| Rev. Kelli Whitman, Pastor, and Peter Chase, Moderator, First Congregational Christian Church |
An open letter in response to the repeated theft and vandalism of our Pride flag:
In January 2010, the members of First Congregational Christian Church of New Gloucester, United Church of Christ voted to become an Open and Affirming congregation. In the United Church of Christ, this means we made an explicit commitment to welcoming LGBTQ folks into the full life and ministry of our church. Our congregation is one of over 1800 Open and Affirming congregations across the country. As an Open and Affirming Congregation, we affirm and celebrate God’s love for all people regardless of sexual orientation, gender identity or expression.
In April of this year, we hung a rainbow Pride flag on our church sign as an act of public witness to this commitment, and in response to acts of vandalism of a pride flag in New Gloucester.
Since April, our Pride flag has been stolen or vandalized a total of five times, including three times between the middle of July and the middle of August. Our flag is not the only Pride flag in town that has been stolen and vandalized during this period of time.
We will not be intimidated by these acts of violence and hate. We remain committed to living into God’s call to extravagant love and welcome.
We continue to hear that New Gloucester is a town where everyone is welcome. The repeated vandalism of ours and other Pride flags in town suggests that we have more work to do for this to be a reality. Our congregation will be spending time this fall in discussion and study as we seek to live into our Open and Affirming commitments and to be better neighbors and allies to the LGBTQ community in New Gloucester. We invite others to join us in that conversation.
To our LGBTQ neighbors, we grieve that these acts of vandalism are just a small glimpse of the fear and hate that you receive on a daily basis. We know that churches have not always been places of welcome and support, and for that we are sorry. We believe that love can be louder than hate – and we reaffirm our commitment to live out that love.
– Rev. Kelli Whitman
Pastor, First Congregational Christian Church of New Gloucester (UCC)
– Peter Chase
Moderator, First Congregational Christian Church of New Gloucester (UCC)
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