Christian Athletes and Pride Games: Seeking a Kind and Faithful Response
*The author of this article has worked for a Christian sports ministry for the last six years with a special focus on gender and sexuality.
College athletic teams are increasingly hosting a “Pride game” each season to show their alliance and support of the LGTBQ+ community. This usually entails wearing a rainbow-themed jersey, warmup, or something subtle like rainbow tape on a stick and generally having a shout-out for the university’s LGBTQ+ club. In an interview with Kirk Walker, the first openly gay D1 college coach, Walker expressed how these games have a deep impact on creating “a culture and a climate around a team that allows an athlete to be authentically themselves and not waste energy on trying to hide or trying to downplay that they could be LGBTQ.”
But as a Christian athlete (or a Christian sportsperson) who believes and abides by a traditional biblical sexual ethic, how should we respond to Pride Games? The issue is complex, making it difficult to find a one-size-fits-all answer. However, it is worth our time to carefully consider our specific circumstances and discern the next best step. Again, this is a conversation involving real people, so there is complexity and nuance involved. The error we can default to is allowing peer pressure from others to dictate our actions. But that’s what Christians are called to do: We live out of freedom over fear, interact with grace and truth, and trust God to help us navigate the unfamiliar terrain for His glory and the good of others.
The purpose of this article is to give faithful Christians within the context of sport a resource to help make winsome decisions based off of their Biblical conviction—instead of being driven by a “fear of man.”
Seeking Simplicity in the Complexity
As followers of Jesus, our discernment process starts with Him. How would Jesus move toward people in situations like these? Answering that involves prayerfully exploring his teachings and examples of complex and controversial matters. How did Jesus respond toward others in the Gospels that may help inform our decision-making process? He often brought simplicity to complexity. We see this when asked to choose the greatest commandment. In Mark 12:28-31, he simplified the law into two overlapping directives: Love God. Love others. With this in mind, before we can start asking and answering the questions, “Why would I wear the Pride jersey?” or “Why would I not wear the Pride jersey?” We must first address the motivation behind those questions. Jesus’ Greatest Commandment even helps us reframe the question from "What should we do?" to "How do we best love God and others in this situation?"
Because Jesus is primarily concerned with our heart, it’s important for us to discern whose opinion matters the most to us in this decision? The foundational struggles and questions I often hear at the heart of these conversations are:
What will people think I stand for if I wear the Pride jersey?
Will my actions/choices hurt or betray a family or friend to the point of losing a friendship?
How will my choice change or affect the people I love?
If people disagree or misunderstand my choice, will they reject me?
This is a lot and weighty. This decision is difficult and should not be taken lightly.
Seeking Security in God
Let’s again look at the example Jesus set for us. He wasn’t afraid to do something that would appear counter to the thought of the people who would/could bring judgment upon Him (Matthew 9:9-13, 11:19, Luke 15:1-2, Luke 7:34-50, 19:1-7). I would argue it’s because He was secure in His connection to and attunement with His Father. One way we see this is through His refusal to defend Himself even at the very end of His life, as He was hung on the cross for a crime He did not commit.
He also operated under the full security that God’s opinion of Him mattered most—and out of that identity, He moved toward those who mattered the least in society. He was driven by love, not fear. And we see this in the freedom He had to do the things He did! Against that backdrop, we can move forward with the same security and grounding in our identity being held by God. So, let’s center our motivation and security, as Jesus did, on loving and honoring God first without fearing what others think or say about us or do to us.
Challenges and Opportunities Through Loving Others
As we follow the command to Love God first, having our motivation and security grounded, we can consider what it looks like to love others. I genuinely believe this will produce different results for different people. Whether we decide to wear the Pride jersey or not, we cannot please everyone—that’s not the ultimate goal anyways. Here has been a helpful question for me as I navigate these waters: What is most beneficial to the one-on-one ministries God has intentionally placed in our lives? We may feel paralyzed from deciding and hope to defer until the last moment. Or, maybe we’re praying that God will rescue us from having to make a decision by canceling the event or getting us sick. But God is more interested in growing us than giving us a pass. Indecision is still a decision. Do the hard thing—the only wrong thing you can do is acting out of fear of man. Discerning how to best love God and love others in this situation (and all situations!) will make us the best athletes and people we can be.
Whatever decision you feel led to, we must recognize that there will be many challenges and opportunities either way. Realistically, these challenges could be severe. Your decision could cost you NIL deals, relationships, backlash from society, misunderstanding, etc.
And the opportunities it could create could be significant. Your decision could lead to outstanding faith examples, new and deeper conversations with the people that matter, the gospel being shared, etc. No matter what you do, the challenges and opportunities will not leave you, so surround yourself with a loving community that will support you in this.
Seeking God in Prayer
With all of this, the assumption that I have been making this entire time, which is important to end on, is that all of this is wrapped in prayer and lying at the feet of Jesus. Ask the Holy Spirit to center your motivation on loving God first and others second. Being faithful to prayer and discernment is not easy, but it is central to any action we take, especially when we feel the pressure of outside forces. Then, be bold enough to follow through wherever it might lead you, even if it differs from where you expected to end up.
I’d like to leave you with a prayer that Evan Wickham once shared on a podcast to those who are working to navigate this nuanced space: Nothing to lose. Nothing to prove. My life is Christ. Nothing else matters.
Seeking What’s Best Next After our Decision
How will I communicate my decision to the people that matter? Developing your own wise and thorough response to your decision is important. You should be prepared with an answer to the question “Why?” (1 Peter 3:15) if you’re going to stand out, you might as well be outstanding. Have an answer ready because people will lean in and listen. When they do, what will you tell them? Here are some sample responses to get you started…
Why did you wear the jersey?
I wear this jersey because I love God and love my teammates.
As a Christian athlete, I wear this jersey as a sign of empathy and care for those who have been mistreated or abused in this community.
I wear this jersey because I experience same-sex attraction. As a Christian athlete, I know my attraction does not define me and God has an even better plan for me. But, I cannot deny that I am a part of this community.
Why did you NOT wear the jersey?
I love my teammates and wearing this jersey would be inauthentic of me.
As a Christian athlete, I stand with my teammates today against the abuse and mistreatment of the LGBTQ community and yet wearing this jersey would communicate more than what is true for me.
I experience same-sex attraction and therefore consider myself a part of the LGBTQ community. And, at the same time, as a Christian athlete, I know my attraction does not define me and God has an even better plan for me.
