Our Capital Pride photo album presents a happy gathering of our St. John’s community and representatives of several Diocese of Ottawa parishes. Sadly, the parade began but was halted. Our Proud Anglicans group did not make it out of the staging area.

At first, we were confused, and then news began to travel backwards through the crowd that the parade had been cancelled by a protest by the group Queers4Palestine.The news was followed by spectators coming towards us saying that they were bringing the parade to us by walking the length of the staging area. We turned our parish signs outwards for the passing spectators and greeted them. I guess we were trying to make the best of events beyond our control. We were hot from waiting in the sun, and there was a sense of resignation when we also made our way to leave.

St. John’s put a lot of work into this. We took on organizing the Anglican presence on behalf of Diocese. We created signs, arranged the vehicle, produced new t-shirts, and we were excited to make the day memorable and meaningful.

If you followed the story, you may realize where things have been left. Capital Pride and Queers4Palestine each accuse the other of bad faith, with hardened positions and diverging accounts of what happened. On the one hand: “Why would protesters work against the progress other groups have made?”  On the other: Pride is “always a struggle for liberation — not just for us, but for oppressed people everywhere.” Queers4Palestine’s position was supported by a prominent editorial in the Ottawa Citizen [by Fae Johnstone], which said that Pride is hollow if it ignores the oppression in Palestine.

Pride is important to St. John’s as part of our story — and we are part of this larger story. In the coming year, let’s find ways to continue to tell our Pride story as we watch the unfolding of what will happen at the parade next year. I hope we keep our organizing role, but let’s also work on other ways to channel our passion for welcome and justice. I encourage you to follow along and understand both positions. Pray for the leaders in our community, pray for the Capital Pride organizers, pray for the people of Gaza.

Should this not be resolved in time for next year’s Capital Pride, let’s be thinking about what we might create in addition to the hoped-for parade. May God encourage our creativity as well as our longing for justice.

—The Rev. Canon Gary van der Meer

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Anglicans from multiple parishes participated in this year’s Capital Pride parade in downtown Ottawa on Aug. 25.

With signs, t-shirts and wristbands and smiles, they brought messages of support for the 2SLGBTQI+ community, love and acceptance for all people. They hoped to let the crowds know that everyone is welcome in the Anglican Diocese of Ottawa (ADO).

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Underlining the fact that Ottawa is not exempt from this issue, a conflict erupted between two groups on Broadview Ave. on June 9, during which five people were arrested. CBC reported that hundreds of demonstrators had “gathered to ‘drown out’ and counter a man who was protesting what he calls ‘gender ideology.’ The two groups chanted slogans like ‘protect trans rights’ and ‘leave the kids alone’ at each other, at times separated by a line of police officers.”

In his letter, the bishop wrote that: “As followers of Jesus, we are rightfully concerned and vigilant when we see any individual or group being unjustly targeted. In the Baptismal Covenant of our Church, we vow “to seek and serve Christ in all persons; to strive for justice and peace among all people, and to respect the dignity of every human being.”

Pride Season, he mentioned, refers to a range of events that take place from June to September. “It is a time that lifts and affirms the resilience and value of 2SLGBTQI+ individuals. Not everyone or every parish in our diocese participates in Pride events, but each of us are called to participate in making a safe, loving space for 2SLGBTQI+ people, and to build meaningful connections with one another.”

The bishop noted that “much of the current anti-2SLGBTQI+ rhetoric in Canada and across the globe is made under the pretext of religion.” He commended to Anglicans and all who read his letter, the Global Interfaith Commission on LGBT+ Lives and its safeguarding principles.

He urged all to read the  Commission’s 2020 Declaration, which he has signed, and to take its words to heart:

Declaring the Sanctity of Life and the Dignity of All

• We come together as senior religious leaders, academics, and lay leaders from around the world to affirm the sanctity of life and dignity of all.
• We affirm that all human beings of all sexual orientations, gender identities and gender expressions are a precious part of creation and are part of the natural order.
• We affirm that we are all equal under God, whom many call the Divine, and so we are all equal to one another.
• We, therefore, call for all to be treated equally under the law.
• We recognize with sadness that certain religious teachings have often, throughout the ages, caused and continue to cause deep pain and offense to those who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and intersex.
• We acknowledge, with profound regret, that some of our teachings have created, and continue to create, oppressive systems that fuel intolerance, perpetuate injustice and result in violence. This has led, and continues to lead, to the rejection and alienation of many by their families, their religious groups and cultural communities.

