We heard the news during the course of our Annual Meeting, held this year in Latvia, as we were preparing to celebrate the Eucharist. Our Latvian hosts had already shown us a film of the violent disruption at the Riga Pride in 2005, in which much of the abuse was expressed by people waving religious symbols and screaming Bible verses.

In Moscow members of the Orthodox Church appeared to be in an unholy alliance with skinheads at the forefront of the ugly violent disruption. Such hate-filled behaviour is not Christian and cannot in any circumstances be justified by those claiming to be followers of Christ.

We affirm that God loves LGBT people and welcomes us into the Church. The `Sin of Sodom’, so often used as a term of abuse against LGBT people, is actually the sin of inhospitality. We call on our Russian brothers and sisters in Christ to show generous hospitality to LGBT people and to join them in seeking social justice.

Brenda Harrison

Co-President

European Forum LGBT Christians

www.euro-lgbt-christians.org