This past weekend, annual PrideFest celebrations were held around the country. PrideFest celebrations are intended to honor the culture and heritage of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community. The annual events, planned in major cities across the county, draw millions of spectators and usually consist of parades, rallies, street fairs, political, religious and social events. I’ve never attended one of these events, so I’m going to use caution in what observations I make, but here is my primary discomfort with these events: to my observation, they seem to be overly and perhaps inappropriately sexually charged. There seems to be a consistent element of sexuality on display—and, perhaps, that’s the whole point. But the overt displays of shirtless and provocatively dressed people and the seeming overemphasis on sexual activity if not sex acts themselves is, for this writer, a real turn off. I mean, I don’t go to *straight* events that hammer me with overtly sexual imagery and displays. And, while I acknowledge the primary objective of the LGBT movement is to draw attention to the institutionalized bigotry directed toward that community, from my poorly informed distance from these events, I can’t help but wonder if all the literal skin at these gatherings isn’t hurting their cause. Not that I’m advocating anyone hide or disguise who they are but, let me be clear: straight, gay, moose, squirrel: I really don’t care to know what you do in your bedroom. I’d really appreciate it if you wouldn’t drag that activity—in even symbolic form—out onto the street. It certainly does not raise my comfort level with anyone nor does it encourage sympathy to your cause. It makes me turn away and not want to be there because it challenges my personal convictions and makes me question your motives. I don’t want to see flesh on display—male, female, giraffe. And, as empathetic of the LGBT cause as I attempt to be, here, a huge crowd of half-dressed *straight* people, kissing and groping and otherwise putting major public emphasis on private behavior would disgust me just as quick.

It almost seems to me as if the sex act itself is the major message the community wants to send, as if there is no higher culture, no intellectual engagement within that community—which I know is not true. Like any other community, the LGBT community has artists and philosophers and poets and highly-skilled professionals and, yes, preachers and pastors. And maybe we can blame the media, but the overall image I see, form this distance, is a kind of pagan debauchery. I see very little emphasis on God or spirituality or sexual purity (though I am told it is there, that religious services are a big part of PrideFest celebrations). I see partying. I see drinking. I see lots and lots of skin and sexually charged behavior. Mardi Gras on steroids. All things that, regardless of your orientation, I don’t want any part of.

As I mention in my former article, I suspect part of the reason our comfort level with same-gender loving people is so low is the public image, which is, in large measure, controlled by the media. If a TV news producer has a choice of airing a clip of a peaceful LGBT family enjoying a picnic like every other normal family in America, and a shot of drunken, rowdy folk dousing each other in beer and ripping their shirts off, which image gets on TV? Many of us church folk begin with the position that we hate gay people, and look for justification for it after the fact. The seemingly godless nature of the LGBT community—at least as shown on TV—only reinforces old stereotypes.

It is also quite possible the reason there seems so little emphasis on God at these events is the church itself. The net result of our intolerance, bigotry and hatred is that many in the gay community hear only hate from us. If you’d grown up hearing only hate from the church, you would, inevitably, develop a resentment of if not a hatred for the church. There is, indeed, an agenda within the gay community that is virulently anti-Christian and anti-church. While this movement is at least partially a consequence of our own ignorance, it is, nonetheless, something the church indeed has a responsibility to address.

So, no, I won't be going to PrideFest any time soon. Nor will I be going to Mardi Gras or, for that matter, any Spring Break activities. It’s not homophobia. It’s me not wanting to be around huge crowds of loud, frequently imbibed persons behaving in un-Christ like ways. And, beat me up if you want, that’s the image PrideFest conjures up. While I’m sure you will find what you look for there—including family-friendly and, yes, spiritual activities and events, what I see is Mardi Gras. Spring Break. And their message is lost on me because I see people hating who I am even as, ironically, they make the case for how they themselves have been hated and mistreated. A case I am happy to find common ground with them on if only I didn’t have to cover my eyes when coming to one of their parties.