Church of Sweden
to participate in gay pride

The Lutheran Church of Sweden has announced that on Saturday it will be joining this year's festivities for Stockholm Pride. According to Agence France-Presse, representatives from the church will march under the slogan "Love is stronger than everything."

"For the first time ever, the parade at the pride festival will have a delegation from the [Church of Sweden]," church officials announced on Thursday, adding that their intent is to "break the mass' big silence" on LGBT rights.

"The [Church of Sweden] is a church open to everyone," Uppsala priest Ann-Katrin Bosbach explained to AFP.

The delegation will include about 30 people, including two deans from the important Stockholm and Uppsala cathedrals.

The church has announced its support of a "gender-neutral" marriage law, set to go before the Swedish legislature in January 2008. According to AFP, if the proposal passes Sweden will become the first nation to allow same-sex marriage within a major national church. (The Advocate)