What Would Jesus Say About Pride Month?

June is one of the hardest months for Christian teenagers because not only are they dealing with end-of-school-year stress, they’re trying to discern how to honor Christ during the pressures of conformity with pride month. 

We live in a culture that reinforces the perception that you are either entirely affirming of LGBTQIA+, or you are homophobic or transphobic. The middle ground has been removed. Christian teenagers who hold to historic biblical convictions about gender and sexuality often feel like they need to choose between their faith or their friends. That’s a terribly difficult place to be. 

I do not have any easy answers about “What to do about Pride month.” Instead, I want to encourage parents and youth workers to walk with godly wisdom and set a gracious and faithful example for youth. After all, Pride month exists because the LGBTQIA+ community often experiences threats and intimidation. May we and our youth prove to be salt and light (Matthew 5:13-16) rather than entering Pride month ready to fight the culture war. 

Let’s look at what we can learn from the life and teachings of Christ with the intention to discern what Jesus would say about Pride month. 

The Adulterous Woman

If you’re unfamiliar with this interaction, you can read about it in John 8:1-11. She was caught committing adultery, and yet she alone was brought before Jesus for judgment. Since this is the only instance I can think of when Jesus directly addresses someone’s sexual sin (he teaches elsewhere about marriage and divorce and lust), I believe this is a particularly important passage for Christians to study. 

Jesus received her with mercy and compassion. He saw through the hypocrisy of the Pharisees who brought her for sentencing but not the man. They weren’t concerned about her as a person. Instead, they seemed to view her as a “problem” to be resolved or dealt with. But Jesus never treats people that way. 

I think we need to be honest and humble enough to admit that Christians have loudly called out LGBTQIA+ sin while being discrete about calling porn addicts and adulterers to repentance. This forces the question: do we care more about the sin than the sinner? 

Jesus never turned a blind eye toward sin – but the Pharisees accused him of it. The difference between Jesus and the Pharisees is that while they both agreed about the sinfulness of the sin in question, Jesus cared most about the sinner while the Pharisees cared about the sin. 

I can hear people saying this is a false dichotomy. Some will hear me repeating the old saying, “Love the sinner, hate the sin” while others say it’s impossible to love the sinner without calling out their sin. But I don’t think either of those are particularly helpful responses today, nor do they reflect what we see from Jesus in this passage. 

Two lessons are evident. First, we must care about people more than the sins they have committed. Second, we must not care for them in such a way that we lose the ability to say, “Go and sin no more.” 

The Pharisee and Tax Collector 

This parable of grace is told in Luke 18:9-14. The Pharisee and the Tax Collector both went to the temple to pray. The Pharisee prayed with self-righteousness, reminding God about all the ways he has kept God’s Law; while the Tax Collector stood in the back of the temple and pleaded with God to hear his prayers despite his unworthiness. The gospel proclaims grace for sinners, because the only righteousness that can save is Christ’s righteousness. 

The Pharisee is assured in his godliness, and yet he is blinded towards his self-righteousness. Meanwhile, the Tax Collector was a traitor to his own people, and he knew it. He was so convicted about his sin that he would hardly even approach the altar. He sat in the back row, not because he wanted to make a quick exit but because he knew he was both unworthy and unwelcome. He knew he was guilty of sin, and he knew he was on the outside of the faithful community. 

This parable paints a powerful portrait of the gospel. The love of God reaches out to those who feel unworthy and unwelcome, and invites them to the altar of grace. May this be the gospel that we preach and establish our ministry cultures around. Being a ministry where LGBTQIA+ students are welcome will make things complicated and messy, but when has the Great Commission ever called Christians to remain clean? 

Welcome the Children

In Matthew 18:1-9 Jesus affirms the value and dignity of children, and he rebukes those who would keep children out of the Kingdom of God. With stinging clarity, Jesus says,  “But whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to fall away—it would be better for him if a heavy millstone were hung around his neck and he were drowned in the depths of the sea” (v.6).  

We will be held accountable for leading a generation astray in two ways, I think. First, are the Christians who affirm LGBTQIA+ who are encouraging a generation to continue down a dangerous path that blesses their sin and is guilty of the warning in Isaiah 5:20. Christians are men and women who live under the authority and provision and salvation of God. The gospel is good news of great joy because sin is very bad news indeed. 

Not only does this pertain to Christians who are fully affirming, but I’m increasingly concerned about the allure of being functionally affirming for the sake of evangelism. By warning against being functionally affirming, I’m thinking about Christians who advocate for using preferred pronouns for the sake of evangelism. I’m not fully convinced pronoun hospitality is a millstone-level offense or sinful, but I do not recommend the practice and believe it is something to prayerfully wrestle over. 

Some of you readers may be aware that I myself encouraged such an approach in my book, Lead Them to Jesus. I have changed my mind. Instead, I share with trans-students that I’m glad they’re here and I want to care for them, but I’d prefer to use nonbinary (they/them) pronouns as a compromise. That way, I’m meeting them halfway to care for them without compromising my own convictions. New studies have also led an increasing number of European countries away from gender affirming transitions for minors. In my opinion, pronoun hospitality can easily lead Christians to become functionally-affirming, and I am struggling to see the difference between being functionally-affirming and fully-affirming. 

Second, I’m greatly concerned about Christians who advocate against LGBTQIA+ inclusivity in a way that is contrary to the message of the gospel. How can we proclaim the love and grace of Christ while treating people in ways that are anything but loving and gracious? If we fight the world with the world’s weapons, then we’ve forsaken the way of Christ. Yes, there are dangerous ideologies that threaten the Church today; but I believe ministers and youth workers are called to fight “the culture war” by faithfully and tenderly shepherding the sheep in their flock. 

There is a generation of teenagers who view the church as an unwelcoming and harsh place. Many of those teenagers grew up in the church and heard the way older Christians would talk about gay and trans people when they assumed no one else was listening (or that everyone around them agreed). They have heard the jokes from peers and youth leaders and others. The bill for this unloving posture is coming due, and the cost is a generation who is leaving the church behind because we have preached, but not embodied, the grace of Christ. 

A Concluding Reflection

Rather than living with fear of their peers or with anxiety about getting canceled, parents and youth workers can read the above passages with their students and remind them we are all Tax Collectors. Yes, there will be hard conversations and possibly even persecution. But if God has saved us, then surely he can save anyone. Do we truly believe that, or do we believe the LGBTQIA+ community is outside of God’s reach?  

Throughout the gospels we see the love of God on display through Jesus Christ. That love is most fully on display when he cries out on the cross, “Father forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing” (Luke 23:34). Jesus’ heart went out towards sinners, but he never left them in their sin. 

As parents and youth workers and church leaders wrestle with what to do about Pride month, I’m praying that we would pray more – not about the issue, but for specific individuals whom we know by name. Instead of advocating for boycotts or sounding the alarm over movements that are genuinely concerning, may we devote our greatest attention to the young men and women the Lord has placed into our lives. It might get messy and confusing and you might not always know what to do or say. When that happens, it sounds like another opportunity to pray for wisdom. 

So what would Jesus say about pride month? I think he’d treat those who feel unloved and unworthy and unwelcome as people to be loved, not as problems. He would clothe them with grace and say, “Go, and sin no more.” I think he’d tell his disciples to do the same.