of the deacon board when the church went through the process, which took about two years. First, the congregation had to agree they’d talk about it and educate themselves about the implication of becoming Open and Affirming. Then they undertook committees, educational sessions and more discussions involving what the Bible does and doesn’t say about homosexuality. They hosted visits from people on various sides of the issue including PFLAG parents, other pastors and churches that went through the process already, and gays and lesbians who spoke about their experiences at church.

One person left Pilgrim, but later returned, Barco said. “Actually, we ended up with less impact than my fears at their worst,” he said. As deacon chair, his job was to bring everybody together. Looking back, the move was positive, he said.