Introduction to the 2010 Pride Interfaith Service as written by Elizabeth R. Brown
In the year 2010, angels in rainbow garb saw a group of people clad in lavender gathering in Boston. After travelling on foot for some time, there being no camels readily available, the people rested at Old South Church. For it had become their custom to come together each year to sing, to praise, and to remember how this came about.
For it was in the year 1977, Dade County Florida passed a human rights ordinance. It was early in the struggle, and it was good. But one Anita Bryant, a Dade County resident, once Little Miss Terrific, Third runner up to Miss America, and purveyor of Orange Juice, tooketh a hissy fit. She announced God hated gays who would go to hell. “How the helleth doth she knoweth?” muttered an angel. But most high priests agreed that only straight people inherited the kingdom of heaven, along with possibly penitent gays who did not doeth gay like fall in love, wear fuchsia slippers from Prada with their holy robes, or take their children to religious schools.
Anita asked “do you know what these ho-mo-sexuals do?” She travelled the country telling it, and announced she would come to Boston in June, 1978. “Why? Didn’t they know in Boston?” asked a wee angel. The people of Boston were great with joy and planned to greet her with marches and signs of welcome.
The greatest Unitarian Archangel of them all, Rev. Bob Wheatly, said, “ What doth one do when one is religious and gay? One picketeth and one prayeth. I planned an Interfaith service to protest prayerfully and pray mightily for her soul and the souls of all who agreed with her. Verily I saw unto you, in 1977 many gays were forced to worship no in their temples but in tents. And this was our beginning.”
Anita was afraid and did not come. The Orange Juice company was afraid, and she was no longer a purveyor, for many people stopped drinking orange juice. But the people heard and came: From the Tribes of Dignity, Integrity, Affirmation Mormon, Kinship 7th Day Adventist, Quakers into the Light, Church of Jesus Christ, Scientist; and many many concerned Methodists, Lutherans, and Baptists, some of whom became open and affirming. Some brought parishes. The tribes of Am Tikva and Keshet came. And Rabbis and priests and Queer Bishops came. For 32 years they came. And on this 33rd year, the angels watching flapped their wings, twirled their halos, and cheered loudly. Archangel Wheatly led a kick line as they sang:
“Welcome, Welcome, Amen, Amen!!”
History of Pride Interfaith Coalition and the Pride Interfaith Service
The creation of what ultimately was named Pride Interfaith Coalition was a response to a planned visit to Boston by Anita Bryant in 1978, a popular singer from the 1960s, who was heading a campaign to repeal a Dade County, Florida (Miami) ordinance that prohibited discrimination based on sexual orientation. Led by the Rev. Bob Wheatly, the group formed a protest march against her visit, and that same year hosted what would be the first of our annual services. The first Pride Interfaith Service was held at Arlington Street Church (Unitarian Universalist) in Boston on the 17th of June, 1978.
The coalition has always strived to be expansive in its inclusiveness. This is evident when reviewing the different names by which the coalition has referred to itself over the past three decades: Boston Gay Religious Coalition (1978 to early-1980s), Greater Boston Lesbian and Gay Interfaith Coalition (early-1980s to 1984), Greater Boston Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Interfaith Coalition (1985 to 1996), and Pride Interfaith Coalition (1997 to present).
In 1992, due to a change in the Pride Parade route, the coalition held its Pride Interfaith Service at the Church of St. John the Evangelist (Episcopal Church) on Beacon Hill. In 1993, with the parade lineup moved to Copley Square, the coalition began holding its annual service at the Old South Church (United Church of Christ) where it has been held every year except in 2007 when Union United Methodist Church in the South End hosted the service.