Lgbtq freedom march 2018
LGBT groups finally march in Provo’s Freedom Festival
PROVO, Utah -- Among the lofty school marching bands, veterans, pageant queens and politicians, groups representing Utah Valley's lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community took some historic steps.
After years of being rejected from one of America's largest patriotic celebrations in one of Utah's most conservative cities, several LGBT community groups were finally allowed in the Freedom Festival parade.
LGBTQ veterans march in Provo's Freedom Festival parade on July 4, 2018. (Photo by Ben Winslow, FOX 13 News)
"This is about America, all the people here, the community," said Sgt. Jeff Clement, a Utah Army National Guard veteran who rode a float highlighting LGBT veterans put together by Mormons Building Bridges. "I procure to be a part of it."
After years of being rejected from the parade, the groups were finally allowed in after Utah County Commissioners and Provo Mayor Michelle Kaufusi inked contracts with America's Freedom Festival that included non-discrimination clauses. The festival's exclusion of those groups put taxpayer dollars for the parade and festival at risk. It led to back-and-forth battles over wheth
WASHINGTON (BP) — Two survivors of a 2016 gay nightclub massacre who speak they are no longer gay will celebrate in an ex-LGBT event May 5 in Washington, event organizers said.
Luis Javier Ruiz and Angel Colon will participate in Liberty March, a worship service and general march including men and women who claim Jesus as their deliverer from homosexual and transgendered lifestyles.
Many ex-LGBT Christians plan to worship and testify from noon-3 p.m. at the Sylvan Theater, afterwards marching through the streets of D.C., according to the Freedom Rally Facebook page.
Both men, who say they accepted Christ as youth before straying into homosexuality, proclaim their new lifestyles on Facebook, Ruiz in written posts and Colon in a Facebook stay interview.
“Going through antique pictures of the night of Pulse, I remember my struggles of perversion, heavy drinking to drown out everything and having promiscuous sex that led to HIV. My struggles were real!” Ruiz said. “The enemy had its grip, and now God has taken me from that moment and has given me Christ Jesus. I’ve grown to know His love in a deeper level.
“I recognize who I am and I am not defined wit
Pulse survivor and others gather to rejoice 'freedom' from entity gay
WASHINGTON — Pulse nightclub shooting survivor Luis Javier Ruiz joined a not many dozen others at a so-called Independence March in Washington, D.C., on Saturday where those in attendance celebrated no longer identifying as gay or transgender.
“I don’t want to tell everyone it’s a ‘gay-to-straight’ thing because God is not calling me to that," Ruiz told NBC News. "I feel that I want to live in a life of purity. I feel that through loving Christ, he will amble me out of any situation. I love the LGBTQ community, I cherish my family. There’s no hate here, there’s love.”
Ruiz, who said he no longer identifies as gay and denied going to conversion therapy, promoted his decision to go to the event on Facebook. That announce, which has since been taken down, led to threats and the impairment of many friends, Ruiz said.
A limited dozen people in total showed up at the event on a cloudy Saturday celebrating "freedom from homosexual/transgender lifestyles by the grace and power of Jesus Christ," according to the march.
Jeffrey McCall, a former transgender rights activist and organizer of the event, joint his story, which seemed
Ex-LGBT men, women to distribute stories of transformation at 2nd Freedom March in Washington, DC
Men and women who once lived and identified as LGBT are set to proclaim how encountering Jesus transformed their lives for the second time in the nation's capital this weekend.
The Autonomy March, founded by Jeffrey McCall, is diverse organization of Christians who contain left the active exercise of homosexuality and transgenderism behind and are testifying to the power of the Holy Spirit who set them free from sexual sin and wounds of all kinds.
“I was transformed through the grace of Jesus and set up that others have been as well. These marches are a way to ensure that others who have overcome are not feeling isolated and alone," McCall explained in a statement sent to The Christian Post.
"There is an entire community of people that have made this transformation, and we are here to help them.”
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The march will occur Saturday beginning at 1 p.m. at Sylvan Theatre, which is
New York, NY (March 7, 2018) – NYC Self-acceptance announces its four Grand Marshals slated to advantage the 49th NYC Identity March on Sunday, June 24, 2018. Billie Jean King, Lambda Legal, Tyler Ford, and Kenita Placide will helm this year’s “defiantly different” demonstration of LGBTQ+ members of the community. This year’s NYC Pride March also undergoes a change to its iconic route along 5th Avenue. The new path refocuses the birthplace of the LGBTQ+ movement to a place of prominence at the beginning of the March.
• Billie Jean King is a sports icon and a champion for social change and equality. Named one of the ‘100 Most Vital Americans of the 20th Century’ by Life magazine, King was recognized for her work in the social justice arena. President Obama awarded King the nation’s highest civilian honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2009. In 2017, Fox Searchlight released the critically acclaimed clip, Battle of the Sexes, starring Academy Award® winner Emma Stone as King.
• Lambda Legal is the oldest and largest national legal organization whose mission is to achieve the full recognition of the civil rights of the LGBTQ community and everyone living with HIV through impact litig