Do Pride Progress flags and pronouns matter? Communications Manager Paul Huxley makes a case that Christians should care about the messages sent in our public spaces.
In 2022, the Crown Estate commissioned 100 ‘Pride Progress’ flags to mark 50 years of Pride Month.
That year, the flags were flown over Regent Street, one of the most major and historic shopping streets in London’s West End.
As they have been each June since. It has become part of the yearly calendar for these garish flags to dominate the street’s attractive stone buildings. The six-colour rainbows publicly herald the triumph of Pride, and the additional chevron proclaims the inevitability of Progress.
The problem with ‘Pride’
For those who don’t know, the normal Pride flag, which is recognised even in UK planning laws, has just six colours. The colours weren’t meant to directly represent different sexualities; red was for life, orange was for healing and so on. But just as real rainbows cover the full spectrum of visible light, the six-coloured Pride flag implies the full spectrum of sexual relationships. It sends the message that all kinds of sexual activities are valid and equal.
Christians don’t agree with this. God has spoken clearly on the topic of homosexual sex; he detests it along with many other immoral sexual practices (Leviticus 18:22-30). This is the consistent teaching of scripture and fits with how he made us. Adam was given a helper, Eve, who was like him, equally made in God’s image, but substantively different. Only the sexual union of a man and woman together could produce offspring and their sexual differences improve one another.
The problem with ‘Progress’
Hanging such flags is a clear act of defiance against God. Its association with the Pride movement demonstrates its political nature and divisiveness. But the flag used in the Regent Street display includes new elements: a chevron with black, brown, blue, pink and white colours, plus a yellow triangle and purple circle.
These additions are substantially more controversial. The brown and black[1] colours are meant to represent “marginalised people of colour communities”. But many of those who have been treated badly on account of their skin colour are thoroughly opposed to Pride ideology. They see the conflation of sexuality and race as misleading and arguably offensive.
Then there’s the blue, pink and white of the transgender movement. This is contentious even among people who identify as LGB. Amongst their many concerns is the fact that transgender ideology seeks to erase the meaning of ‘man’ and ‘woman’. If you can’t objectively say whether someone is a man or a woman, LGB-identifying people can’t clearly say who they are attracted to. More importantly, it is made harder for Christians and others to speak truthfully about a person’s identity.
Transgender ideology leads to women like the Darlington nurses having men invade their single-sex changing spaces. It leads to young children being told they might have been ‘born in the wrong bodies’, leading to painful identity crises and body mutilation through puberty blockers, hormones and surgery.
It’s plain to see that these flags are highly divisive and inappropriate.
When Union Flags are draped from the same Regent Street buildings, they celebrate an identity to which every UK citizen belongs, as a matter of fact. When Pride Progress flags hang, they proclaim an increasingly contentious ideology.
Are we overreacting?
Does this matter, though? Are Christians being hyperventilating reactionaries when we call this out and raise objections? Flags don’t do anything, do they?
I think this misses the point. They are part of a larger cultural fabric that normalises the ideology. As I write, we are at the end of LGBTQ History Month, or February as it is more traditionally called. When I mentioned Pride Month in the first sentence, most readers will know this is June – even if it often extends through July and into August. Add in some special ‘visibility’ and ‘remembrance’ days across the year and you have a liturgical calendar more detailed than most Christians would use.
The normalisation of pronouns in online profiles and email signatures is part of the same phenomenon. In nearly all cases, a person is obviously a man or a woman and presents themselves as such; no one is going to accidentally misgender them. For the much smaller number of people who are trying to pass as members of the opposite sex, it is abundantly obvious what they are trying to present themselves as, whether they are successful or not. Pronouns could theoretically help clarify the identity of less gender-conforming people, but titles (Mr/Mrs) and names are nearly always sufficient.
But pronouns in bios are like those Pride Progress flags hanging down. They normalise trans and non-binary identities that defy our God-given masculinity and femininity. They suggest that ‘misgendering’ someone by using non-preferred (but accurate) pronouns is a grave offence.
A different culture becoming more visible
Overall, the growth of rainbow capitalism, where brands decorate themselves with Pride colours seems to have slowed or at least stalled. But other flags and signs are increasingly visible in Britain’s public spaces.
“Trust in Allah, Give Zakat” read flags plastered across London boroughs for Ramadan. Your local supermarket will likely have special displays for celebrating Eid. And that’s without even mentioning the spread of Halal food that has become normalised across the country.
Just as the Pride Progress flags claim a space for one ideology, these displays herald Islam. They set the expectation that people in these places will support and act in line with their respective cultures. “You will respect preferred pronouns”. “You will respect the Prophet Muhammad”.
Where’s the Christianity?
The United Kingdom is formally Christian, with an established Church. No one who watched the Coronation of King Charles could doubt Christianity’s influence.
So why does it seem so invisible?
Some Christians have gone as far as suggesting this is a good thing. They are afraid that widespread, national, cultural Christianity is actually harmful. They are concerned that it encourages too many people to think they are Christians (e.g. just because they are British) and disguises the need for them to repent and put their trust in Jesus himself.
This wouldn’t just apply to flags, calendars and pronouns. It would apply to laws, government, and business.
I find this unpersuasive.
First, because the fruit of Christian culture – i.e. our Christian heritage – has served all people very well. A nation which trusts in the LORD, where his words hold weight and where loving your neighbour is normalised is good for everyone living within it. Compare that to a nation which trusts in Survival of the Fittest, the Sexual Revolution, the Prophet Marx, the Deadly Sin of Misgendering or the Supremacy of Islam. These beliefs lead to real evil and suffering. Even if such a society experiences a Christian revival, there will be so much damage to undo.
But I also don’t think it helps evangelism in the slightest. People think about the issues that their life and environment pose to them. Ask different questions and you will provoke different patterns of thought and come to different answers.
Think of how many teenagers put their trust in Christ while on Christian holidays/camps. Relatively small portions of the daily schedule are explicitly Christian. But with Christian standards of behaviour and the normalisation of thinking and talking about God comes the plausibility of Jesus Christ and his claims. They are posed different questions by being away from the secular, atheism-as-default society they live most of their lives in. Lives are changed for good.
It’s why I’m encouraged by growing online conversations around Christianity. People who have derided Christianity have nevertheless noticed that it is preferable to all its rivals. I am sure that this has led many people to seriously consider Jesus Christ. Anecdotal and statistical data suggests that a growing number of young people believe in God.
Change the mood music
Jesus Christ has authority over all of heaven and earth.
Flags, adverts, pronouns and anything else that stands against him and his ways are no good for us or for our neighbours.
If we love him, and if we love them, we will seek to see God, not idols, honoured in our public spaces.
Not out of fear or anxiety. Not because God is petty, insecure or unable to handle rebellion.
But because he is a perfect, mighty, holy God. His blessings or curses decide the fates of our lives and our nations.
I want grace. I want mercy for the United Kingdom.
Do you?
[1] The black colour has an intended double-meaning to represent those who have been diagnosed with or have died from AIDS.
