PRIDE ‘26 …
I encountered these protestors at the Birmingham Pride Parade, and much to the dismay of my group, I stopped to talk to them. I asked them what they hoped to accomplish, to which they responded: “To provoke.” I guess that is why they had a GoPro attached to the “TURN TO JESUS” sign… because the Lord Jesus himself was always making sure to get footage of the people he provoked in Samaria.
I asked them if they knew anything about those verses on their sign above Jesus’ name. You know the ones… the 2 or 3 out of thousands verses that they believe give them the right to provoke. They told me that those verses condemn all of the gays and lesbians around them (the ones who were clearly more joyful than the ones holding the hate signs). I told them that they were, in fact, wrong about those verses.
They asked me which version of the Bible I was reading, probably assuming the Message or the NLT. I said the Greek… which seemed to flummox them a bit. They launched into a dissertation about how the KJV was the only translation to trust, as it was translated directly into English by William Tyndale from the Hebrew.
It was now my turn to be flummoxed. Where do I even begin?
I tried to keep it simple, and simply said that there were multiple factual problems with that statement… but most importantly, were they aware that the KJV doesn’t contain the word “homosexual” or any similar word, and that none of those verses on those signs even implied the word “homosexuality” in its translation.
I could feel the temperature rising.
Sign Man asked me what I did. I said I am a pastor. He quickly responded: “…of a gay church?” “No,” I said. “So a straight church,” he concluded. “There is no such thing,” I said, unable to hide a bit of a smirk.
“You know,” I said, “Your sign lists all kinds of things… not just homosexuality. Do you stand outside of your own church and protest to provoke?” He looked a bit caught off guard, “Why would I?”
“Well, I see you have ‘liars’ up there in that list, do you give them the same treatment outside your church as you are giving the folks here?”
I could see the anger flash. Understandably so, I suppose. I had provoked him and he hadn’t expected it. I suppose only he was allowed to do the provoking.
“You are a demon and this conversation is over,” he said as he turned his back to me, the conversation clearly over from his standpoint.
I walked away to rejoin my friends and to apologize for delaying their merrymaking. I really was sorry, because honestly, I should have just shaken the dust off of my sandals and avoided them… treating them much like the pious religious person who stood in the public square and shouted his religious resume so all could see how great he was.
But there was a parade to enjoy…. a parade in which at least 70% of the floats were from churches (like the one I attend, the one pictured). And I think that makes a far better statement about Jesus than the sign, tbh.