Why are Uniting Church members marching in the 1998 Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras and what will it look like?

A group of Uniting Church members are planning to enter a float in the 1998 Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras to give visible expression to the hope that the Uniting Church is an inclusive Church. It is anticipated that up to 100 people drawn from parishes in the Sydney area will gather in support of lesbian, bisexual and gay people so as to affirm and honour their contribution to the life of the Church.

For too long the Church has forced gay and lesbian members and ministers to hide and to deny their fundamental natures. This float will express a greater hope for the Church to be a place of diversity and acceptance irrespective of sexual orientation.

It is not the intention of the organisers of the float to necessarily give approval to all other floats in the parade. Due to selective media coverage the impression is often given that the Mardi Gras flaunts promiscuity. The organisers note, however, that the majority of floats are made up of support groups and social clubs many of which the Uniting Church has supported and could identify with. These include such groups as the parent support group P-Flag, and the AIDS support group ANKALI and Church related groups such as the Quakers, and groups of Anglican and Catholic people.

Already those interested to march have expressed a wide number of reasons why they wish to join this action. Some have expressed deep hurt and pain that lesbian and gay people are forced into silence in the Church. Recent discussions of the place of homosexual people in the life of the Church has engendered an environment in some places where people have experienced vilification and hatred. Other people have family members, sons and daughters, whose lives they feel unable to acknowledge in the Church. Other people see it as a matter of social justice that the way the Church treats gay and lesbian people is a marker of its health or disease. Other people who come from Parishes where gay and lesbian peope share in membership and leadership want to show their support and thankfulness for receiving the gifts their friends bring to a more inclusive form of community. Many people point to Jesus as an example and feel it is appropriate to go into the streets to express their faith. All these people have replaced fear with love.

It is intended that the Uniting Church group will march together wearing a common t-shirt with a logo that focuses on our hope for an inclusive Church and emphasising our actions as a matter of social justice. Colours of the rainbow and the image of Noah's Ark have been mentioned as symbols of God's love that are appropriate to celebrate. The exact form of the float will be known later this year following a consultative process with those interested to march in the parade.

There has been significant interest in this proposal from both supporters and critics in the Church. It is anticipated that a number of Parish groups will attend including up to 20 ministers of the Church. Critics of the proposal have based their concerns on a media driven image of the parade. The organsiing committee would welcome comments from the wider Church and will seek to bear those concerns in mind as plans for the float develop.

Rev Rod Pattenden Eastside Parish Uniting Church PO Box 379 Paddington 2021 NSW, Australia, Ph 02 9331 2646 fax 02 9331 4864

Des Perry Secretary of CrossSections the lesbian, gay and bisexual support group in the NSW Synod of the Uniting Church PO Box 98 Enmore 2042

30th September 1997