My friend, Kathy Baldock, writes about her crusade to counter anti-gay christianist hate groups during Charlotte Pride last week.

It’s an historically heroic effort- and her writing is very moving, funny and important- especially if you believe that  God is Love….

On Saturday, August 27, a group of about two hundred Christians marched into “Pride Charlotte” with “God Has A Better Way” (GHABW), an action formed by the Coalition of Conscience and the Speak the Truth Project.

Three quarters of the group, including children, wore red tee shirts boldly declaring the message and website “God Has A Better Way.” The balance of about 30 were “plain clothes” street evangelists.

I heard about the GHABW action two weeks before the event and decided to go to Charlotte with a str8apology action that I have done at many Gay Pride events. Some have striven to label me “gay activist;” a term that is often used to dismiss my intentions and the core of my Christian beliefs.

Would you label Martin Luther King as simply a “black activist” missing that his passions were deeply rooted in his faith that called him to strive for justice and against oppression?

I, too, am driven by my faith which compels me to fight against oppression and injustice. (Isaiah 58)

I am keenly aware that some Christians will and do use the Bible to exclude an entire class of people not only from social equality, but more egregiously, from the benefits of a relationship with God both now and in eternity. So, I took Str8apology to Pride Charlotte. Str8apology is a Christian action. We see the value of positive expressions of God’s love and are acutely aware of the damage caused by conditional and condemning messages from some Christians .

Read  the rest of Part One here. And watch LGBTQ Nation for parts 2 and 3- they just keep getting better…