Pro-LGBTQ+ Grace UMC Partners With Tower Grove Pride On All-Ages Fun Zone!

One of the biggest requests we've had is for more activities and games for people of all ages! Pride doesn't have to be just a drinking and dancing shabang. It can also be a place where everyone can feel welcome no matter their age or level of sobriety! We are going to have arts, crafts, yard games with prizes, and thanks to Grace UMC: a video game truck for teens! You'll find most of our all-ages activities and booths near the Playground Pavilion.

Here's what GRACE UMC has to say about their participation in TGP2019:

"We at Grace United Methodist are committed to making sure everyone knows they are welcome, loved, accepted, and affirmed at our Church and with God. We are a safe place for all and resource for our brothers and sisters in the LGBTQIA+ community. We are extremely proud to be sponsoring the Teen Zone at Tower Grove Pride this year and hope to make some new friends.  We will have a 55ft Mobile Video Game Truck available and an area where Teens can gather to meet other Teens at Pride or sit and relax for a bit. Stop by and see us at Pride!!"

Grace UMC has been pushing the Methodist Communion towards acceptance and support of the LGBT+ community. We are so glad to have them and other progressive, pro-LGBT+ religious groups in the festival. Everyone is welcome, no matter what you believe, so long as you affirm the rights and dignity of all human beings. LGBT+ and everyone else!

******Update: We wanted to clarify the relationship between Grace UMC versus the General Conference of the United Methodist Church.

The General Conference met in STL last year to debate LGBTQ+ inclusive policies and narrowly voted in favor of continued restrictions. Grace UMC and hundreds of other like-minded churches have been protesting and fighting that policy. This may in fact lead to a split, whereby pro-LGBTQ+ congregations break away and become independent of the General Conference. Please see these two articles to help get a better picture of the complicated nature of the struggle for LGBTQ+ rights and recognition from within the United Methodist Congregation:

https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2019/03/methodist-churches-nationwide-publicly-rebelling-denominations-anti-lgbtq-stance/?fbclid=IwAR0tV5QqaojLNwkA-dhjafFaYEJLMIrU5h3TaRhTKZCWsIthpBXhSG7gbbQ

https://www.umcjustice.org/news-and-stories/general-secretary-responds-to-general-conference-2019-808?fbclid=IwAR1bWR7xVh0fsggugvRHX577OFzDR_wiHWj5kuvg3QLUUTWPOiFzlM27BmU

We have included Grace UMC because they have been outspoken and dedicated to ending the oppressive anti-LGBTQ+ policies of the General Conference.******