How Should Christians Respond to Pride Month?
Introduction
Pride Month is an annual observance recognizing the contributions of the LGBTQ+ community and advocating for their rights. For a Christian, responding requires navigating a challenging cultural space.
The individual people within the LGBTQ+ community are created in the Image of God and deserve dignity, respect, and unconditional love. However, the ideology and celebration often associated with Pride directly challenge the biblical standard of marriage and sexual morality.
The Christian response must affirm the person while clearly maintaining the conviction about the truth of Scripture.
1. The Mandate of Unconditional Love and Dignity
The first and non-negotiable Christian response is to treat every person with dignity and unconditional love, regardless of identity or lifestyle.
Affirming the Imago Dei: Every person in the LGBTQ+ community is created in the Image of God and has inherent worth. Hatred, mockery, or mistreatment of any person is condemned by Scripture. Christians are called to be the most compassionate, generous, and loving people on earth.
Scripture Says: "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." (Mark 12:31). This command is universal, applying to neighbors who agree with you and those who fundamentally disagree.
Avoiding Judgmentalism: The Christian's role is not to stand in judgment over the world's moral failings, but to present the Gospel in love. Hypocrisy, such as condemning sexual sin in others while ignoring one's own sins of greed, lust, or self-righteousness, is strictly forbidden.
Scripture Says: "Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?" (Matthew 7:3).
2. Maintaining Conviction: The Unchanging Truth
While extending love, the Christian must stand firm on the unchanging moral truth revealed in Scripture regarding sexuality and marriage.
Marriage as Covenant: The Bible defines marriage exclusively as a lifelong covenant between one man and one woman (Genesis 2:24; Matthew 19:4–6). Any sexual expression outside of this covenant is defined as sexual immorality (porneia), which is contrary to God's will.
Rejecting the Ideology: The Christian must oppose the cultural and political ideology of Pride Month when it attempts to normalize or celebrate practices that the Bible defines as sin. While Christians are not called to impose biblical law on the general public (as the role of the State is separate), they are commanded to live by and advocate for biblical truth in the public square.
Scripture Says: "Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will." (Romans 12:2).
Identity in Christ: The Christian must point to the ultimate source of identity not in human desires or sexual orientation, but in Jesus Christ (Colossians 3:11). All people—regardless of their struggle—are called to find their identity and purpose in conforming to Christ's image.
3. Practical Christian Engagement: Discernment and Witness
The practical response involves being intentional about where and how the Christian engages the culture during this time.
Seek Dialogue, Not Division: Rather than engaging in confrontation or hateful rhetoric, Christians should seek respectful dialogue. We must be prepared to give an answer for our hope, but always with gentleness and respect (1 Peter 3:15).
Focus on Holiness in Self: The Christian response to cultural sin must first be repentance and a pursuit of holiness in one's own life (e.g., self-control in sexuality, purity in marriage, avoiding pornography, etc.). A credible witness starts at home.
Live the Counter-Cultural Life: The most powerful response to the culture of Pride is the vibrant, loving witness of Christian community—churches and families who demonstrate the beauty, fulfillment, and radical difference of biblical marriage, commitment, and self-control.
Conclusion
A Christian should respond to Pride Month with a posture of radical love and respect for every individual (Mark 12:31) while maintaining a firm, unwavering commitment to the truth of Scripture regarding sexuality and marriage (Romans 12:2).
This balance requires discernment to separate the person from the ideology, focusing on extending the grace and truth of the Gospel in all interactions.
