On the last day of Pride Month, a Lexington church is apologizing to the LGBTQ+ community. According to CBS News, Leaders at St. Paul Catholic Church said they want to make amends for the church’s discrimination and lack of compassion.

“I felt betrayed by an institution. A divine institution and I was heartbroken,” said JR Zerkowski, director of the Catholic LGBTQ+ Ministry. Multiple religious leaders made remarks Thursday evening about their mistreatment within Catholic congregations and the long road they took just to be accepted.


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“It took me 20 years for my mom to accept me,” said Rev. Marsha Moors-Charles, a founding pastor at the Bluegrass United Church of Christ. But those same pastors sought a way to break the chains of oppression through the word of God.

So St. Paul Catholic Church held a service, one that Rev. Richard Watson called “unprecedented within the region,” to apologize to the LGBTQ+ community and to atone for the church’s transgressions. Even as they spoke, others just across the street spoke out against them. But they have a message to even those who denounce them.

“There are those that call me a heretic, I have gotten hate mail from all over the country. That’s okay. Love wins,” Rev. Watson said. One reverend called it a “courageous move” for the parish, considering the potentially divisive nature of the topic. We reached out to the Catholic Diocese of Lexington for comment on the event but have not heard back.