Finding God at Boro Pride

Shauna Reynolds

Nov. 8, 2023

Boro Pride 2023 was a joyful celebration. Tennessee Miller Coliseum in Murfreesboro, Tennessee was the festival's new location. The venue was filled with local loud dance music, LGBTQ-owned businesses, celebrity drag queens and quite a few local churches. What did church volunteers, clergy, and members have to say to people who no longer believe there's a place for them among believers?

https://soundcloud.com/slrshowandtell/finding-god-at-boro-pride

TRANSCRIPT

(traffic sounds and siren)

Jason Plummer: “The message was, you are welcome here. And if you believe God created everything, then God created everything the way it is, they way you are, the way it’s supposed to be.”

(faint bird sounds)

Shauna Reynolds: THIS IS THE MESSAGE JASON PLUMMER’S FAMILY HEARD THE FIRST TIME THEY VISITED A UNITARIAN UNIVERSALIST CHURCH. AS PLUMMER’S CHILDREN GREW OLDER THE IMPORTANCE OF AN AFFIRMING CHURCH FOR THEIR FAMILY BECAME CLEAR.

Plummer: "My kids have since come out as trans. And I’m their parent. It is my job to find the safety that I can create, the safety that I can make, the wisdom that my wife and I can pass on for them to make decisions that helps them to create the safety for everyone else, for them.”

(distant dance music)

Reynolds: PLUMMER’S CHURCH, FIRST UU OF NASHVILLE, WAS ONE OF MANY REPRESENTED AT BORO PRIDE 2023, HELD OCT. 28 AT TENNESSEE MILLER COLISEUM IN MURFREESBORO, TENNESSEE. STEVEN ADAIR FROM GLENDALE UNITED METHODIST CHURCH IN NASHVILLE EXPLAINED THE CURRENT STATE OF HIS DENOMINATION.

Steven Adair: “Working on that! There’s a big split going on actually right now of the United Methodist Church. A lot of the traditionalists, outside of that lingo would be the conservatives, are leaving, which does set up the United Methodist Church globally to be more inclusive. There is progress being made, so there’s room to grow, but we’re seeing that happen with some people leaving, which is a blessing.”

REYNOLDS: ANDREA GUTIÉRREZ, A PASTOR AT FIRST CUMBERLAND PRESBYTARIAN CHURCH IN MURFREESBORO, ALSO SEES PROGRESS.

Andrea Gutiérrez: “We are trying to get our congregation there as a whole. The staff is fully on board, some of us are part of the community or allies. And we just know how important it is to show that God’s love is for everyone, and that it is unconditional.”

Reynolds: GUTIÉRREZ AND ADAIR HAVE ADDITIONAL ENCOURAGEMENT FOR LGBTQ CHRISTIANS WHO HAVE BEEN HURT BY THE CHURCH.

Gutiérrez: “I am so sorry about that, and I have felt that way, and it is okay to take your time and decide if the church is right for you, but you don’t have to! Church is wherever you make it. Wherever you have fellowship, wherever you’re in nature and just feeling the divine.”

Adair: “We’ve created a safe space for people to reenter when they’ve been excluded, kicked out, for whatever reason. Mainly a lot of them being LGBTQIA. And as a gay male myself, I’ve been thankful that we’ve grown into this community of faith that has welcomed people back into whatever that is –if they question, if they have questions, or if they doubt it all, or believe, or you know – just to be in community with one another more than anything.”

(faint bird sounds)

Reynolds: ADAIR AND THE OTHER REPRESENTATIVES FROM HIS CHURCH WORE T-SHIRTS THAT SAID “I’M SORRY IF THE CHURCH HURT AND FAILED YOU.” THAT WAS THE COMMON MESSAGE OF ALL THE CHURCHES PRESENT AT BORO PRIDE. AT TENNESSEE MILLER COLISEUM FOR MIDDLE TENNESSEE STATE UNIVERSITY, THIS IS SHAUNA REYNOLDS.

(bird sounds fading out)