Pastor sleeps outside until the church accepts queers

Rev. Michael Tupper, a methodist minister in Parchment, Michigan, has vowed to sleep outside of his Michigan home in a tent for 175 days. Why? He is drawing attention and making a loud statement about the church’s opposition to same-sex marriage and the ordination of LGBT members.

The Rev. is close to this issue as his daughter came out as a lesbian six years ago. But it wasn’t until last year, when his daughter asked him to officiate their wedding, when Tupper really got a taste of the bigotry and hatred his daughter faces.

Pastors are prohibited from officiating same-sex weddings in Tupper’s denomination, the United Methodist Church (UMC), and those that do are often put on trial within the church. But, Tupper didn’t back down and officiated his daughter’s wedding regardless of the church’s regulations.

After he was brought up on charges by church officials for performing the same-sex union, Tupper pitched a tent outside the office of the man tasked with handling his case, hoping to dissuade him from prosecuting. When it didn’t work, Tupper moved his feat to the blistering cold of Michigan in February. For those that have never experienced this type of winter, you’re lucky.

The protest, he told ThinkProgress, is about more than his case — it’s about how the church treats LGBT people like his daughter.

“It’s to symbolize how our church — particularly the United Methodist Church — is pushing LGBT people outside,” he said. “It symbolizes how we push LGBT people out of the church and into the cold.”

Now, this man isn’t a hero. He isn’t going to change the church’s mind on his own. What this beautiful, compassionate man does for our community is give us a glimmer of hope. He is only one small part in a much bigger machine that will ultimately change laws and minds, but to those young christian queers who are struggling to fit into the church, he shows them that not everyone stands behind the podium spewing hate.