Washington Plaza Baptist Church in Reston – Photo: Morris Smith
An unknown vandal smashed the plexiglass sign outside Washington Plaza Baptist Church in Reston, Virginia, sometime before Sunday, June 15, targeting a message that read “God is Love. Love is Love. Celebrate Pride.”
A member of the congregation was the first to notice the shattered singn and missing letters.
“Whatever was used to break the plexiglass on the sign was right over the word pride,” Michelle Nickens, pastor of Washington Plaza Baptist Church, told the Reston edition of local news site Patch. “They actually damaged it so that the little track that the letters slid into was damaged. We could not even put the letters back up.”
Because the damage was concentrated on the Pride message, Nickens — a queer woman — believes the church was targeted for being LGBTQ-affirming.
The church is one of the founding faith communities behind Reston Pride, with Nickens serving as the event’s clergy liaison, organizing blessings from local faith institutions.
Church members have marched in the Capital Pride Parade, and Nickens has been the sole Baptist clergy person to speak annually at the Transgender Day of Remembrance, a vigil honoring transgender individuals lost to violence.
Recently, delegates to the Southern Baptist Convention overwhelmingly passed a resolution calling for the overturn of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision legalizing same-sex marriage — and for the elimination of all other laws that “defy God’s design for marriage and family.” The resolution also urged lawmakers to support heterosexual marriage and child-rearing, and encouraged believers to reject the validity of transgender identity.
However, Baptist churches are historically independent and do not answer to a central religious authority. As a result, they are not required to follow the dictates of the Southern Baptist Convention — allowing churches like Washington Plaza Baptist to embrace their own views on LGBTQ dignity and same-sex relationships.
“We are welcoming and affirming of LGBTQ people, which means not just that LGBTQ people are welcome, but that we will perform marriages,” Nickens told Patch. “I’m a queer woman myself, so there’s full inclusion of the LGBTQ community in our church.
“I wish that there were more people who knew that there were churches like ours that existed. We are not typical with the positions of most Baptist organizations. We happen to be members of two Baptist organizations that are welcoming and affirming, the Association of Welcoming & Affirming Baptists and the Alliance of Baptists.”
Nickens has taken the vandalism in stride, refusing to let it alter the church’s beliefs or silence its affirming stance toward the LGBTQ community.
“A Bible verse says, ‘What you have meant for evil, God has used for good,'” she told Patch. “That’s the way that I interpret it. Whatever it was, if you used a hammer or a brick, or whatever it was that you took to our sign, it only makes us stronger. And we will use this as an opportunity to let people who are looking for a safe, faith community, know that we are here and we’re serious. We are serious about love and loving.”
The U.S. Supreme Court has upheld a Tennessee law banning doctors from prescribing gender-affirming puberty blockers and hormones to transgender youth with gender dysphoria.
A group of families of transgender youth and a doctor who treats them sued to overturn the law, arguing it was unconstitutional, infringed on parental rights, and violated nondiscrimination protections in the Affordable Care Act. Lower courts ultimately dismissed the parental rights and ACA-based claims.
Gina Ortiz Jones was elected mayor of San Antonio in a runoff election on June 7.
The victory was historic, as Jones is not only San Antonio's first out LGBTQ mayor but the first Asian-American female mayor of a major city in Texas and the first female mayor in Texas to have served in a war.
(She's a former Air Force officer and Iraq War veteran who previously served as Under Secretary of the Air Force during the Biden administration.)
Jones is also the first mayor since 2005 to not have previously served on the city council and will serve a four-year term.
"For me, being visible is being able to be unapologetically myself," says Sasha Colby. "Drag is my sort of therapy, my way of releasing and telling stories."
On Thursday, June 5, the RuPaul's Drag Race Season 15 winner will be front and center during the pre-game festivities at Team DC's 20th annual "Night OUT at the Nationals." She'll then throw out the ceremonial first pitch of the matchup between the Washington Nationals and the Chicago Cubs.
"I'm gonna definitely show them Sasha Colby on that pitcher's mound," she says. "I'm going to be in a very fun, proud Sasha Colby outfit.... Let's just say it's not your standard regulation baseball uniform."
These are challenging times for news organizations. And yet it’s crucial we stay active and provide vital resources and information to both our local readers and the world. So won’t you please take a moment and consider supporting Metro Weekly with a membership? For as little as $5 a month, you can help ensure Metro Weekly magazine and MetroWeekly.com remain free, viable resources as we provide the best, most diverse, culturally-resonant LGBTQ coverage in both the D.C. region and around the world. Memberships come with exclusive perks and discounts, your own personal digital delivery of each week’s magazine (and an archive), access to our Member's Lounge when it launches this fall, and exclusive members-only items like Metro Weekly Membership Mugs and Tote Bags! Check out all our membership levels here and please join us today!
You must be logged in to post a comment.