PRIDE By Pastor Kim Montenegro
It was such a joy to be at Sacramento PRIDE this year. I am not often able to attend the parade because it is usually on a Sunday. This year is my first year serving at a reconciling church so it was part of our call to have the ministry of presence, and to simply be WITH people. While it is a simple call, often— it isn’t easy. We gathered on Sunday June 9th with 200 people from our fellow United Methodist Churches to celebrate love.
In preparation for this event we had a tie dying party! Kids and families were welcomed to participate and it was a blast! Ruby, a member of our congregation, washed all 188 shirts! I took the shirts belonging to my family home and washed them in our kitchen sink.
This was the first time I had ever tie dyed, so I was a little nervous. As I was washing the shirts, so many emotions washed over me as well. There aren’t many occasions that I have for hand-washing things in the sink, thank you modern technology! As the vibrancy of the bright blues, purples, and green ran over my hands, I called my youngest child over so he could see and take part in this fun, playful experience. I thought about how many lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, transsexual, queer people have hand washed their clothes in the sink with the color of red washing over their hands. The color of blood, the color of their own blood from being beaten by people who are against same sex relationships. The power of the moment wasn’t lost on me. Standing over the sink frantically washing their own blood off of their clothes trying to not let any family members see what they are doing.
PRIDE was started as a riot, there was blood and there was broken bodies. People were fighting for their right to exist. Contrary to my experience, it was not “playful” or “fun”. It was a violent demonstration of the harassment that people continually face to this day.
A lot has changed since that hot July 6th in 1969. Now, much of PRIDE sponsorship is paid by companies courting the GLTBQ community. As my family walked in the parade waving rainbow banners, calling out, “HAPPY PRIDE," I am reminded why we can never be silent again. We cannot turn our backs on any group of people who are persecuted or marginalized.
When people saw that our shirts said “United Methodist Pride," they cheered for our desire to include all. One woman shouted from the crowd, “ASK FOR A REVOTE” as reference to our Special General Conference this year in which our global church added heavy penalties to the GLTBQ community and allies who perform same sex weddings.
Later that day, away from the parade, a woman approached us and asked if we marched in the parade. When we said yes, she reference the Sacramento Bee’s article which says, “Sacramento-area Methodist churches are taking a stand in support of the LGBTQ community this weekend to protest a recent ruling by the denomination’s governing body that called homosexuality ‘incompatible’ with the teachings of Christianity.”
She said how much she respected our church taking a stand and that it really impressed her. These words humble me, and remind me what Christ was always calling us to be. We are not a social club with unspoken rules and traditions. We are called to fling open the doors of the church, leave the center of the action and walk out to the margins of society with an open hand and say, “May I walk with you”? I am thankful I am serving a church that understands this is a priority as a Christian.
Blessings,
Pastor Kim