This weekend christian rock singer and author, Vicky Beeching, was invited to perform at the Gay Christian Network Conference in Portland. The conference drew nearly 1,300 lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Christians and supporters to the Oregon Convention Center.
However, a handful of Westboro Baptist Church members gathered with signs declaring gays must “repent or perish” and the classically creative line “God hates Fags”.
Thankfully, the haters were far outnumbered by Portland Christians and LGBT supporters, who held different signs, and formed a protective screen for the participants.
Not to deterred by the Westboro group, Vicky Beeching calmly stopped to pose for a picture with them. The pics were then posted to her twitter account… You go girl!
I smiled, said hello & told the Westboro Baptist folks we loved each of them. Love wins over judgement. #GCNConf pic.twitter.com/ldHUwXA55K
— Vicky Beeching (@vickybeeching) January 10, 2015
Arrived just now at #GCNConf to a loud crowd of Westboro Baptist protestors..and to a giant rainbow above them. pic.twitter.com/g3GxtcboJZ
— Vicky Beeching (@vickybeeching) January 10, 2015
I shine a light on this for one reason: to say that many LGBT Christians in conservative parts of the world do face this kind of negativity.
— Vicky Beeching (@vickybeeching) January 11, 2015
Vicky came out as gay publicly in August, in hope that her coming out would help others to do the same.
In her address to the conference Vicky said…
“Christianity is less of a fixed, concrete faith and more about a relationship with a God who is alive and living… Our theology has become so systematised, so categorised, it can feel less like a living thing and more like … taxidermy.
I love Jesus as much as I ever have. And I’m gay. Deal with it.”
Vicky Beeching