Lay member Nancy Glades wrote this wrap-up of Excelsior UMC’s participation in the Pride Festival held in Minneapolis last month. I’ll try to get photos of the event up soon. -nm
I wanted to share with you my experience at the Gay Pride Parade on June 27, 2010.
I am chair of our EUMC Reconciling Committee. We have been a reconciling congregation for about 3 years now but this is the first time we have participated in the parade and had a presence at the RCM booth (though we have been on their sign as one of the reconciling congregations in Minnesota). Linda Hammer headed up our effort.
Our committee is small but dedicated. Bill lent us his pickup, and drove. Jean designed our magnetic EUMC signs for the doors, and lovely t-shirts based on our Resurrection window in the sanctuary. (We had the best shirts I saw there.) Cleavelands (Peter, Linda H, and Piper) and Piper’s friends Shannon and Maia, and Liz Reid and her daughter Caitlyn, and Roger Dressen and Molly Griffin and her son Jasper, and Cleaveland’s dog Mongo, and I marched. It was festive, fun, lively, hot, tiring, energizing, enthusiastic, faith-filled, and heart-warming.
Honestly, I have never been to the Gay Pride festival or parade before. News coverage makes it seem flamboyant (I am not) and sometimes confrontational (I am not) and that was enough to keep me away even after I knew my daughter was gay.
We had marching Buddhists in front of us (music, fans and tees in primary colors, choreography (!), Hmong gay folks behind us (roller blades, tiaras, a rented U-Haul), a big contingent of Matt Entenza proponents across the street as we lined up, drag queens in pedicabs behind them. Everyone was friendly. The sun was shining. We didn’t get to march with the Reconciling Ministries congregations because we didn’t know in time, but I liked that our “float” was little and humble and OURS. We are a reconciling church, not just part of a whole conglomerate of them.
Molly noticed that there were people who noticed us, said something to their neighbor about our sign, or reacted with a shout or thumbs up. Maybe they were Methodist, or from Excelsior, or just liked our outreach. We waved the parade wave, whooped from time to time, and kept marching.
I took pictures to give folks at home the flavor. Unfortunately I didn’t do a posed shot of everyone from our church who was there. I took shots of the crowds as we passed. One elderly man waved me over to take a picture of him and his wheelchair bound partner, both in large sunhats. Maybe they liked that we were church people; maybe he just wanted to record their presence at the event. How sweet. I hope they have experienced welcome in their long lives as gay partners.
During my shift at the booth in Loring Park later in the afternoon, I chatted with a number of passers-by, and with other reconciling congregation members. One brought her Indian exchange student (what an introduction to America!), one woman in black leather (revealing) introduced her young male friend to me, commiserated on how conservative the suburbs can be. I said we aren’t, at our church. I was proud; she was doubtful. Another young (hererosexual) couple stopped and said they had just joined another Methodist congregation (non-reconciling) and asked about it at their new members class. They got an evasive answer but others in their group were interested. I directed her to the website for more information on how to change churches, and told her to gather a like-minded group and go for it. I believe she will.
Change comes slowly, in small increments, by people sharing what they know and taking the bold step of sharing their stories. Maybe this blog will help us to share more deeply – I hope so! (BOLD stands for Believe Out Loud, the emphasis in this year’s Reconciling work). And consider marching next year!
Nancy
