Glerá Church Makes Statement Of Inclusivity

Volunteers painted their version of the “Progress Pride” flag on the doorstep of Glerá Church in Akureyri to demonstrate the church’s acceptance of everyone, reports RÚV.

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Sindri Geir Óskarsson, the parish priest at the church, says the church’s stylised version of the flag on the doorstep is to welcome everyone to the church and acknowledge the church’s history of exclusion and prejudice.

Sindri Geir says the church was approached by the deputy mayor earlier in the summer about painting the rainbow on the doorstep. The painting had to be approved by the church’s executive committee, which took a while, but was successful.

The reception of the painting is mostly positive. There is more satisfaction and the overall atmosphere of the church is more lively. However, there have been some unhappy people.

“Perhaps one of the reasons why I thought it was a good idea to do this now is that, in August, during LGBTQ+ Days, the project One Story, One Step…is being presented. [They’ve been] collecting LGBTQ+ people’s stories of bad treatment or just exclusion and prejudice from the National Church,” says Sindri Geir. “So I think it’s just part of us trying to show that we acknowledge the history and just what has gone wrong and been done wrong, but we want to take a different direction and show that it’s open arms and everyone is welcome here.”