The LGBTQ community continues to segregate itself while preaching that all it wants is inclusion. If that’s the case, then why continue to attack the values of those who don’t agree with your beliefs?
Ash Wednesday is a sacred day for many Christians. It signals the beginning of Lent, six weeks of repentance and self-denial meant to remind the faithful of Jesus’s forty days of fasting in the desert. For centuries, Christians have received a sign of the cross with ashes on their forehead at the beginning of that season as a reminder of mortal failings and an invitation to receive God's forgiveness. The tradition has its origins in the Old Testament where sinners wore ashes as a sign of repentance.
The Bible makes references to "dust to dust" and "ashes to ashes." In Genesis 3:19, the reference to ashes and dust reads, "By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return."
The LGBTQ community knows and understands how sacred and important the time of Lent is to Christians. Yet one group chose to desecrate that tradition by blending purple glitter in with the ashes. These people didn’t want to blend in and be included; they wanted to stand out and be noticed, and they did so with no deference to whom it would hurt or the deep tradition involved.
Fort Hays University in Kansas championed this blasphemy. They reduced a sacred day of introspection into an “event” that they referred to as “Glitter Ash Wednesday.” The Episcopal News Service detailed the origins of this concept. The idea, conceived by the Rev. Elizabeth Edman and the faith-based LGBTQ advocacy group Parity, aims to add additional meaning to the traditional ashes symbolizing mortality and repentance.
Additional meaning? How narcissistic do you have to be to think that Ash Wednesday needed additional meaning and that you could provide it? Edman revealed another truth about the LGBTQ community with more statements to the Episcopal News Service:
I didn’t want to do something that could be interpreted as frivolous and disrespectful. It’s not just about inclusion and tolerance. It’s about more than that. It’s about upending power structures that do violence to people, and particularly that do spiritual violence to people.
Edman herself stated a fact that we all know. This movement is not about inclusion; it’s about dominance. The left interprets disagreement as violence. It isn’t enough to tolerate an idea that you don’t agree with; you must agree with it, or you are a violent bigot and must be punished. However, make note: if they disagree with conservative views, everything that they say or do is justified.
Case in point, 19-year-old Dylan Brewer of Clearwater, Fla., will face felony charges for allegedly inflicting damage on an LGBTQ-themed crosswalk in Delray Beach. For his crime of peeling out on an LGBTQ flag painted on the street, Brewer was arrested and faces felony charges for criminal mischief.
However, for defiling a tradition that’s centuries old, all you need is the shabby excuse of inclusiveness. Even when you’re clearly trying to make yourself exclusive, you still get a free pass.
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The event at the university was sponsored by a student group known as US4U. However, the event quickly garnered national attention and controversy once Libs of TikTok called attention to it on X. The spotlight elicited a wave of outrage from the account’s followers, further polarizing opinions and sparking heated debates.
The Hays Post reports that critics naturally condemned the event, using terms such as “disgusting,” “sacrilege,” and “evil” to express their anger. Despite the outrage, organizers and supporters rolled out their umbrella excuse and tried to explain the event’s aim was to embody love, acceptance, and the spirit of inclusivity, while at the same time trampling tradition.
Yes this is real. @FortHaysState turned Ash Wednesday into an LGBTQ event celebrating queerness with glitter and ash.
— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) February 14, 2024
This was one student’s reaction: pic.twitter.com/ZZGxXlBcGT
The event’s publicity and the university’s role in disseminating information also drew criticism. This led to threats from some community members to withdraw support for FHSU.
According to the Hays Post, the university’s president, Tisa Mason, responded by clarifying the institution’s stance of neutrality on student organization-led events. She emphasized that using the university brand in announcements does not imply endorsement of the event’s content or the beliefs it expresses. Those threats prompted the university to release a statement distancing it from the event.
The “Glitter + Ash” event scheduled for today (February 14) on campus is sponsored by Us4U and the United Methodist Campus Ministry. Both are recognized Student Organizations at Fort Hays State University, and both followed established protocols for creating, announcing, and holding this event. As with any Student Organization-led event, email communications about this event included an FHSU-branded header graphic. The inclusion of the university brand mark in the header is not intended to serve as an affirmed or implied endorsement of the beliefs and views held or expressed by any Student Organization. In the interest of ensuring that the First Amendment right of every individual is respected, FHSU remains viewpoint-neutral on this and other Student Organization-led events. We are in the process of updating our student organization event announcement procedures to clarify that these are announcements from the Student Organizations, not the university, and the content of the emails and the events themselves may not reflect the opinions/beliefs of the university or university leadership. The Kansas Board of Regents and Fort Hays State University are committed to the free expression of ideas and beliefs, and we are united in our commitment to full and open inquiry and discourse and the robust exchange of ideas and perspectives. The principles of freedom of speech and freedom of expression are fundamental rights guaranteed under the U.S. and Kansas Constitutions.
This group’s thinly veiled excuse to contaminate a sacred Christian tradition is nauseating. Instead of drawing attention to themselves, perhaps these people should heed Jesus' advice in Mathew 6:16-18:
And whenever you fast, do not look dismal, like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces so as to show others that they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, so that your fasting may be seen not by others but by your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
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