Churches unite worldwide in vigils for LGBTQIA+ inclusion
Waldensian Church in Italy organizes against homobitransphobia
“Gender violence is an evil that must be stopped collectively,” said the Rev. Daniela Di Carlo, pastor of the Waldensian Church in Milan and organizer of national prayer vigils across Italy in honor of the International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia and Transphobia (IDAHOBIT), which falls on May 17.
The Waldensian Church in Italy is one of four denominational partners of the PC(USA) in Southern Europe. Others include the Portuguese Presbyterian Church, the Spanish Evangelical Church (also Presbyterian) and the Greek Evangelical Church, and comprise the Southern Europe Partnership Network. Of these, the Waldensian Evangelical Church in Italy has been one of the most vocal on issues relating to LGBTQIA+ equity and inclusion.
Di Carlo believes that forming alliances between churches can build a world where differences are resources. She serves on the Italian National Commission on Faith, Gender and Sexuality, an ecumenical Protestant advocacy group.
"Every person is deeply loved by God and was created in God’s image and likeness,” said Di Carlo. “Women, people with disabilities, the LGBTQ+ community and all those who do not fit into the norm can help churches and theologies become inclusive.”
According to Di Carlo, vigils, prayers and services dedicated to the victims of homobitransphobia remind people of faith of the hope they must have and the work they must do to end violence and create a world of welcome and love. “As we work together for the day in which no woman is killed, no gay rejected by his family, no [transgender person] attacked in the street, no differently-abled person mocked, let us pray and begin to build, with the help of Jesus Christ, that possible world made of welcome and love,” she said.
In addition to planning and promoting the May 17 vigils, Di Carlo has developed an ecumenical liturgy and a preaching resource to be used by churches across the world in honor of the day which can be found among other ecumenical resources on pcusa.org.
The International Day against Homophobia, Biphobia and Transphobia was established in 2005 to commemorate the day in 1990 when the World Health Organization removed homosexuality from the International Classification of Diseases. Like the PC(USA), DiCarlo explained that the Waldensian Evangelical Church in Italy has a long history of advocating for gender and sexuality issues dating back to the 1970s, when it began to speak at the Agape Ecumenical Center about faith and feminism in 1974 and later faith and homosexuality in 1980. In 2010, the Waldensian Evangelical Church Synod in Italy decided to bless same-sex couples. As the 2025 vigil draws attention to gender- and sexuality-based fear and discrimination, Di Carlo says the organizers are focused on issues that transgender people face in Southern Europe.
A responsive greeting opens the liturgical resource for these international vigils with a litany that calls all Christ’s disciples into the work of faithful witness for God’s just and inclusive realm:
“Ci chiami, come hai chiamato le donne alla croce.
Ci chiami, come hai chiamato I dodici …
Ci chiami, come hai chiamato la folla,
Ci chiami, come hai chiamato I tuoi amici ."
(You call us as you called the women to the cross. You call us as you called the twelve. You call us as you called the crowd … You call us as you called your friends …)
“Mentre ci muoviamo, concedici il coraggio e la grazia di esserti testimoni fedeli.”
(As we move, grant us the courage and the grace to be faithful witnesses to you.)
“A lot of churches in Italy on May 17 organize a vigil as a public event of witness by those Protestant churches combating homobitransphobia,” said Luciano Kovacs, international global ecumenical liaison in the Interim United Agency of the PC(USA). Last year, Kovacs and others invited Di Carlo to serve on the steering committee of the Rainbow Pilgrims of Faith, an informal network of members of churches within the World Council of Churches that advocates on behalf of LGBTQIA+ equity. Kovacs, who supports the mission partnerships and networks of the PC(USA) in Europe and the Middle East, will be attending the May 17 vigil in the Waldensian Evangelical Church in his hometown of Turin, Italy.
Having formerly served as area coordinator for Europe and the Middle East for the PC(USA) since 2019, Kovacs highlighted how LGBTQIA+ issues in Europe and the Middle East became a focus after the 223rd General Assembly (2018) when a resolution was passed to celebrate the gifts of people of diverse sexual orientations and gender identities in the life of the Church that directed “mission co-workers and ecumenical representatives to advocate for justice and equality for all God’s people in ways appropriate to their cultural and ecclesiastical context.” Since then, Kovacs has been working with the Rainbow Pilgrims of Faith, the organizers of vigils for the International Day against Homobitransphobia and the Sarajevo Open Center among other non-profits to support LBTQIA+ concerns and advocacy across Europe.
For further theological reflection on transphobia, go here.
For information on the LGBTQIA+ advocacy work within the PC(USA) by the ACQ+E Committee, go here. Other advocacy groups include the Covenant Network of Presbyterians and More Light Presbyterians.
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