From: Interfaith Working Group Subject: IWG Chicago Tribune Letter Date: Wed, 10 Sep 1997 22:50:42 -0400 (EDT) The following went out on IWG letterhead listing 10 congregations and religious organizations and 46 clergy from 14 faiths and denominations. If you are in the general Philadelphia area and represent a congregation or religious organization or are clergy, let us know if you want to be added - all faiths are welcome. We will also be happy to help start similar organizations in other areas. September 10, 1997 John McCarron The Chicago Tribune 435 N. Michigan Avenue Chicago, IL 60611 Dear Mr. McCarron: We read your Pride Parade commentary with interest, and we applaud your support for legalized equality, but we fear that you have missed the point. Perhaps the Chicago parade is significantly different than the Diversity of Pride Parade held in Philadelphia. We have walked in the Philadelphia parade as a family with the members and clergy of various religious organizations for the last several years. We march both to show our support to the general public, and to display a different face of religion to those in the parade. We read the news accounts of Pride parades all over the country, and they seem to be remarkably similar. What Pride parades demonstrate very well is that all sorts of people are sexual minorities and are supportive of sexual minorities, just as all sorts of people are Christians, or Jews, or have various skin colors or ethnic backgrounds. Some do dress up in leather or in drag, at least on the day of the parade, and probably other times as well. In a city the size of Philadelphia or Chicago there's very little anyone could wear walking down the street on most days that would even get them a second look anymore. The problem isn't with Pride Parades, it's with people who want to be able to classify people into groups according to one or two random characteristics and then assign one image to every member of that group. American society is much too complicated for simplistic thinking. Ethnicity, religion (or lack thereof), sexual identity, sexual orientation, educational background and many other factors both set us apart and bind us together with other people. As United States citizens we are all legally entitled to equal treatment, not because of how we dress, who we sleep with, what religion we belong to, or how we act once a year in Pride Parades. Sincerely, Barbara Purdom Christopher Purdom Interfaith Working Group Coordinators -- Interfaith Working Group Religious organizations, congregations iwg@libertynet.org and clergy supporting gay rights, http://www.libertynet.org/~iwg/ reproductive freedom, and the 215-235-3050 separation of church and state.