Dear Editor:
I want to thank Mr. Swager and Mr. Schilt for submitting their letters regarding Pride events to the Update for the public to read, and would like to offer my response.
Regarding Mr. Swager’s letter, the first disconnect is that it’s presented as a “thoughtful critique”. Any thought put forth on this issue would reveal the false equivalency of comparing a human rights movement to the idea of pride as a sin.
Pride in this case is not a luxury, declaration of magnificence or demand for glory. It is simply having the bravery to stand up and declare that you are allowed to exist as you were born and that you have value as a human being and deserve the same rights and protections as every other human being. The fact that the only “critique” offered was a tortured attempt to misrepresent one word out of a movement says quite a bit.
However, if sin is a subject worthy of examination, let’s please examine it. When you devalue someone else’s humanity, is that a sin? When you cast a vote to deny fellow human beings, American citizens, the same rights and protections that you enjoy, is that a sin? When you are a trusted steward and mentor to the youth of your community and you make them feel devalued, is that a sin? If you commit an unkindness and that is one more weight tipping that youth toward the decision to take their own life – is THAT a sin?
Letting other people live their own lives and not being unkind to them for being different, costs nothing. Going out of your way to harass, degrade and devalue a vulnerable, marginalized group of people takes effort, and is most definitely a sin.
My deep gratitude and appreciation to Mr. Schilt for his thoughtful, reasoned, reality-based defense of this movement. I don’t think anyone would be fooled by the first letter, not even Mr. Swager, without Mr. Schilt’s retort, but it is deeply heartening to read it nonetheless. And to Mr. Swager’s point, I agree that we absolutely do have a problem with the sin of pride, but it is not being committed by the LGBTQ+ community.
Susanne Vanden Bosch
Chelsea
