Brisbane Pride Festival is the annual opportunity to celebrate the diversity of our community and the grace of sexuality as a person of faith.
The Pride March through New Farm was a wonderful spectacle as Brunswick Street filled with colour and festivity.
Being a bit of a cheeky #Catholic I couldn't resist the opportunity to grab pics of the parade as it passed Wynberg,the historic home of Archbishop Mark Coleridge.
However today as I was editing pics for publication I discovered that the South African town after which Wynberg is named is also home to Compassion-centred Islam.
The town of Wynberg includes the Masjid Ul-Umam Mosque which is a place of welcome for Gay and Lesbian Muslims.
Can you imagine my excitement this weekend to have stumbled on a previous unspoken link between Wynberg in Brisbane and Wynberg in South Africa: a link that promotes both Interfaith relations as well as breaking down religious fears and suspicions about sexual diversity.
I am publishing these images as both a challenge and an affirmation of my commitment to Interfaith relations and my sexuality as a Gay Catholic.
Comments
I am always reminded of Pope Francis' words (which I've Australianised a bit! LOL): "Who the bloody hell am I to judge!"... May the various Wynbergs of the world unite in always professing love to all, in the spirit of the Gospel, but particularly those that are persecuted, despised, and dispossessed!