With Pride festivals around the nation canceled or postponed, LGBTQ Nation is bringing the celebration to you with our new series “Flashes of Pride.” We’ll look back at some of our community’s finest moments from the past few years as a reminder that no matter what life throws our way, queer people will fight our way through it and dance when we hit the other side.
When Jamilah Salvador went to the local pride parade in Marikina City, Philippines, she saw something completely unexpected. She tweeted photos of a group of Pentecostal Christians marching behind a banner that simply said: “I’m sorry.”
Related: Parades might get canceled, but Pride never will be
“I literally cried when I saw this [a little while ago],” she wrote. “Imagine living in a society with nothing but love and respect for each other.”
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“We’re here to apologize for the ways that we as Christians have harmed the LGBT community,” the banner said.
The group carried other signs that said things like “God loves you, so do we” and “I used to be a Bible-banging homophobe. Sorry!”
“We are apologizing for the way Christians have hurt the LGBT community, especially by using the Bible in condemning and judging them,” said Pastor Val Paminiano.
“I used to believe that God condemns homosexuals, but when I studied the scriptures, especially the ones that we call ‘clobber scriptures’ that are being cherry-picked from the Bible to condemn LGBT people, I realized that there’s a lot to discover, including the truth that God is not against anyone.”
