A vicar says words such as ‘pride’ and ‘gay’ are being “hijacked” by people who “seek to normalise LGBT activity as part of mainstream life”.
Reverend Melvin Tinker, slammed his fellow clergy for hosting a special service to mark Pride and LGBT 50 celebrations and said: “where there is light, there tends to be a shadow and so coinciding with this is a Gay Pride rally.”
The service was held last week on the eve of a week-long programme of LGBT-themed events as part of the City of Culture year.
But Reverend Tinker, who two years ago caused controversy by comparing homosexuality to paedophilia, said that the Minster should not have hosted the event.
Reverend Tinker said: “Many of us were delighted when Hull was chosen as the UK’s City of Culture and, as a result, so many wonderful events are taking place which uplifts the human spirit.
“But where there is light, there tends to be a shadow and so coinciding with this is a Gay Pride rally.
“This in itself is not surprising. What is surprising is that a church which was once the flagship of Evangelicalism in the city is hosting a service of welcome.
“The message which will invariably be communicated is that God (as symbolised by the building, liturgy, clergy) approves of homosexual, lesbian and trans relationships as much as heterosexual ones.
“After all, traditionally, this is the place where the sanctity of the God-given man-woman relationship is blessed in marriage.
“The old Arab proverb: ‘If the camel once gets its nose in the tent, his body will soon follow’ is apposite and, of course, that is the intention of the LGBT activists.”
In the article, Rev Tinker said words such as ‘pride’ and ‘gay’ were being “hijacked” by people who “would seek to normalise LGBT activity as part of mainstream life”.
And he added: “Some clergy cannot distinguish vice from virtue”.
Rev Tinker, the vicar at St John, Newland in Hull, East Yorks., is among 23 leading traditional Anglicans to have signed a letter highlighting concerns about the Church of England’s approach to same-sex marriage and other gender-based issues.