How Should Christians Think About Pride Month?

Every year it seems like June’s Pride Month celebrations last longer and include more people. The celebration is now so huge (and so commercialized) that it can be difficult to know how to talk about it. Axis dives into the history of Pride Month, discusses what Pride means for young people in the LGBTQ+ community, and lands on some ideas for how Christians can approach this cultural conversation with biblical perspective and compassion.

//HIGHLIGHTS//
Rainbow Capitalism 00:00
History of Pride Month 00:57
Identity 2:07
How should Christians respond to Pride Month? 3:05
What does Jesus say? 4:44
Conclusion 5:43

//CONVERSATION STARTERS//
What do you think of brands changing their logos for Pride Month?
How do you think Jesus would treat the LGBTQ community today?

//AXIS' PARENT'S GUIDE TO LGBTQ AND YOUR TEEN//

// LINKS //

//SIGN UP//
Teen culture updates translated for parents (weekly):

//SUPPORT//

//SOURCES//
NPR. 2024. “People Say They’re Leaving Religion Due to Anti-LGBTQ Teachings and Sexual Abuse.”
Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health. (2022). “A Brief History of our LGBTQIA2-S Flag.”
Perry, Jackie Hill. (2018). Gay Girl, Good God: The Story of Who I Was and Who God Has Always Been. (Audio version.)
The American Presidency Project. “Proclamation 7203: Gay and Lesbian Pride Month, 1999”
The US Library of Congress. 1969: The Stonewall Uprising.
The Public Religion Research Institute. (2024). “New Survey Says ‘Religiously Unaffiliated’ is the Fastest Growing Religious Category.
Trueman, Carl. (2020). The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self: Cultural Amnesia, Expressive Individualism, and the Road to Sexual Revolution.

[ronyx]

Thank you. We might not agree on some things, but we can agree that we are all happier if we don't hate each other ❤

[gelo_b]

I’m sorry, but how can I accept someone if they can’t accept who they are?

[lesliekhouck]

Informative and compassionate video-thanks!

[alexschubert]

Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self is an excellent book on this subject. Appreciate all the resources you tie in to this and your weekly emails

[paulsmith]

When I was growing up, to have a baby outside of marriage was publicly shamed. In not loving the sinner while we hated the sin - I think we lost a lot of people who left the church. I think today is no different - I cannot condone certain life choices, but I can love the person and be present for them.

[kaydubs]

Good, timely reminder to love throughout the distractions and to teach our children to, above all, love.

[sunnydayz]

Yes, Jesus taught to love God and love people AND he gave the “great commission” (end of Matthew 28). . So our task is to abide in him (John 15), receive his love (Ephesians 3:17-ff), pass his love onto others, and fulfill the great commission, by his Holy Spirit power. This is walking in ‘grace and truth’, , just as he did. When the woman caught in adultery, was brought before him, He told her “Go and sin no more.” So he was kind to her, and loving, AND he told her the truth….so it’s “BOTH/AND”- “grace and truth, love and truth”… by his Holy Spirit living in his children we follow him. We go and do likewise. Jude is a great book to read on this subject too- amd it’s only one page! 😊👍 Also, the book of Revelation. 🙌 Revelation is only about 17 pages.

[nacht_owl]

That's not true. Being LGBT does not mean you place your sexual orientation at the heart of who you are as a person. That is simply an untrue statement. Many do unfortunately, but your explanation of what pride is about is not true. There is nothing complicated about the month. LGBT persons do not need to hear what you have to say about them. The rest of the year is already inherently tough for LGBT persons. You don't need to do anything.

[BetrayalTraumaPractitioner]

There are hundreds of thousands of gay Christians. Let's not forget this.

[LieslVistaunet]

We humans, in our limited language and understanding, landed on two genders because that's what our bodies visibly display. But it gets really complicated in the delivery room when a baby is born with ambiguous genitals. But it happens. And unless you're going to say that baby isn't a precious child of God because we can't tell if it's female or male, you'll need to throw out a lot of other beliefs around gender, too. Just need to push a little on this.

I've often wondered why we're so certain God is "He." Because if God made humans in His image, and He made exactly two genders, then God is also She. I rarely hear anyone refer to God as "She, " even though technically, if we're getting really literal with our Bibles, SHE/HE would be accurate. Here's another thought: maybe God is not to be put in a box and rather than defining God in the masculine "He, " God is more of a They/She/He - Holy, Holy, Holy.

This is probably pretty hard for many Christians to hear, but if you're following the Bible as a literal word of God, and believe God made humans in His/Her image, male and female He/She created them, then yeah.... gender is a spectrum.

I made peace with that idea LONG before attaching pronouns to your email signature was a "thing." So as the conversation has heated up in the last 5+ years, I've sat back and watched people's brains blow up because of their dogged-certainty. And sadly, many Christians, in their certainty, are just digging a hole they can't climb out of.

Before we label and put people in boxes (or God for that matter), we must pause and dig into the absolute truth. They are a precious child of God. Always. No matter what. Whatever we do and say should be centered on that truth first.