By Ariel Paul
Pride month ends on Sunday, June 30, but that date will be a new beginning for Beverly Unitarian Church, 10244 S. Longwood Dr. Congregants and church officials on that day will hold a Pride service in response to anti-LGBTQ+ vandalism that took place earlier in the month.
The church kicked off Pride month on June 2 with the South Side Family Pride Festival. Last year, they had a smaller celebration with a few families, so they decided to kick it up a notch this year with food and decorations.The festival decorations were supposed to stay up through June.
But on June 10, the director of the preschool that uses the church building discovered that decorations from the festival had been taken down, burned, and set under a tree on the property.
“We were going to react by putting the decorations back up and having an event at the end of the month,” said Beverly Unitarian’s Rev. Allen Harden. “We are going to continue Pride Month through July, now.”
This type of display had occurred elsewhere in the neighborhood.
Maria Moser, the church’s social action committee chair, has lived in Beverly for ten years. She said the church community was “angry, sad, but not tremendously shocked.”
“People in the community have had flags taken down outside their houses,” Moser said.
According to Harden, until this year, the Unitarian church had no such incidents.
“The church and our congregation in particular had been a longtime welcoming congregation, and accepting of the LGBTQ population,” he said. “We stand up for things like Pride. It’s a matter of principle.”
The vandalism was reported to the police, but the culprit remains unknown, and so do their motives.
Church and community member Anna Carvlin said it doesn’t matter who did it. The response is what matters.
Carvlin lives in Morgan Park with her wife and children. She said she was “mildly afraid” after the incident, but the church responded with “fervor.”
“I was especially cognizant of whether or not people listened to me, and they did,” she said.
The church has received negative feedback for its stance on Pride, Black Lives Matter and women’s reproductive rights. Harding says that, while the community may have different points of view, this wouldn’t change the church’s congregational position.
“I took my daughter to her first day of park camp, and somebody was wearing a shirt that said ‘straight pride,'” Carvlin said. “You can say, oh, it’s just stupid, or it’s just ignorance. But ignorance begets a lot of hatred and violence, too.”
Carvlin says the incident upset her, and she took a picture of the shirt and posted it. She said she received “a lot of support” from the community. Days later, Carvlin saw another parent wear a Pride shirt to drop their kid off.
“That was really nice,” she said. “I love Beverly. We’re all family here.”
The service on June 30 will reinstate the pride decorations, and includes a dedication of a Pride flag. The flag remains through July. The sermon that day is titled “Setting Love Free.” According to the church’s website, it will cover “anti-queer fear, hatred, and violence.”
“We think it’s important to send a message that this is going to strengthen our commitment to be a biblical symbol of inclusion in our neighborhood,” said Moser.
“We just want to stand as allies and to know, if nothing else, our church is a safe place,” said Harden. “We’re working to make Beverly, Chicago and the world a safe place.”