While most Catholic folks will have a dull gray mark smudged on their foreheads today, some will proudly sport a bit of purple sparkle.
Today is Ash Wednesday—the beginning of Lent and a day when Catholics and some Protestant denominations practice penitence. But thanks to the progressive organization Parity, some church leaders are choosing to work with “glitter ash” in support of the LGBT community.
Rev. Marian Edmonds-Allen, executive director of Parity, told The Washington Post: “LGBT people are people of faith, too. … On the day, Ash Wednesday, when Christians are publicly Christian, we are going to be publicly queer.”
Edmonds-Allen did admit to receiving pushback. Even some liberal Christians protested that “joyful glitter doesn’t belong on Ash Wednesday.” Unsurprisingly, the Post did not expound on other more pertinent reasons why Catholics might oppose the purple sparkles.
But the progressive group got plenty of support as well. In fact, Parity sent ashes to churches in California, Missouri, Massachusetts, Alabama and Georgia. A map on the website gives all the locations where they can be received.
“This is a way for queer Christians and queer-positive persons of faith to say ‘We are here,'” Edmonds-Allen explained. “It is also a way for other people to be a witness to that and be in solidarity with them.”
Based in New York City, Parity seeks to “reconcile faith and identity,” in order to “create a world where gender and sexual identity are not barriers to living the whole, full lives that we are called to by God.”
