Below is my column in today's edition of the Grand Haven Tribune.
Last month, someone forwarded me the May newsletter from the Ottawa County GOP.
They began straightaway saying that while normally they would focus on Memorial Day (and rightfully so), they chose instead to focus on the upcoming Grand Haven Pride Festival. They wrote, “Because what happened last year was devastating to the Grand Haven community and Ottawa County at large, we feel a responsibility to inform the public of what took place and are asking our responsible citizenry to please spread awareness.”
“Devastating” I asked myself, thinking about the numerous news reports and videos that showed thousands celebrating joyfully and safely last year. How could it be seen as devastating? As I read on, my heart sank to read the baseless, discriminatory, false, and transphobic words from the official entity for Republicans in Ottawa County. They attacked me personally for my work as the sponsorship lead. They falsely claimed that our festival was a “stunning debacle of soliciting children in a public space in broad daylight.”
And so, here we are, just like last year, beginning Pride Month needing to counter hate with love and truth, all because certain people in our community are simply incapable of seeing queer people in public and not immediately moving to dark and disturbing places.
First, these attacks cut to the heart of why Pride Month exists in the first place. The very first pride parade was on the anniversary of the Stonewall riots of 1969, riots in which drag queens played a central role due to the harassing and violent treatment of police in New York. Ever since then, drag queens have played a significant role in the Pride movement, raising millions to help AIDS patients in the eighties, for instance, while the rest of the country turned a blind eye to the death of millions upon millions of people.
The GOP newsletter posted pictures at our festival of kids giving tips to the drag performers, performers who were dressed like so many other musical and entertainment acts that perform at Waterfront Stadium every summer without complaint from the Ottawa County GOP. I’ve yet to see the Ottawa County GOP argue that Grand Haven State Park is sexualizing children because people are allowed to wear bathing suits that they feel confident in (and Lord knows there’s more skin on those beaches than at a drag performance, as the pictures the GOP posted will quickly demonstrate).
Each summer, buskers bless our streets with music and performance in exchange for a few dollar bills in a case, and no one bats an eye. That is because tipping drag performers is just as customary as tipping street performers. To compare tipping queens to tipping strippers misses the key distinction: queens are not taking off their clothes! They are working incredibly hard, dancing, displaying amazing physical strength and, most importantly, are confidently claiming an identity they truly own to the core. Tipping an artist is teaching children that art is of value.
Queens are not soliciting children, and to say that just demonstrates the depth of bigotry and prejudice that exists in the hearts of some people. (And in case you are wondering, a 2023 report from the Institute for Strategic Dialogue has found a clear linkage between attacks on the drag community and QAnon conspiracy theories that claim to be about protecting children but really are about spreading false narratives). Furthermore, language like this is why violence against trans people continues to increase (even though many drag performers are actually cisgender!), with one study in Britain finding that 80 percent of respondents in the trans community had experienced a hate crime at some point in their life.
This is not OK. And for those who claim to be followers of Jesus to participate in this is shameful.
When I met with a local candidate for public office last year, they suggested that the drag performances should be behind closed doors. I asked why, why would men dressed as women need to be behind closed doors … I was met with an unsure response.
Because those who would attack drag are the same who want LGBTQI+ people to go back in the closet. But the closet is deadly to queer people and Pride Month is about telling people that they don’t need to hide there anymore, that they are safe to be who they are. They are not merely tolerated; they are celebrated by their community and allies. If they are attracted to someone of the same sex, or if they know in their soul that their gender identity is different than their birth gender, or if they just feel better dressed in clothes normally associated with a different gender, all of that is OK. Love is love. You are who God created you to be. And that is fabulous.
Sure, I know there are people in our community who are opposed to Pride. I hope, though, that they will respect the rights and support the safety of those who want to gather to celebrate. As one of my parishioners, Angie Slater, said last year when she spoke to city council, “We even have a kite festival. I’m not a member of the kite-flying community. I don’t even understand flying kites. But I’m thankful to live in a place where I have the freedom to choose to attend or not to attend celebrating people who fly kites.”
If you’re one of those members of our community who, like me, felt anger at the bigotry and transphobia present in the attacks on Grand Haven Pride, know you are not alone. Love will always stand against hate. We’ll stand together at Grand Haven Pride this Saturday, June 8. We’ve doubled the private security at the festival to ensure everyone is safe. My own church will host the fourth annual Community Pride Worship service at 10 a.m. on Saturday, this year joined by two other affirming churches in Grand Haven.
And, if you’ve ever wondered how to respond to Christians who attack the queer community, I’m leading a workshop whose tickets will be donated in their entirety to support the work of Grand Haven Pride. It will be Thursday, June 27 from 5:30–7 p.m. and is entitled “God, Bible, Gender, and Sexuality.” Join me as we talk about what Scripture and Christian theology might actually say to these questions. You might be surprised. Details and tickets are online at http://unifyingchristians.com/lgbtqfaith.
The Rev. Dr. Jared C. Cramer serves as rector of St. John’s Episcopal Church in Grand Haven. Information about his parish can be found at www.sjegh.com.
