Grand Falls-Windsor Pride co-chair Alyssa Frampton on the left and former co-chair Rebecca Blackmore say a local church refused to allow a Pride Walk, planned by the local Lions Club, in their property. (CBC)
An LGBTQ pride organization in central Newfoundland says an event he was involved in was canceled after a church refused to allow the group to be on his property.
In a statement Wednesday, Grand Falls-Windsor Pride said a healthy walk, led by the city’s Lions Club on the property of The Salvation Army Park Street Citadel, was suspended.
In an interview with CBC News, Grand Falls-Windsor Pride co-president Alyssa Frampton said the church did not ask the Lions Club to cancel the event, but asked the club to cancel it. the Grand Falls-Windsor Pride invitation.
“They didn’t want to do that,” Frampton said. “They thought, ‘This is not equity, this is not inclusion.’
The Grand Falls-Windsor Lions Club chose to cancel the event altogether, instead of not inviting Grand Falls-Windsor Pride, Frampton said.
“The Grand Falls-Windsor Lions Club believes in an inclusive environment for all people,” the club said in a statement.
The Salvation Army Park Street Citadel has not responded to requests for interviews, but in a statement sent by email a spokesman for the National Salvation Army said the church was disappointed with the way the situation unfolded and never asked for the event to be canceled.
“We would like to reaffirm that, as a faith-based organization, The Salvation Army Park Street Citadel is guided by the core values of the organization and welcomes everyone to church ownership.”
CBC News specifically asked if the church asked the Lions Club to cancel the Grand Falls-Windsor Pride invitation and if it would allow a Pride event on its property.
“The Salvation Army Park Citadel on the street did not ask for the event to be canceled, we welcome everyone to enjoy what the church property has to offer,” the spokesman said in a statement tracking.
Rebecca Blackmore, another member of the organization, said the statement does not correspond to her.
“We were not welcome on the church property. It was made clear.”
Nationally, the Salvation Army has explicitly condemned LGBTQ conversion therapy and discrimination.
A change of plans
Frampton and Blackmore said the organization has been overwhelmed by support since the event was canceled.
Grand Falls-Windsor Mayor Barry Manuel told CBC News that the city has contacted the Lions Club to offer an alternative location for the walk.
“All kinds of discrimination really has no place in our community, and for us we want to be proactive, obviously, to continue working with the Pride group,” he said. “I just hope the parties are talking and arguing and I hope they can rectify that because it’s not what we usually see in Grand Falls-Windsor.”
Barry Manuel, the mayor of Grand Falls-Windsor, says the city has offered an alternative space for the walk. (CBC)
While there is currently no new date for the walk, Pride Grand-Falls Windsor said it plans to participate in a healthy living walk hosted by the Lions Club in the near future.
Grand Falls-Windsor Pride concluded a month of celebrations with a movie night on Wednesday.
A systemic problem
A former ordained minister said she was not surprised to learn of the incident.
Although not a member of the Salvation Army Church, Katherine Roberts was an ordained minister for years as part of Victory Churches International.
“He believed that every word in the Bible was true, and if he said that homosexuality was an abomination, then it was an abomination. I did not question it.”
Katherine Roberts, a former Christian minister, says she was not surprised by the incident. (Submitted by Katherine Roberts)
That is, until their two children came out as gay.
“I found myself, as I said, at odds with my morals and a part of the morals that the Bible teaches about women’s rights, gay rights, trans rights, just a lot of things,” she said. “Eventually, I felt I had to leave it behind. I just wasn’t convinced it was real anymore.”
Roberts said she was encouraged to read supportive comments on the Grand Falls-Windsor Pride Facebook page of members of the Salvation Army church.
“There were a lot of people who said they were the Salvation Army and they were disappointed with the organization to manage it that way,” he said.
“People are making room to be more [inclusive.]”
Roberts said the incident points to a systemic problem, and Frampton agrees.
“There are definitely so many young people who are still getting these messages that are not welcome in different spaces,” he said. “It’s not just this church.”
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