St. James celebrates the last day of Pride with labyrinth walk

Jul. 1—The St. James Episcopal Church in downtown Lenoir held its first ever Pride labyrinth walk on Sunday, June 30, starting at 4 p.m. The last day of June is often referred to as Gay Pride Day, and within multiple Episcopal churches the last Sunday of the month was celebrated as Pride Sunday. The event included a discussion of the significance of LGBT symbols and a meditative walk through the church's labyrinth.

Opening remarks were given — inside to escape the heat — by Rev. Susan Buchanan, the church's rector. Buchanan welcomed the attendees, which she said included a number of new faces, saying "we are here to bear witness, that we believe that God's love knows no bounds. The Christian Church for too long has offered a message that some people were not worthy of God's love and had to change to be worthy of God's love."

"Gentiles did not have to become Jews," she said. "Gays do not have to become straight."

Although history was not the focus of the event, attendee Alex Jersey, a Massachusetts resident who went to high school in Lenoir, recalled the history. Pride month is celebrated in June following the events of Stonewall. "It was in Greenwich, in New York," Jersey said, "that a community popped up around the Stonewall Inn, including all sorts of LGBT people. They had a history of being harassed by the NYPD. They were stalked, raided, and that kind of makes it hard to express yourself. Marsha P. Johnson, a black trans woman, confronted the police — she threw a brick at them."

"A lot of people say it was a riot, but in reality it was a defensive action," Jersey continued, "and it was one of the first events where the LGBT community stood up for itself." Jersey noted that this also happened during the civil rights and women's right eras, and that many of the organizers from these movements worked together for their shared goals.

Stonewall happened in June of 1969, and has since sparked annual celebration. June was officially recognized as Gay and Lesbian Pride Month in 1999 through a proclamation by President Bill Clinton.

At the Sunday event, members of the audience were called up to discuss the symbolism and meaning behind the different colors of the progress pride flag, developed by Daniel Quasar in 2018. After this discussion was over, the group moved outside for the labyrinth walk as the hot day threatened rain.

Labyrinth walks are nothing new for the church. Doris Conn, labyrinth facilitator and member of St. James, said that the "labyrinth is a spiritual path. It's a place where you can go to pray, to reflect, and return transformed in some way." Conn, who has two LGBT children, offered instruction and advice on how best to walk the church's labyrinth and encouraged the guests to return to use it if they ever felt the need.

Although the church has put up a pride banner in previous years, it has not hosted events until this year, said Buchanan. Buchanan went on to note that the banner currently hanging at the church was the third one of the summer, with two previous banners being stolen. Buchanan said that she hopes that the thieves will read the banners, which said "you are loved," and know that the statement applies to them as well.