Queen City Pride is calling for Saskatchewan's largest ever Christian gathering to be cancelled just one day before it is set to begin.Come Together Saskatchewan is scheduled for June 7 and 8 at Mosaic Stadium in Regina. The event's EventBrite page says 28,700 of the event's free tickets have already been claimed."Join us for a free country concert, time of worship and an opportunity to encounter and experience Jesus. Did we mention it’s free!?" the event page explains.Musical guests include George Canyon, Dominque Hughes, Brian Doerksen, and High Valley. Bill Prankard, Adam Shepski, Jacob Walda, Joel Wells, and Tyrelle Smith will share evangelistic messages.Smith, who hails from Tisdale, SK, organized the event through her organization Gospel Fire for All Nations. A similar event was held indoors at SaskTel Centre in Saskatoon June 2-4, 2023.Read more: Saskatoon SaskTel Centre fills for evangelistic event (June 5, 2023)Queen City Pride issued a press release June 6 to call for the event's cancellation and said its biblical stance was hateful."Queen City Pride is appalled at the announcement that an event with strong anti- LGBTQIA2S+ sentiment is being held at Regina’s Mosaic Stadium," the statement began."The Gospel Fire Ministries Statement of faith contains the following – deeply troubling stances on members of the gender and sexually diverse community.● We believe that God wonderfully and immutably creates each person as male or female. These two distinct, complementary genders together reflect the image and nature of God (Gen 1:26-27). Rejection of one’s biological sex is a rejection of the image of God within that person.● We believe that the term “marriage” has only one meaning: the uniting of one man and one woman in a single, exclusive union, as delineated in Scripture (Gen 2:18-25). We believe that God intends sexual intimacy to occur only between a man and a woman who are married to each other (1 Cor 6:18; 7:2-5; Heb 13:4). We believe that God has commanded that no intimate sexual activity be engaged in outside of a marriage between a man and a woman.● Because God has ordained marriage and defined it as the covenant relationship between a man, a woman, and Himself, The Original Gospel Ministries will only recognize marriages between a biological man and a biological woman. Further, the pastors, ministers, clergy and staff of the organization shall only solemnize marriages between one man and one woman.● We believe that any form of sexual immorality (including adultery, fornication, homosexual behavior, bisexual conduct, bestiality, incest, and use of pornography) is sinful and offensive to God (Matt 15:18-20; 1 Cor 6:9-10)."Such stances are intolerable to Queen City Pride, which has many events planned for Regina in June. Today, the organization will hoist a progress flag at City Hall in Regina, followed by a Pride prom Saturday night. The City has declared June 7 to 16 Gender and Sexual Diversity Pride Week.Read more: Pride Regina to have queer prom after city hall flag raisingQueen City Pride will not raise a flag at the Saskatchewan Legislature and has banned the Saskatchewan Party from official participation in any events because of its Parental Rights Bill."We do not condone the use of a publicly funded facility like Mosaic Stadium hosting groups that are promoting such a directly hateful agenda, the Pride statement continues."And we feel furthermore that the true intentions of this event have been hidden – to essentially bait the public into an event where people may be indoctrinated by the strong anti GSD stance of the event."We call upon community members, allies, and those in positions of authority within REAL and Mosaic stadium to strongly consider canceling this event, or at the very least being more transparent in its core intent."Rest assured – we support everyone’s right to freedom of speech and the right to individual religious beliefs – the hateful rhetoric from the Gospel Fire Group has no place in our province, in our city, and ultimately in our publicly funded and maintained spaces."The statement closed with a link to a Pride-approved list of "faith organizations that are welcoming of "gender and sexually diverse community members."
Queen City Pride is calling for Saskatchewan's largest ever Christian gathering to be cancelled just one day before it is set to begin.Come Together Saskatchewan is scheduled for June 7 and 8 at Mosaic Stadium in Regina. The event's EventBrite page says 28,700 of the event's free tickets have already been claimed."Join us for a free country concert, time of worship and an opportunity to encounter and experience Jesus. Did we mention it’s free!?" the event page explains.Musical guests include George Canyon, Dominque Hughes, Brian Doerksen, and High Valley. Bill Prankard, Adam Shepski, Jacob Walda, Joel Wells, and Tyrelle Smith will share evangelistic messages.Smith, who hails from Tisdale, SK, organized the event through her organization Gospel Fire for All Nations. A similar event was held indoors at SaskTel Centre in Saskatoon June 2-4, 2023.Read more: Saskatoon SaskTel Centre fills for evangelistic event (June 5, 2023)Queen City Pride issued a press release June 6 to call for the event's cancellation and said its biblical stance was hateful."Queen City Pride is appalled at the announcement that an event with strong anti- LGBTQIA2S+ sentiment is being held at Regina’s Mosaic Stadium," the statement began."The Gospel Fire Ministries Statement of faith contains the following – deeply troubling stances on members of the gender and sexually diverse community.● We believe that God wonderfully and immutably creates each person as male or female. These two distinct, complementary genders together reflect the image and nature of God (Gen 1:26-27). Rejection of one’s biological sex is a rejection of the image of God within that person.● We believe that the term “marriage” has only one meaning: the uniting of one man and one woman in a single, exclusive union, as delineated in Scripture (Gen 2:18-25). We believe that God intends sexual intimacy to occur only between a man and a woman who are married to each other (1 Cor 6:18; 7:2-5; Heb 13:4). We believe that God has commanded that no intimate sexual activity be engaged in outside of a marriage between a man and a woman.● Because God has ordained marriage and defined it as the covenant relationship between a man, a woman, and Himself, The Original Gospel Ministries will only recognize marriages between a biological man and a biological woman. Further, the pastors, ministers, clergy and staff of the organization shall only solemnize marriages between one man and one woman.● We believe that any form of sexual immorality (including adultery, fornication, homosexual behavior, bisexual conduct, bestiality, incest, and use of pornography) is sinful and offensive to God (Matt 15:18-20; 1 Cor 6:9-10)."Such stances are intolerable to Queen City Pride, which has many events planned for Regina in June. Today, the organization will hoist a progress flag at City Hall in Regina, followed by a Pride prom Saturday night. The City has declared June 7 to 16 Gender and Sexual Diversity Pride Week.Read more: Pride Regina to have queer prom after city hall flag raisingQueen City Pride will not raise a flag at the Saskatchewan Legislature and has banned the Saskatchewan Party from official participation in any events because of its Parental Rights Bill."We do not condone the use of a publicly funded facility like Mosaic Stadium hosting groups that are promoting such a directly hateful agenda, the Pride statement continues."And we feel furthermore that the true intentions of this event have been hidden – to essentially bait the public into an event where people may be indoctrinated by the strong anti GSD stance of the event."We call upon community members, allies, and those in positions of authority within REAL and Mosaic stadium to strongly consider canceling this event, or at the very least being more transparent in its core intent."Rest assured – we support everyone’s right to freedom of speech and the right to individual religious beliefs – the hateful rhetoric from the Gospel Fire Group has no place in our province, in our city, and ultimately in our publicly funded and maintained spaces."The statement closed with a link to a Pride-approved list of "faith organizations that are welcoming of "gender and sexually diverse community members."
