After U-turn on homosexuality, 'I Kissed Dating Goodbye' author Joshua Harris joins Pride Parade
After announcing last month that he no longer considers himself a Christian and has changed his views on homosexuality, I Kissed Dating Goodbye author Joshua Harris has joined the annual Pride Parade in Vancouver.
The evangelical community has been shocked by the former pastor's about-turns in recent weeks, the first of which was an announcement on Instagram that he was separating from his wife of 21 years, Shannon.
In a follow-up post, he elaborated that he was what could be described as "falling away" from the Christian faith and that he now believed in marriage equality.
At the same time, he issued an apology to members of the LGBT community.
"I have lived in repentance for the past several years — repenting of my self-righteousness, my fear-based approach to life, the teaching of my books, my views of women in the church, and my approach to parenting to name a few," he said.
"But I specifically want to add to this list now: to the LGBTQ+ community, I want to say that I am sorry for the views that I taught in my books and as a pastor regarding sexuality.
"I regret standing against marriage equality, for not affirming you and your place in the church, and for any ways that my writing and speaking contributed to a culture of exclusion and bigotry. I hope you can forgive me."
On Sunday, he headed out with thousands of others to join the Vancouver Pride Parade, sharing several photos of himself and members of the LGBT community.
In one photo, he posed together with Matthias Roberts, host of 'Queerology: A Podcast on Belief and Being', and Trey Pearson, founding member of Christian rock band Everyday Sunday, who was formerly married to a woman before separating and coming out as gay in 2016.
Harris captioned the photo: "Enjoyed swapping stories, gentleman!"