Faith United Church of Christ in State College is reacting to having its Pride flag burned during recent Pride celebrations downtown.
Rev. Jes Kast, the current and first openly queer minister of Faith UCC, said in her six-and-a-half years at the Church, this is the first time they’ve experienced vandalism.
“I encourage my fellow LGBTQIA community and allies, stand firm!” Kast wrote in a Facebook post after the incident. “Please do not cower in fear and please know your flags matter.”
Karen Hollett, the president of Faith UCC’s governing board, said she knows there are people who disagree with how the church views the LGBTQ+ community.
“But the response from the church (after the incident) was very much one of love and coming together and holding steadfastly to our faith in Jesus, and to the ministry and mission that we have as a church, which is to love and welcome everybody, just as Jesus calls us to do,” Hollett said.
Kast said that too often, they hear stories of Christian communities standing in opposition to the LGBTQ+ community.
“We believe that's not what the Bible says,” Kast said. “And we believe because we follow Jesus in the scriptures, that we want to stand with the LGBTQIA community. And that's part of our Christian faith.”
Hollett said she remembers a time in her life when she felt Christianity was about piety and righteousness. But now she feels it’s about loving everyone and making the world a better place.
“I don’t think it’s a radical view of the Bible to see a queer person, or any person, as being deserving of God’s love or love of any kind,” Hollett said.
Police arrested 28-year-old Markos Bejiga on Monday. He's accused of damaging Pride decorations outside of Chumley’s and Cafe 210 West, yelling homophobic slurs at passersby, climbing a light pole in an attempt to burn a Pride flag and setting fire to the Pride flag on the front of the Faith United Church of Christ.
Bejiga is facing one felony charge of causing or risking a catastrophe, one misdemeanor charge of disorderly conduct and three summary charges of criminal mischief. He was released Wednesday on an unsecured bail of $10,000 after his preliminary hearing earlier in the day. His arraignment is set for July 9.
