LGBTQ youth and faith leaders gather to show hate has no place in community

May 2024 · 3 minute read

As pride month nears an end - local faith leaders and people of the LGBTQ community sending the message - hate has no place here.

Earlier this month, we told you about a Boise pastor whose anti-LGBTQ sermons went viral on TikTok.

In one of his recent sermons posted to Youtube, Pastor Joe Jones of the Shield of Faith Baptist Church said, "If Jesus was in charge of this nation. If he was the king and our leaders reported directly to him, we would not have a pride month. There would be no sodomites, he would have them removed from the land."

Leaders in the LGBTQ community say his rhetoric is dangerous.

After seeing his sermons, a local teen decided to get a group of about 20 students and several faith leaders together to discuss things like how LGBTQ people within faith communities can find support and how faith communities can encourage identity.

"Immediately I felt really bad, especially that my two older moms were showing me this, their young gay daughter, and telling me about this, and I felt more disappointed for them and for everything they've worked for than for me," said Lizzy Duke-Moe, a recent Boise High School graduate who organized the gathering. "We want to show there's a total different perspective and that you can be a religious person and you can be gay, and you can be a religious person an support gay people."

Several young people from the LGBTQ community shared traumas they experienced in a church they grew up attending. The teens also asked questions about the intersection of faith and LGBTQ+ people

"It was so cool to see one person's hate, like I said earlier, was able to inspire this many people to come together in such a compassionate setting, and I just think that's so important. It was amazing and obviously there were tears and everyone was laughing, and it was was just great for people to have this different perspective," said Duke-Moe.

Leaders from the Jewish, Episcopol, Bhudist and Methodist communities pushed against interpretations of scripture that creates division.

"Is my reading of the bible producing love and connection with people or is it producing hate and division, and that really is the measurement of if we're reading it right or wrong. If we're reading it right, it produces love and connection, and uplifts people. If we're reading it wrong, it just breeds hate and division," said Ben Cremer, a pastor at the Cathedral of the Rockies, Amity campus.

Duke-Moe says she's reached out to Pastor Joe Jones and hopes they can have a discussion and find middle ground.

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