By Bob Vitale
“What does the word ‘family’ mean to you?,” Chere Hampton asked the children Sunday at Summit on 16th United Methodist Church.
“Loving. Joy. Fun,” a boy responded.
What does family look like to you?,” she asked.
“Somebody caring for each other, loving each other,” said a young girl.
In that case, Columbus’s month of official Pride events started yesterday with a family gathering. At an Interfaith Pride Blessing hosted by Summit on 16th, the message from religious leaders and people of faith offered a stark contrast to the firings, condemnation and intolerance that have come lately from other Christian quarters in Columbus.
Prayers and greetings from Jewish, Sikh and Christian traditions spoke of love and affirmation.
“The church and its leaders have often been the ones inflicting the most damage in the LGBT community,” said the Rev. April Blaine, Summit on 16th’s lead pastor.
“I have heard the stories, people who have been told they are not loved by God,” she said. “But there is a difference in what people say about God and what God says about us.”
People shared stories about their own experiences, affirming and not:
– Megan, an ally, said she was shunned by members of the church she grew up in after she began speaking out for LGBT civil rights. “Everyone I knew saw me as misled or even an enemy,” she said.
– Josh walked away from 13 years in an “ex-gay” ministry and from religion altogether until attending his first Columbus Pride in 2010 and seeing so many welcoming churches in the parade.
– Jacob said his rabbi was more accepting than his family when he came out as transgender.
– Susan recalled her mother making her pay attention to ugly scenes of police brutality toward civil rights marchers in the 1960s and telling her never to allow such hatred into her own heart.
Nearly 50 religious organizations in Central Ohio list themselves as open and affirming toward LGBT people. Chris Cozad, a member of the Columbus Community Relations Commission and a former Pride organizer, said no church was willing to host Pride services in the early and mid-1980s. They took place in the gazebo at Goodale Park.
“It’s wonderful to see a congregation, a church like Summit on 16th, open its hearts and doors to us,” she said.
Services ended with the hymn, “Draw the Circle Wide”:
Let this be our song: No one stands alone.
Standing side by side, draw the circle, draw the circle wide.
“You are never alone,” Blaine said. “You are loved beyond your wildest imagination.”
