P.E.I. church criticized for post about webinar designed to 'protect' children during Pride Month
CBC
A member of a Summerside church is speaking out against a social media post he calls "homophobic," and looking for a new faith community.
In the post, the Summerside Community Church directed its followers to a June 17 webinar offering "practical advice for parents and grandparents to protect children from what's happening during Pride Month."
The event included B.C. pastor Kevin Cavanaugh interviewing Wilna Van Beek, author of When Gay Comes Home, who details her journey working against her same-sex attractions by embracing Jesus instead.
Stephen MacIsaac is a member of P.E.I.'s LBGTQ+ community and has been attending Summerside Community Church for several years. He said he was shocked and hurt by the post.
"The post they shared on Facebook is very homophobic in my eyes, and leans a lot towards conversion therapy," said MacIsaac.
Conversion therapy refers to practices which seek to change an individual's sexual orientation to heterosexual, to change an individual's gender identity to cisgender, or to change their gender expression to match the sex they were assigned at birth.
It has been banned in P.E.I. since 2019 and was made illegal in Canada in 2021.
"I'm disappointed, you know, that the leaders of the church that you look up to and you go to when you need someone, some comfort — knowing that this is how they view myself and everybody in the community is very disheartening," said MacIsaac.
MacIsaac has been sharing his own message of love and acceptance on his social media pages following the post — and he even had a shirt made to promote that message while he's out in the community. The T-shirt reads "LGBTQ+ or Straight, Jesus Loves All."
He said he is now looking for a new church to join, where he will feel welcomed for who he is.
"If I'd realized this is how they view people in my situation, I would never have gone to that church," said MacIsaac. "They can apologize, but I still know how they feel. So they would be wasting their breath. I won't be back."
A leader at the Summerside Community Church isn't offering any apologies for the post, which has since been removed from the church's website and social media.
Pastor Tracy Linkletter told CBC News the purpose of the webinar was to provide a space for conversation on sexuality and gender from a Christian perspective. She said everyone is welcome to attend her church.
"We understand that, you know, people come from different different views of life. We understand that," said Linkletter. "But we do also understand that, like, we're Christian, so we trust God's design for sexuality and gender. And that's what we stand on, is his design. But we welcome everyone to hear Jesus's life-saving and life-changing message."
'It's our space': Thunder Bay residents rally to save parkette as city aims to sell land for housing
Residents of a small southside neighbourhood in Thunder Bay, Ont., say they're willing to fight once again to save their parkette from being sold by the city and redeveloped into housing.