Gay and Lesbian Pride - A Religious Experience

June was gay and lesbian pride month in New York City and through out much of the world. 40 years ago in June, the modern gay and lesbian civil rights movement was born in a series of riots when the New York City Police Department raided the Stonewall Inn, a bar in Greenwich Village. On the last Sunday of June, in New York City, a march is held to commemorate that event. The March is the largest annually scheduled civil rights march in the country.

Pride in New York is something to behold. There are rallies, parties, film festivals, dances, concerts, a candlelight AIDS Vigil and religious services.

This year, as in year’s past, I attended the Gay Pride Shabbat service at Temple Emanuel in Edison, NJ. Congregation Beth Simchat Torah (CBST) is the largest lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) synagogue in the world and yes they have services during Pride. I believe openly gay Episcopal Bishop Gene Robinson was in New York to help celebrate Pride in New York on Pride Sunday. Area churches also have services to celebrate Pride.

Earlier in June, I attended some of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersexed (LGBTI) pride events in Asbury Park, NJ. There were special services at the Metropolitan Community Church and there were marching contingents from area churches. There were various religious organizations with tables at the Pride festival following the march. This year, as in years past, Trinity Church in Asbury Park handed out packets of seeds in the hopes that we plant them and bring flowers into our lives.

In New York City, there were more religious marching contingents than one could count. There were the Episcopal churches (lots of Episcopal Churches), CBST, Metropolitan Community Churches, Dignity (the gay and lesbian Catholic organization), Integrity (the Episcopal gay and lesbian organization), AXIOS Eastern and Orthodox LGBT Christians, Lutheran churches, Presbyterian churches, nondenominational churches, the Jesuit Church of Saint of Saint Francis Xavier, and so many others that I cannot even remember them all.

The NYC March can best be descried as a party for 1 million of your closest friends. There are wonderful people who I see once a year at Pride. The March route is four miles long and with this many people, it takes hours and hours in the usually hot end of June sun. After being on the March route for hours, Marchers finally reach the Village. As they enter the Village they come across two or three marvelous churches along the March route. These churches hand out water to the marchers. My personal favorite is The Church of the Ascension. For over 20 years, I have volunteered and helped out at the NYC March. This year, I was assigned near The Church of the Ascension. They took care of my backpack for me, they gave me water, and they treated me like family. They were wonderful. They did not merely hand out water to tired, sweaty marchers, the handed out water with ice and lemon to the marchers.

For those who have never experienced NYC Pride, it is something very special, plus it can be a religious experience.