How the Other Half Lives

This weekend Jamie and I decided to stop by the Pride Festival in Atlanta. For those of you who are out of the know, Pride is short for Gay Pride. I was hoping it would be a very colorful festival with a lot of photo ops. It turned out to be a massive picknick on the lawn of Piedmont Park without much excitement. Outside of the occasional strangely dressed, poorly dressed, or undressed person, there was very little to comment on. I took very few pictures there. To borrow an expression from Fight Club, I was feeling like a "tourist." My camera would have only confirmed it.

Jamie and I were only there for an hour so I actually have very little to say about how the other half lives. I just thought it would be fun to apply the Jacob Riis title to a more contemporary situation. I was somewhat surprised by the diversity of the crowd and offended by the message of the churches, but beyond that there is very little I can say. I understood that the gay crowd was quite diverse (I've accumulated this street-wise education of course from a few episodes of Six Feet Under and Sex in the City), but for some reason I expected Pride to only appeal to the most flambouyant gays. I think this was part of the reason for my dissapointment. I was treating Pride more like a step back in time to a freakshow. With a little luck, I'd hoped to even get a few Diane Arbus style photos. The normalcy of the whole thing was not only disappointing, but also a little unsettling. It's easier to handle homosexuality when it seems foreign and abnormal. Homosexuality is not the type of issue that can be walled out of our lives. It's become too normal. If we try and act as if it doesn't exist by walling it out, we risk becoming the irrelevent freaks.

Gays have built an impressive community. An hour strole through Piedmont Park last weekend revealed a very diverse community. It was tempting to label this diversity as even cliqueish, and it may have been to a degree. But the truth is there was very little evidence of the community forming cliques other than its diversity. It seems as if the community has created somewhat of a counterfeit church. A community that behaves as if it is one.

This was one of the most troubleling things about the churches that were present there. None of the church booths that we passed seemed to even imply that homosexuality was a sinful decision. They had plenty of magnents that said "gay friendly" or "gay accepting", but none of them had a gospel presentation. It was as if the gospel was changed. No longer has Christ come to save us from our sins. Instead he just decided to ignore our sins. This false gospel may give us bigger church choirs, but it presents a damning message.

A truly gay friendly message would not sacrifice Truth to Tolerance. If we encourage people to live as if truth doesn't exist we will ineveitably do more harm than good. The worst harm will certainly come when this present life has passed, but there will be consequences for ignoring the truth in the present as well.

After visiting Pride, I am much more convinced that there needs to be more evangelical ministry to homosexuals. In this community, the gospel message needs to be treated very delicately. I believe only Evangelicals can truly carry out this delicate balance of truth and love.