Christian group apologizes at Chicago Pride Parade

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Christian group apologizes at Chicago Pride Parade

by Brett Anthony

Filed under: Lifestyle, Local News

Sun. July 4, 2010 8:01:29 AM : 9 Comments - continue the discussion

Short URL: http://gopride.com/Zuq

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2013

Chicago, IL — A Christian group spent last Sunday at Chicago's 41st annual Pride Parade to offer what they call an "alternative Christian voice" from the protesters stationed at the end of the parade.

Nathan Albert hugs a participant in the pride parade

Nathan Albert, the Director of Pastoral Care for the Marin Foundation, and a group of friends from the Foundation attended the parade wearing shirts that read, "I'm sorry." They also had signs that said, "I'm sorry that Christians judge you," "I'm sorry the way churches have treated you," "I used to be a bible-banging homophobe, sorry."

Albert writes about his experience on his blog.

"What I loved most about the day is when people ‘got it.' I loved watching people's faces as they saw our shirts, read the signs, and looked back at us. Responses were incredible. Some people blew us kisses, some hugged us, some screamed thank you."

The 29-year-old minister says the experience brought tears to his eyes many times. "It was reconciliation personified."

Later he describes his favorite moment, when he hugged a man in his underwear, which is the title of his blog entry. "I think Jesus would have too," writes Albert.

"…he was dancing on the float, he noticed us and jokingly yelled, ‘What are you sorry for? It's pride!' I pointed to our signs and watched him read them.

Then it clicked.

Then he got it.

He stopped dancing. He looked at all of us standing there. A look of utter seriousness came across his face. And as the float passed us he jumped off of it and ran towards us. In all his sweaty beautiful abs of steal, he hugged me and whispered, ‘thank you.'"

Albert says the dancer, known as Tristan, has commented on his blog entry and they have been in email contact.

"We're hoping to meet up for coffee sometime soon. Small world!"

Andrew Marin founded the Marin Foundation, a Christian group whose goal is building bridges between the religious and LGBT communities. Marin has come under fire from some LGBT journalists in the past, including a 2006 Advocate article by Michelangelo Signorile.

Read Nathan Albert's whole blog post here.

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POST A COMMENT

That's so awesome.

Posted by Brandy Meserole on Sun, 7/4/2010 10:41 AM

Wow! I love this! I remember seeing them during the parade but I didn't pay to much attention to them. Amazing!

Posted by Dani Alexander on Sun, 7/4/2010 11:05 AM

See, it's a proven fact: Love > Hate

Posted by Joe Castillon on Sun, 7/4/2010 11:29 AM

awesome....so glad to see they are finally comin around

Posted by Brian K. Hughes on Sun, 7/4/2010 2:49 PM

Very touching. It pleases me to see my fellow Christians moving in the right direction towards acceptance of my fellow gays. :)

Posted by Amanda Brown on Sun, 7/4/2010 3:54 PM

Oh Chile Please!! I would Have threw Blood on them like on Carrie!! They been hating on the gay parade for many years, and this one time, how can you forgive? They need to do more than just wear t-shirts and make signs saying they are sorry. SMH

Posted by Ron Stowe on Mon, 7/5/2010 4:03 PM

hahaha i get it Ron but at least is the start of something...

Posted by Ruth Carrillo on Mon, 7/5/2010 4:18 PM

Well, I think forgiveness is something that happens to the person who forgives, not the person who offended. When you forgive someone, you make a decision to get on with life, including the offending person, noting that you believe that they don't intend to repeat the offense, but it doesn't mean that you don't keep one eye open (no personal reference there) to guard against what might happen.
But we have to recognize that the Chrisitan Right has kidnapped the name "Chiristian." There are many Christians who fully embrace the love God has for all his children, and they include us all. It is frustrating to be a Christian and forced to answer for those who claim to have the only answers, and who use the name of God to justify hatred and intolerance.

Posted by Mike Linder on Tue, 7/6/2010 11:33 AM

That is rather nice,,, but what was somewhat disappointing me, was that that it neglected to mention the fact that there are ---already-- a TON of religious organizations and churches actually represented -IN- nearly every Pride Parade in the world!

So, while the big "I'm sorry' message gets more attention, any actual and TRUE Christians, Buddhists, etc - have in the past, and will most certainly be in the future, actually accepting of ALL PEOPLE.

It is pretty awesome to see these contingents grow to be a each year at the pride parades etc. but the common kneejerk reaction in the GLBTQ community to automatically dismiss and even persecute the varied religious communities of the earth has always struck me as both rather hypocritical as well as just simply - unnecessary.

Yes, some extremists have certainly garnered the most attention and been VERY hateful in their use of the GLBTQ causes as their fund raising rhetoric - however- intelligent queers and liberals need to remember that these ARE, after all - only the most vocal of extremists!

Posted by DJ blu on Tue, 8/2/2011 6:16 PM

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