On June 12, 2026, the Cathedral Church of St. Luke in the heart of Orlando held a requiem eucharist commemorating the 49 souls of those taken from us on the Pulse Massacre a decade previously. It was the right thing to do at the right time at the right location. But it was just the first step in the right direction.
A Procession Led by Gay Clergy
A decade ago, in the awful days following the Pulse Massacre, the Cathedral agreed to host the first funeral of one of its victims, an Episcopalian named Christopher Andrew Leinonen. As the Episcopal News Service story reported this week, it was a tense moment as members of the hate group from the Topeka Baptist Church, known for its homophobic rhetoric while picketing funerals of U.S. soldiers, showed up in Orlando to demonstrate.The Orlando
Police Department did an incredible job of keeping the hatemongers a block away
from the Cathedral. But it was a group of led by local clergy whose procession
to the Cathedral was timed for the moment that the casket was unloaded from the
hearse at the north side of the Cathedral that blocked the view of the
protesters and shielded the family from their hateful bile. I know. Because I
was one of the clergy.
What the ENS
story did not relate was that the 200 volunteers who ultimately shielded the
family from the hate group were not Episcopal clergy. We had been recruited by
social media just days before the event. And while I was the only Episcopal
clergy person in that leadership, I was not able to serve at the Cathedral to
which we processed that morning due to the homophobic canons of the diocese and
the policies of the Cathedral which serves as its see.
To his credit,
the then bishop of the diocese, Greg Brewer, preached and celebrated that event
as well as the candlelight vigil which occurred the following night at the
Cathedral. Symbols are important. They convey the presence of the institution
in the person of its ultimate leader. For all of the resistance this evangelical
bishop had offered to LBGTQ inclusion, when push came to shove, he showed up.
And that made the absence of the current bishop of the diocese from this 10
year commemorative requiem very pointed.
A Powerful Sermon Amidst Ongoing Discrimination
The Canon to the Ordinary, Dan Smith, the diocese’s number two official, did appear and preached an incredibly powerful sermon. Smith began by invoking the Episcopal Baptismal Covenant in which all Episcopalians promise to “strive for justice and peace among all people… respect[ing] the dignity of every human being.“ Then he said, “I think of those four words: discrimination, hatred, fear, violence. They are antithetical to the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and the vows that each and every one of us take at our baptism.”
Smith noted, “[The LGBTQ+ and Latino communities] 10 years ago, and unfortunately still today, experience discrimination, hatred, fear and violence.” And one doesn’t have to look far to find it.
The requiem came the same week that Florida’s governor - who has refused to recognize Gay Pride Month throughout his administration and has led legislative efforts to block Florida cities from using public funds to recognize Gay Pride Month - issued a proclamation designating June "Faith and Family" Month. This is part of a nation-wide white Christian nationalist effort to force states to observe a conservative alternative to Pride Month celebrations.
While the Cathedral
honored the dead at the Pulse Massacre, he had ordered the removal of a memorial
rainbow crosswalk at that site (despite studies showing that artistically enhanced
intersections actually improve traffic safety) and placed state highway patrol on
guard at the site to arrest anyone using chalk to restore the colors on the
newly laid asphalt.
The Cathedral
staff produced a beautiful eucharistic service. They are to be commended for
their efforts. Again, symbols are important. Hosting a service to remember the victims
of this massacre which shook our community to its very core 10 years ago sends
a message that remembering this tragedy is important to this church and the diocese
it represents.
But it also
raises a question of integrity. Without knowing the context of this cathedral
and the diocese in which it is located in the LBGTQ struggle for dignity, it is
impossible to grasp the irony implicit in this event.
A Long, Sad History of Homophobia
Until 1990, the
Cathedral had been a de facto open and affirming parish, engaged with
homeless ministries downtown and interfaith services with local Roman Catholic,
Lutheran and Orthodox churches. Many LBGTQ people saw this as home and served
in a wide range of capacities at the cathedral. All of that changed with the
election of John Howe as bishop. As he exerted his power over the direction of
the Cathedral it began to evidence the same homophobic agenda for which Howe
had become famous.
LBGTQ people
were soon restricted from serving at the altar during eucharistic services. When
the Cathedral invited Bishop Richard Spong to preach and celebrate, it would be
forced by the bishop to revoke that invitation in the wake of Spong’s
ordination of an openly gay priest in his diocese of Newark. Spong would ultimately
offer his sermon at the Rollins College chapel that day.
In 1991, the Cathedral Church of St. Luke in Orlando initially scheduled then canceled a benefit concert on World AIDS Sunday that included a performance by the Orlando Gay Chorus. Cathedral Dean Harry Sherman explained the ban was due to his belief that a "homosexual group" should not promote its cause through an AIDS benefit. Following significant community pushback and negative publicity in the national gay press, the Cathedral leadership reversed its decision a few weeks later. Dean Sherman would ultimately apologize, stating, "God loves us all. The atmosphere that we created was not a loving one. I'm sorry that happened"
Ultimately that
reversal would cost Sherman his job. But it would not be the last such
incident.
