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EARLIER this month St. John’s Pride Festival concluded with a Pride in the Park celebration where local businesses and non-profits set up booths to introduce themselves to the community. But the organisers found themselves at the centre of huge a row when they decided that Recovering from Religion, which helps people “navigate life without religion”, was excluded from the event as it did not “align with their values.“

Given that RFR’s application for a presence at the event was initially accepted, the rejection was, according to The Friendly Atheist, Hermant Mehta, “bizarre.” He pointed out that:

RfR’s members are overwhelmingly (if not universally) supportive of LGBTQ+ rights. These aren’t just casual supporters, either. These are people who lobby their elected representatives to pass equality-focused legislation, attend protests, and often have LGBTQ+ people in their families if they aren’t in that community themselves. Hell, one of the big reasons people leave organized religion is because of the open bigotry against LGBTQ+ people, so these two groups should be natural allies! How could the Pride festival organizers think there was anything but alignment from RfR?

Dr Darrel Ray, RfR’s board president, contacted the organisers , saying:

I cannot but think some mistake has been made in the research of your team. We are about as LGBTQ allied as is humanly possible. We have several LGBTQ board members, several of our director level people are LGBTQ. We have over 500 volunteers worldwide with around 20% or more identifying as LGBTQ. We create hundreds of hours of content with around 25% being directly related to issues LGBTQ people face. Our resource library is full of curated help for LGBTQ people all over the world.

A video posted by Mehta drew over 400 comments from people appalled by the disinvitation.

Mehta learned that RfR, despite its rejection, was planning to set up a table near the festival, though not technically on the premises, with a sign that says “We are not welcome here. Come talk to us.”

And according to one person who commented beneath Hermant’s video said:

I just walked by the Pride in the Park event. Its happening right now. They did end up getting a table inside the park, right by the main entrance. I’m standing near it now.

Hat tip: Stephen Harvie.

If you would like to support the Pink Triangle Trust’s mission to promote humanism, fight bigotry and fund LGBT+ groups, you can make a donation below. If you wish to report any typos or errors, please email freethinkered@aol.com