Delta Foundation,
The staff, Session and LGBTQIA Ministry of East Liberty Presbyterian Church join their voices with many others who are grieved by the decision of the Delta Foundation to contract with singer Iggy Azalea for the 2015 Pittsburgh Pride concert. The fact that the selected performer has publicly offended LGBTQIA and people of color within our community is a serious breech of our safety and solidarity as a community. This isn’t about her style of music, her race or gender. This is about her inability to embrace the community for which she has been asked to perform. If she cannot do that, she should not be performing at Pride. Her racist, homophobic, transphobic, and discriminatory comments have no place within a community that values diversity and respect for all. Iggy Azalea has demonstrated an inability to embrace the community for which she has been asked to perform. Therefore, it is wrong and painful to have her performing at this year’s Pride.
East Liberty Presbyterian Church has been a proud and active participant in Pride since it was held in the park on the Northside, when the GLCC was still organizing the event. Our participation was incredibly significant for us because as a congregation we were taking a public stance on welcoming the LGBTQIA community to worship and to membership at a time when our denomination did not. We were celebrating our understanding of God’s love for ALL individuals.
It has taken years of denominational struggle to win inclusion within our church. Today we celebrate that our denomination has voted to allow LGBTQIA individuals to serve in congregations in an ordained capacity, to allow clergy to perform same-gender weddings, and most recently to change the definition of marriage to a commitment between two people rather than specific to man-woman.
Our congregation continues to search for ways to demonstrate our commitment to full inclusion. We have taken a pledge, which says in part, “We will seek to stop jokes and unkind language about anyone, including LGBTQIA persons, when spoken in our presence. Words that hurt and bigotry are not funny. We will speak out against slander, debasement, lies or dehumanization of anyone, even when spoken by political or religious leaders.”
Pride is not just entertainment. It is a celebration for all of us. Each organization represented at Pride has gone through similar struggles and deserves to be a respected part of the celebration. It grieves us that some members of our community, including members of our own congregation, have been so offended by the hurtful words of Iggy Azalea, and Delta’s lack of empathy, that they do not want to attend Pride. We honor their decision to express their woundedness and voice their protest in this way. We likewise affirm the dignity and worth of all members of the LGBTQIA community, and remain committed to working together toward the authentic full inclusion of all.
Despite the divisiveness this decision is causing, after prayerful consideration East Liberty Presbyterian Church will participate in the Pride March and have a booth at Pridefest. We see a distinction between the concert and the public witness of the parade. We will use our presence at the latter event as an opportunity to speak out for the disenfranchised and to proclaim the dignity and respect each person deserves. We will continue to offer a gospel message of inclusion, welcome and hope for people pushed to the margins for too long. However, we will actively demonstrate our opposition to Delta’s decision to invite Iggy Azalea as we march in the parade and staff our church’s booth. Pride’s public witness is too important to allow it to be compromised by the message of an ill-spoken performer.
We also seek reconciliation of our community members, seeking a constructive conversation with Delta Foundation leadership including all members of our LGBTQIA community represented at the table. We seek to be a partner in this process and pray for reconciliation for our community.