Throughout this month, we have endured the bombardment of National Pride Month, organized in 1970 to commemorate the Stonewall riots on this day in 1969, beginning at 1:20 a.m. Stonewall Inn, one of the few gay bars in NYC, was raided by police due to them serving liquor without a license and selling to underage patrons. As the riot broke out, several gays and lesbians were arrested and taken out by the police. This caused people on the street to begin protesting and before long, the police were barricaded in the bar for safety until reinforcements could come and secure the area. Once the first brick was thrown, the riots began, and the fight of the LGBTQ community was solidified into a movement.
The first recognition of June Pride Month came from President Bill Clinton. Presidents George H.W. Bush and George Bush did not make proclamations. President Barak Obama was the next president to acknowledge Pride month through a proclamation. During his first term, President Trump kind of recognized Pride month after his third year in office. It wasn’t through proclamation. Rather, it was through his favorite mode of communication – a tweet. President Biden made a Pride Month proclamation. And, in the first year of Trump’s second term, he took more of a hardline stance against Pride Month.
“White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters Tuesday the White House has “no plans” to issue a proclamation recognizing June as Pride Month…
“GOP lawmakers have plans to go a step further, announcing a resolution that will declare June as “Family Month,” the Daily Wire first reported.
“Congresswoman Mary Miller (R-IL) introduced the resolution that points out the foundational importance of the nuclear family in building a strong nation while at the same time condemning Pride Month as “perverse” celebrations that “denigrate the nuclear family.”
“The American family is under relentless attack from a radical leftist agenda that seeks to erase truth, redefine marriage, and confuse our children,” Miller told The Daily Wire. “By recognizing June as Family Month, we reject the lie of ‘Pride’ and instead honor God’s timeless and perfect design. If we truly want to restore our nation, we must stand united to protect and uphold the foundation upon which it was built — the family.”1
Though politicians are making their careers on this issue, this is not a political issue. It is a Biblical issue. And being homosexual is certainly nothing to be proud of!
Let’s go back to the first Pride community, a place called Sodom and Gomorrah. In Genesis 19, two angels came to visit Lot. Before the night had fallen, Lot tries to hustle them into his house and barely made it before the men of the city began pounding on the door. Genesis 19:4-5 says, “But before they lay down, the men of the city, even the men of Sodom, compassed the house round, both old and young, all the people from every quarter: (5) And they called unto Lot, and said unto him, Where are the men which came in to thee this night? bring them out unto us, that we may know them.”
As the story goes, the angry men at the door tried to burst in. Lot tried “reasoning” with them, suggesting that he would give them his virgin daughters instead. That’s a whole other issue and devotional! The men at the door wouldn’t be appeased so the angels struck them with blindness. Then, the angels proceeded to tell Lot to gather his family and get out of the city because God was going to judge it with destruction. As the family fled the city, Mrs. Lot looked back and turned into a pillar of salt. Again, this is the modified version. There are a lot more details to the story!
What could cause a people and place to drift into such wickedness? Scriptures show us that Sodom and Gomorrah had the same problems we have in this world. Ezekiel 16:48-50 says, “As I live, saith the Lord GOD, Sodom thy sister hath not done, she nor her daughters, as thou hast done, thou and thy daughters. (49) Behold, this was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom, pride, fulness of bread, and abundance of idleness was in her and in her daughters, neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy. (50) And they were haughty, and committed abomination before me: therefore I took them away as I saw good.”
Look how many sins preceded the abomination. It seems like the more pride and abundance a nation has, the more the nation believes it doesn’t need God and instead, needs all the things God spoke against. Welcome to America! No wonder there is a Pride month that flaunts with arrogance its sin against God.
Now, I write this for the CHRISTIANS, not those in the LGBTQ community. We need to be reminded to never soften our stance on that which God calls abomination. However, we also need to remember that ALL sin is abomination – lying, gossiping, bitterness, ungodly anger, self-righteousness, etc. Did I name any of your sins? The same grace of God that saved us can save them. The same grace of God that changed us can change them.
Are we called to love and compassionately evangelize the LGBTQ community? Absolutely! Can and will God save them? Yes. Salvation is the best “conversion therapy” that ever existed! Genuinely saved lives are changed lives – and changing lives. I leave you with these important verses.
John 6:37 All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.
Titus 2:11-14 For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, (12) Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world; (13) Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ; (14) Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.
1https://cbn.com/news/politics/trump-admin-declares-june-no-longer-pride-month-retail-stores-backtrack-lgbt-displays
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