In June, Major League Baseball’s San Francisco Giants held a Pride night at the ballpark. The Giants’ players and coaches wore hats with their typical orange SF monogram logo reworked as the rainbow flag. A few players appended a biblical citation from Genesis in bright white marker on their caps, citing the rainbow as a sign of God’s covenant with Noah following the flood.
This incident calls to mind other occasions where people have responded to the Pride rainbow, or to other gestures of inclusion toward other communities, by insisting that these gestures are somehow unchristian. For instance, some people responded to “Black Lives Matter” by insisting on “All Lives Matter” as a more truly Christian proclamation.
Such hesitancy in Christians can come from uncertainty about whether or not they can support a movement’s goals or ends. At other times it might be motivated by resistance to what some perceive as singling one group out for special treatment.
As a Christian, I certainly appreciate when fellow Christians live their faith publicly and share it with others. However, as someone who deeply values human solidarity and strives to practice the preferential option for the poor, I find that gestures of Christian identity miss the mark when they ignore our call to inclusion.
Solidarity is the gospel value, modeled by Christ, that calls us to view every person as if they are our own family member—because each person essentially is. This proceeds from the truth that God created and loves each of us, and this common identity binds us all together in the human family. Someone with whom we share no identifying traits is just as much our kin as our own blood relatives.
For those on the fence about whether or not to stand in solidarity with marginalized groups, or those who want to be in solidarity but aren’t certain they agree with the whole of a movement’s goals, the preferential option can be instructive: We are called as Christians to intentionally, specifically consider people who are marginalized or vulnerable in each decision we make individually, communally, and socially.
When it comes to Pride displays, the rainbow is a beautiful biblical symbol of God’s commitment and love. Some Christians may assert a rainbow should only have a narrower, biblical meaning. However, the reality is that many Christians are LGBTQ+, or are in solidarity with those who are LGBTQ+. Christianity encompasses a diverse range of people, perspectives, and doctrinal interpretations. For Catholics in particular, our biblically-based Catholic social teaching animates us to uphold the dignity and value of all life, from conception to natural death and in all matters of social justice in between.
While not everyone in the LGBTQ+ community would necessarily cite the Bible in using the rainbow, the invocation of loving inclusion in the community’s use of the rainbow flag reflects a kind of “respect, compassion, and sensitivity,” as the Catechism of the Catholic Church asks Catholics to treat LGBTQ+ people with. Indeed, it’s the hospitality and care we are called to practice. A Christian staking a claim to this symbol in an exclusive, corrective way feels like an unnecessary turf war, especially when the underlying meanings between the two usages are so resonant.
When certain groups are singled out for recognition or inclusion, this is not a matter of them getting special privileges. The statement that Black lives matter, for instance, was never intended to suggest that other lives don’t; rather, it acknowledges a structural discrimination—a social sin—and seeks greater social justice.
To explain this further, consider a parent of multiple children, one of whom has recently been injured. While that child is recovering, the parent might bring medicine to their bedside, allow them to have meals in bed, let them sleep late and miss school and activities, and overall dedicate more time and attention to support their recovery. Does this mean the parent loves the other children any less? No, of course not. However, this temporary adjustment reflects an earnest desire to bring the child who is facing hardships back to equal footing with their siblings.
Socially, the LGBTQ+ community is marginalized. Their rights are regularly under attack—in jeopardy of being restricted or reduced by various court rulings and legislation. Discrimination against this community continues in employment, commerce, and social life. And mistreatment, violence, and hate crimes often target these neighbors, too. Similarly, people with disabilities experience a range of challenges other people never have to think about; Black communities have to contend with both historic and systemic racism; immigrants face extra scrutiny regarding the credibility of their fears in their homeland, their backgrounds, and their daily activities should they be allowed to remain in the United States. Acknowledging these realities and seeking equal resource access and fair social treatment is what Christians are called to do.
When a group is vulnerable and marginalized, the preferential option prompts us to pay specific attention and make a point of speaking and acting to lift this group up. With the LGBTQ+ community, wider social support helps this minority group that is targeted in a number of ways gain strength in numbers and hopefully find more stability and equality in our society.
Highlighting scripture is certainly not wrong. However, when a person does so in a way that is intended to exclude marginalized people, it comes off as an act of anti-solidarity. The Bible and Judeo-Christian faiths are not underrepresented in American society; they face little to no marginalization and stand little risk of being under-considered or under-known. Many marginalized groups, both within and outside the church, face an array of social and existential threats. Christians should advocate against those threats, wherever they may stand on the political spectrum.
So, when Christians see displays of the Pride rainbow they should not view it as anti-scripture. It can be a faithful Christian action to stand with the LGBTQ+ community—an act of solidarity that lives out the call to opt for people facing marginalization. It is a small but intentional choice to stand with people and live out Jesus’ calls for justice.
Image: Unsplash/Etienne Girardet
