I’ve performed on stage at Pride Festivals across the country now for the past three years. As a pop singer-songwriter who is Christian, straight, has read the Bible twice and minored in world religions, here’s why I think standing with the LGBTQ+ community is important now more than ever.
Looking out at the crowd, faces painted, massive smiles, adorned with gems, there is no doubt in my heart that each face in this crowd is a child of God. Pride isn’t just a festival; the money that it generates goes toward health programs, youth housing, and counseling services. Supporting and advocating for groups that are typically ostracized by the church is how Jesus built his ministry. Not only did he joyously welcome those who were deemed outcasts, He called out religious leaders who were living in hypocrisy.
When I was first asked to perform at a Pride Festival back in 2024, I was extremely hesitant. I write music for the girlies and the gays, but I’m just a girlie, not the latter. Why would I take up space and a voice in the community? When I politely declined with that reason, Luis Cortes, one of the executives of Pride Sacramento in California, called me nearly immediately after and said: “No, we need vocal allies now more than ever.”
I believe there is irrefutable historical and scriptural evidence that being vocal for marginalized groups is inherently Christian and a Jesus Christ taught value, despite what modern Western Christians are doing.
Growing up in a Baptist Church in the 2000s, I was taught that being gay was one of the biggest sins because it refuted the symbol of Christ’s relationship with the church as a bride and groom. A Christian conservative family is wildly uncommon in New York, but my very Bronx-y family, specifically my father, made our family views known on nearly every public outing. Although I had more grace in my delivery, I’m my father’s daughter and rarely keep my opinions to myself.
It wasn’t until an upperclassman I sat near in choir asked me point blank but in a whisper, “Heather, you know I’m gay; do you really think I’m going to hell?” that I felt a crisis of conscience. “No,” I whispered back, “I’ve lied before, and I’m not going to hell because I lied. Jesus died for me, so I just have to put my faith in Him and ask for forgiveness.” That’s when he asked, “But Heather, is loving another man really sin?”
One of my favorite Bible scholars and pastors, Martin Niemöller, once said:
“First they came for the Communists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Communist
Then they came for the Socialists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Socialist
Then they came for the trade unionists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a trade unionist
Then they came for the Jews
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Jew
Then they came for me
And there was no one left
To speak out for me.”
Niemöller delivered those powerful lines back in 1946; it was in reference to the rise of Nazi Germany and how being silent in the face of fascism leads to your rights being taken away as well. Over the past few years, I’ve been seeing this quote resurrected not only applied to the current state of America but also to the rising “religious” right growing across the world. 1946, the same year when Niemöller delivered these words, was the same year the English translations of the Bible used the word “homosexual” for the first time.
The word “arsenokoitai” shows up in two different verses in The Bible, Leviticus 18:22 and Timothy 1:10; but it was not translated to mean “homosexual” until 1946. Other languages and their versions of the Bible have adapted to using that word in much later interpretations. In German, before 1983, 1 Timothy 1:10 read, “Man shall not lie with young boys as he does with a woman, for it is an abomination.” Arsenokoitai from Ancient Greek to Latin is paedico and praedico, which is the base of our word pedophile. After further digging, Ed Oxford, a leading Bible scholar working on a more accurate translation of the Bible, discovered the American company Biblica, who owns the NIV version of The Bible, paid for this new 1983 German translation. At that time, Germany didn’t have enough of a Christian population to warrant the cost of a new Bible translation. Biblica funded the entire project and let their interpretation influence the decisions that were made in the word choices, resulting in “homosexual” entering the German Bible for the first time in history.
For decades in Pop Music, we’ve had pop stars lean in and love on the queer community. Madonna, Britney, and even Paris Hilton have been musical voices advocating for legislation and safe spaces. But before that, in the framework of pop music, Diana Ross is celebrated widely as a gay icon. Her 1980 hit, “I’m Coming Out,” was one of the first songs to set the tone of Pride. She was also one of the first fundraisers to rally support at the start of the AIDS epidemic. The Diana Foundation is recognized as the oldest active LGBTQ+ organization in the nation. She often calls her philanthropic work with the community “her ministry” while talking about her devout faith and growing up in the Baptist church. Not to mention, she has the most brilliant rendition of “Amazing Grace.” If I’m to try to become a pop star who builds a legacy of great music, faith, and compassion, why not build off the framework of a legend like Diana?
