20 hours ago
Scoop: Clearwater snubs Pride, backs faith month with anti-LGBTQ+ ties
After several years of commemorating LGBTQ+ Pride Month, Clearwater leaders skipped the recognition this year, instead designating June for the first time as "Faith and Family Month."
Why it matters: While the celebration on its face seeks to strengthen families through religion, Faith and Family Month's website denies the existence of transgender people and defines marriage as between a man and a woman.
It dismisses climate change and critical race theory — a concept that links racial discrimination to the nation's foundations and legal system — as "false doctrines."
And it attributes that belief system to the American Pastor Project, a network of church leaders with a mission to "eradicate Wokeism from the American pulpit."
What they're saying: The city "is making a statement that they don't want LGBTQ+ people to be acknowledged [or] respected," said Wendy Vernon, a Clearwater resident and the president and founder of LGBTQ+ advocacy group PFLAG Safety Harbor.
"That's definitely very hurtful to the community when they're already being shunned away everywhere," Vernon told Axios.
She also questioned why city leaders didn't issue a Pride Month proclamation in addition to Faith and Family Month, as was the case in Lakeland.
Between the lines: Proclamations are largely symbolic and typically requested by community organizations or city staff.
Clearwater's Diversity Leadership Council, made up of city employees, didn't request a Pride proclamation this year due to disruptive protests at a Pride event last year, city spokesperson Joelle Castelli told Axios.
"It was very uncomfortable for the members of the committee as they were personally targeted," she said.
Committee members instead invited their colleagues to participate in the St. Pete Pride parade this month and offered free tickets to a Clearwater Threshers game.
Driving the news: Faith and Family Month was organized by Christian service nonprofit Somebody Cares Tampa Bay, co-founder Daniel Bernard told Axios.
Bernard said he was inspired by a discussion with Clearwater Mayor Bruce Rector, who said he wanted to see a pro-family event in the city.
At the request of Somebody Cares, Rector presented the proclamation at the May 15 City Council meeting. His support features prominently in promotional social media posts and on Faith and Family Month's website.
"We look forward to … celebrating an entire month with family-friendly activities and talking about how faith can help families be stronger," he says in a promotional video.
Reality check: Navigate to the website's "Statement of Faith" page, and a much broader belief system comes into focus.
Zoom in:"We recognize God's created order, in making male and female, determined by divine imprint, genetically encoded at conception, and changeless," it says, echoing language used by the Trump and DeSantis administrations to deny rights to transgender people.
It goes on to say that pastors have a role "to protect our nation from the deceptions of false teaching and anti-Christ agendas," including abortion, CRT and "climate alarmist theory."
The statement is attributed to the American Pastor Project, an organization founded by Lucas Miles, an Indiana-based pastor, conservative activist and author of "Woke Jesus: The False Messiah Destroying Christianity."
Rector said the purpose of the proclamation was to encourage people of all different faiths and belief systems to "celebrate the importance of faith and families."
Had an organization approached the city with a Pride proclamation, he "probably" would have signed it, he said, adding that he presented one last year.
He said he hadn't seen the statement of faith until an Axios reporter showed it to him. He also wasn't familiar with the American Pastor Project, Rector said.
"We're not trying to come against anybody or do anything of that nature," Bernard said. "We are just promoting the truth as we understand it."
