Why I Didn’t Celebrate Pride Month

A week ago I walked into a Starbucks and was overwhelmed by the amount of Pride month decor. Stickers plastered all over the windows, multiple 10 foot rainbow flag banners, massively large posters—all sentimentalizing the mantra “love is love.” 

Starbucks is not unique, of course. You can’t go shopping, see movies, watch sports, open social media, or simply go out in public without the message bombarding you. It’s the month when everyone is expected to jump on the “Pride” bandwagon.

Therefore, Pride Month is hard to ignore… and likewise hard to not write about.

What do I have to say that has not been said? Probably nothing. But I think it’s productive to flesh out why Christians care—perhaps more for the critic of “conservative” view points than for anyone else.

So for whatever it’s worth, here I go: 

Just consider for a moment,  what if God’s plan is that only a man and a woman should marry, and anything outside of God’s design is a perversion (which by definition is an alteration of something from its original course)?

What if God really did create people a certain way? Meaning, what if he intended for biological men to really be men and biological woman to really be women? What if it’s actually rebellion against your Maker to pretend otherwise? 

What if God’s plans and expectations are actually for our good? Furthermore, what if breaking away from the standard is morally wrong and punishable according to the ultimate arbiter of morality?

What if the sexual revolution as we know it, is pushing people away from God and is causing them to turn their passing pleasures and desires into their god? 

What if our Creator really does have particular standards he’s communicated in his Word, and he will hold people accountable to these standards? Just what if?

If that were true, or just if someone believed that were true (as Bible-believing Christians do), is it any wonder why we can’t jump on the Pride Month bandwagon?  Is it at all confusing why Christians don’t want the world rushing in at their kids with ideas that will massively lead them away from God’s rules and expectations?

Logically speaking, it only makes sense that a person who believes God is against the do-whatever-you-want standard, will stand against all that Pride Month has come to mean. And so, to the critic of conservative viewpoints, I ask: can you accept our logic and at least not fault us for being consistent with our beliefs? If we believe God said something, should we not heed his words?

And to be fair, I am not sure we can fault you when you stay consistent with your beliefs.

If you believe there is no god, or that God has no standards that pertain to our sexuality, and you believe people should have no restraints on what they want, if you believe all forms of “love” are good and virtuous—we can’t blame you for fighting for the freedom of sexual expression you believe all people have a right to. 

The problem, of course, is that we disagree with what God has made known — both through nature and through his written word. But regardless, please understand why we can’t stand with you. It’s not because we are homophobic, or bigoted, or arrogant, or hateful, or enjoy starting fights. It’s simply that we believe God has spoken, he sets the standard, and it’s non-negotiable. We don’t believe people are allowed to live however they want; we believe we will answer to God and the standard he has set. 

And because of our love for the people in our lives, we do hope to make at least a tiny impact in pointing people to follow God and his ways. We have to keep standing for what we believe is right.

I understand that people on the other side of the argument will have to keep standing for what they think is right too. 

But try, just try, to understand why we can’t join the bandwagon. Even if you run over us, we will have to get back up and stand with what we are absolutely convinced God has communicated.