Throughout the New Testament, Jesus lives and speaks through the importance of community. Jesus built His community in radical contradiction to the ancient Hebrew religious ways. Rather than spending his social time positioning Himself in the religious hierarchy, across the synoptic gospels He chooses to spend time and eat with societal outcasts. The act of eating a meal with the community of others in the Middle East at this time was an act of fellowship, acceptance, and peace. By doing this, he rebelled against purity laws. This was a scandalous endorsement of their “immoral” lifestyles. Most rabbis of the time practiced a strict avoidance of anything they deemed unclean. Matthew, Jesus’ disciple who was a tax collector before following Jesus, full-time. The Roman Empire was occupying the region at the time, and tax collectors were deeply despised by the Jewish people for extorting their own people. Jesus kept the company of tax collectors, prostitutes, and other people ostracized by His culture and considered these individuals dear friends. Why should I do any different?
When I’m performing at Pride, I feel genuine love radiating from the crowd. If they didn’t know me before the lineup announcement, I have no way of knowing that. I hear the bellowing chorus sing my own handwritten words back to me. Roses from my merch stand were being waved back and forth. Although I don’t identify as a queer woman, I’m fully loved and accepted for who I am here.
Like any festival I’ve played, I enjoy also being in the crowd outside of my set, chatting with the attendees and learning more about the who and the why. There’s an infamous photo of me eating lasagna in the crowd during Pride 2024. I handed out forks like flyers because the craft team gave me a massive hot tray. We all laughed and danced, shoving spoonfuls of cheesy pasta into our faces. Music is all about expression and connection. I love knowing why my lyrics hit for some people. I love learning more about the people dancing with me. Audience members are individuals and come to shows with the vignettes of their whole lives. They could have grown up listening to your early tracks, or they could be someone who connected with your song in a certain season of their lives. But Pride has the biggest why of them all. Why, out of all of the festivals in the world, are these people here?
“Pride is where our community gets to take a breath and remember its own heartbeat. It is a celebration, a protest, a homecoming, and a promise all at once. For so many LGBTQ+ people, Pride is the moment they realize they are not alone, that their story is connected to something bigger, braver, and more beautiful than the fear or isolation they may have been carrying. That is what makes Pride so powerful. It brings us back to each other. It turns grief into joy, visibility into strength, and community into something you can actually feel. Pride reminds us that even in difficult times, we know how to make light, and we know how to invite others into it.” Luis Cortez
Past keeping “the church’s” social outcasts as friends, Jesus advocated for the ancient Mosaic Laws to be reconsidered. The first story that comes to my mind is when Jesus stopped the Pharisees, religious leaders, from killing the woman who was caught in adultery in John 8. The men of the church brought an unnamed woman to Jesus’ feet. They claim they caught her in the middle of the act and asked Jesus how to punish her. They then cite the Mosaic Law of the times. Laws that condemn her to death by stoning. Jesus pauses to write in the dirt as if He didn’t hear them. When He is done writing, Jesus turns to the Pharisees and famously says, “he who is without sin, cast the first stone.” Although it’s not recorded what He had written down, scholars believe that he etched into the dirt the sins of the men trying to condemn the woman. The Bible then goes to say that the men convicted by their own guilt disperse. And Jesus says, “I do not condemn thee.” This is not the only example of Jesus admonishing and going against the religious elite by defending His society’s pariah, but the one that sticks out most to me.
I believe, as an educated Christian, it is important for us to truly study the text, not out of context but in its full context. It’s vital for us to embrace our God-given compassion and marry empathy with Bible scholars who teach about the historical significance and the people of the times to better understand the words and the choices made in the sermons we hear today. In fact, Jesus says nothing about homosexuality during the 33 years he was on earth. Our current Christian patriarchy will weaponize forgiveness and Jesus Christ laying down His life for others to condition followers to be meek in the face of injustice. While Jesus was very loud and direct about standing up for those whom the church had put down.
If Christians are called to be people who are following in the ways of Christ, then we should listen to the words He directly says and follow in the actions He makes. My takeaway from reading the Bible and applying it to my life is to act like Christ in my every day-to-day. Through this lens, America is my modern-day Jerusalem. The Pharisees, deciding who is good enough to get into heaven, are my republican congressmen. Anyone ostracized by their religious elite that Jesus loved and advocated for is someone that I will love, show up for, and advocate for. Jesus is my Lord and Savior, commanding me to honor him by loving and accepting others, especially when the corporate church and the religious subculture are telling me to do otherwise. So, I will always put on my mascara and rhinestones, sing, dance, and march with Pride.
