Pride Is Teaching Me To Love My Enemies

Protestors during a rally at Churchill Square in support of trans youth in Alberta following the 'Sing With Love' concert at McDougall United Church, on Feb. 11, 2024, in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. The concert and rally, held in downtown Edmonton on Sunday afternoon, aimed to demonstrate solidarity with the trans community in response to recent government policies impacting trans children. Credit: Artur Widak/Reuters

This Pride Month, I’ve been thinking a lot about the fullness of love. Recent polling from Gallup found that support for same-sex marriage has fallen noticeably since its previous height in 2022-23. This shift is largely due to Republicans, whose support for same-sex relationships fell from 55% to 37% in just a matter of years. While I find these numbers upsetting, I don’t find them surprising. After all, Pride itself didn’t begin as a celebration of love but as a protest against those determined to push that love back in the closet.

Love is at the heart of the gospel as well. Jesus taught that the greatest commandments were to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself (Mark 12:30-31). All of Christianity can be condensed into these commandments (Matthew 22:38-40). However, Jesus also gave a third commandment regarding love, and it’s been weighing on my mind for some time now. Christians aren’t just called to love God and love our neighbors; we are also called to love our enemies (Luke 6:27-36).

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