In 2015 the
Cathedral initially refused to baptized the infant son of a same sex couple
after initially scheduling the same. Again, when The Advocate, a
national gay magazine, created adverse publicity, Bishop Brewer acceded to the
baptism, apologizing for “how the situation was handled.”
Three Considerations
There are three
key pieces to this history which must be considered. First, in each case, the
provisions of the afore-mentioned Baptismal Covenant – not to mention the
Second Great Commandment - were being violated by the church. To paraphrase
Albert Einstein’s famous comments on war, it is impossible to simultaneously
love one’s neighbor as oneself and engage in discriminatory behaviors that
demean their humanity.
In each of
these cases and others not enumerated here, grievous harm was inflicted upon fellow
children of G-d, some of them, in the case of the World AIDS Day, actively
dying. Second, in the latter two cases there was a recognition that this
conduct was wrong, albeit in almost every case only after a storm of negative
publicity was generated by the harmed parties. But third, and most importantly,
in each case an apology was offered, albeit too little too late. But the
church’s leadership had demonstrated it was capable of apologizing for the harm
it had done. And this is the key to understanding where we stand today.
I am resistant
to the far too common tendency to cynically assess seemingly noble behaviors as
“performative.” In many cases, I think
that’s little more than projection of disowned Shadow at work. People don’t
like having their smallness of character shown up by those willing to do the
hard work to own their own Shadow. Thus they attack the would-be doers of the
good. For the record, I didn’t see this requiem eucharist as performative. If
anything, the Cathedral is to be commended for being inspired to do something
to remember this tragedy and finding the courage to follow it through.
But I am also conscious
of the fact that this Cathedral and the diocese in which it is located have had
active roles in engendering the very “discrimination, hatred, fear and
violence” Canon Smith called out in his sermon. And while the requiem
eucharist with its powerful sermon is a step in the right direction, it requires
a much deeper commitment if it is to right these wrongs.
To do so
requires confession and repentance. A change of mind. A change of heart. A
change of direction.
Anglican Archbishop Desmond Tutu’s Truth and Reconciliation process in post-apartheid South African has taught us that authentic forgiveness cannot begin until the wrongs have been confessed and repented of. Clearly, victims of harm can let go of anger and grief even in the absence of such repentance. Indeed, in the name of mental health, it is often necessary for them to do so. But while such decisions are sometimes referenced as forgiveness, two things remain absent: reconciliation and the potential for healing of relationship that results from it.
Waiting for Confession, Repentance, Reconciliation
What LBGTQ
people everywhere await is more than a mere apology for “how the situation was
handled.” That avoids the deeper question - Why the situation was handled that
way in the first place. As UK Canon Giles Goddard, Anglican priest and chair of
Inclusive Church, observed, "Any church that preaches intolerance is
contributing to the very real and deadly consequences of homophobia." The
failure – indeed, the refusal – to love one’s neighbor as oneself with all its
potentially deadly consequences must be called what it is – sin. And as our
tradition has taught us, the only appropriate response to sinfulness is
confession and repentance.
Clearly,
apologies are important. Such recognizes wrongdoing and the harm it created. But
that just touches the surface. Confession admits to a pattern of thinking that
stands to continue creating harm as long as it is engaged. And true repentance
always involves a promise to return to our divine source, a G-d who loves all of
the very good Creation and is blind to the socially constructed differences our
egos create to separate ourselves from each other and commands us to do the
same.
Apologies are
important to the harmed. But repentance is vital for the souls of those who
harmed them. The requiem eucharist is a step in the right direction. But it is
only a first step. In the meantime we LBGTQ people of G_d wait to see if the
Episcopal Church as it is constituted in Central Florida will find the strength
and courage with G-d’s help to take the next steps. I continue to believe in
redemption. Hope springs eternal.
I invite you to
watch the requiem eucharist at the link below. As always, the Cathedral
produces a beautiful service. It is worth your hour and 20 minutes to watch.
Canon Smith’s
excellent sermon begins at 18:00
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o3DNUbJQEG4
The Episcopal
News Service report on the event can be found at this link:
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
If the
unexamined life is not worth living, surely an unexamined belief system, be it
religious or political, is not worth holding. Most things worth considering do
not come in sound bites.
Those who
believe religion and politics aren't connected don't understand either. – Mahatma
Gandhi
For what
does G-d require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk
humbly with your G-d? - Micah 6:8, Hebrew Scriptures
Do not be
daunted by the enormity of the world's grief. Do justly, now. Love mercy, now.
Walk humbly now. You are not obligated to complete the work, but neither are
you free to abandon it. - Rabbi Rami Shapiro, Wisdom of the
Jewish Sages (1993)
© Harry
Scott Coverston, 2026