The Rev. Canon Doug Richards, vicar of Christ Church Cathedral, welcomed the letter as “a breath of fresh air.” During his 30 years as a priest in the Anglican Church, Richards said he has encountered bishops who did not want to talk about LGBTQ issues whatsoever. “And I’ve had very supportive bishops who have listened and journeyed with me and helped me along the way, but to have someone to say what Bishop Shane did in this letter publicly really affirmed my faith in the Church that I belong to.”

Richards was among delegates from the Anglican Diocese of Ottawa who travelled to Calgary for the General Synod of the Anglican Church of Canada in June. They participated in another sign of change within the church, as a large majority voted to approve using  gender transition and affirmation liturgies, where authorized by the bishop.

Karen Bryan, a parishioner at St. John’s, Smiths Falls, told Crosstalk that she read the letter with gratitude and pride. “I applaud our bishop’s acknowledgement of religion’s role in the perpetuation of intolerance, violence, and injustice against the 2SLGBTQI+ community.”

Christian Wright, a parishioner at St. Thomas the Apostle, in Ottawa said they were sincerely appreciative of the letter, especially at a time when they were concerned about other provinces of the Anglican Communion “endorsing heinous and oppressive laws targeting 2SLGBTQ+ people and relationships. In a time when our safety and rights are in a constant state of danger, it is empowering and reassuring to know that one’s church and bishop support and love you and your community.”

In a message to Crosstalk, they added, “Every human being is made in the image of God and beloved by Him. Nobody should ever be abused or oppressed by their government or society. The sanctity of all people, including Queer and transgender lives, is a fundamental principle of our faith found in our baptismal vows as Anglicans and as followers of Christ.”

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Veteran organizer Ron Chaplin told Crosstalk that as the group waited for the parade to start a few people asked him about this history of Anglican participation, and he shared his memories with us. 

Chaplin began worshipping at St. John the Evangelist on Elgin Street in 1993, and he recalled that sometime soon after that, the parish decided to set up a table to serve lemonade and cookies to people as the Pride Parade passed by the church. “We did that at least once for Pride and at least once for the AIDS walk….It was kind of a tentative start.”

And then one year, he got a call from Alex Munter, who was a city councillor at the time. “Ron, do you know about those guys who picket the Pride parade every year?” he asked. Chaplin knew exactly the people Munter was referring to—three guys who “always had placards quoting some of those clobber passages from the Bible. 

 “Do you know someone who could organize a counter protest?” Munter asked. 

“I thought about it for about five seconds, and I said ‘I know just the person.’ He called Gillian Wallace, a fellow St. John’s parishioner at the time.

  “I put her and Alex in touch with each other and away she went. She got a small group that produced their own placards and their own Bible verses and they walked in the parade. And the minute they saw those guys…., they were on them like bugs to fly paper and just stood next to them. … That was the first St. John’s contingent in the parade, and it was kind of done for that purpose. And over the years they kept that up,” Chaplin said, noting that he didn’t see any protestors this year.

He was part of a core group that started a chapter of Integrity, a North American organization of LGBTQ+ Anglicans and allies. “We organized a monthly eucharist, and Integrity had a budget, and so it was decided that there would be an Integrity contingent in the Pride Parade. The chapter paid the registration fee and would send out an invitation via email to parishes to join in and identify themselves and march together in the parade.” That continued for several years until Chaplin says that Integrity wound down as more and more parishes became accepting of gay (LGBTQ+) participation in parish life. When the Ottawa chapter closed, Chaplin became a one-man organizing committee, registering the group in the parade each year.

Another big step came in 2015. After General Synod, when Bishop John Chapman announced that he had made the decision to authorize the marriage of same-sex couples in the diocese, Stephanie Boyd, the diocesan communications officer, called Chaplin with the suggestion that with the bishop’s decision, Anglicans should be marching as the Diocese of Ottawa. “I said that’s a great idea, and she produced the banner that we have been using. But I just kept on registering the group and organizing, showing up on the day of the parade with the banner. I would send out the invitation to parishes to join in, and over the years there were more and more parishes who would show up.”

Chaplin estimates there were a half dozen parishes participating in the parade this year. That’s less than in the past, but it is understandable after the two-year interruption of the parade. The committee only decided to go ahead with this year’s parade in May, which is much later than usual, he said.

Looking to the future, Chaplin said he is trying to create a succession plan for others to take on the responsibility of organizing the Anglican contingent. “All it requires is to go to the website, sign the group up, send a cheque and show up on the day of the event,” he explained. Individual parishes could sign up on their own, but this just makes it easy for everyone to show up, he said. “It’s a great way for parishes to demonstrate to the LGBTQ+ community that they are welcome in their churches.”

“I would send out the invitation to parishes to join in, and over the years there were more and more parishes who would show up.”

—Ron Chaplin

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