This is the fifth year or so that I've marched with my fellow Unitarian Universalist church members in in the Iowa City Pride Festival. This particular year, the parade was both eye opening and anger provoking.
Perhaps because it is an election year, the turnout of Democrats running for office was very noticeable. Also noticeable were the outpouring of religious right folks who numbered around twenty or thirty who seemed to feel that those in the parade were commiting an abominable sins.
I imagine that if there were a non-abominable sin parade, these same folks would find a much smaller audience than they were able to attract at this weekend's event. Nonetheless, the group did disperse as quickly as the last GLBT parader swung their rainbow flag past them.
While I appreciate protestation and practice the art of it on a regular basis, I wonder if an opportunity to educate was squandered on Saturday. Granted, I would not expect either side to be converted, but at least there should be a way for people who fear for others' mortal souls to hear that those "sinners" are doing all right without the power of their prayers.
I wonder how it is possible for a group of anti-Gay zealots to "love the sinner but not the sin" when they focus so much of their attention on the sinners? I am glad to support my friends as an ally, but I also dispair at those who would choose to believe that their existence is somehow a threat to them or their God--the very same God that we are made in the image of.
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