On Saturday morning, the day of Winkler’s first Pride celebration, Erika Enns Rodine, a Mennonite pastor wearing a white T-shirt with a rainbow-coloured dove on it, prayed. 

She prayed “for all the queer, trans and intersex children and youth across the globe. For the ones who are struggling with feelings of isolation and shame. For those who have no safe place or people to retreat to. For those who must be teachers to the adults in their lives. For those who are unsafe in their communities.” 

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“God, hear our prayers,” answered the congregation. 

The service took place at Covenant Mennonite Church, a small white, stuccoed building with a classic-looking steeple. Winkler is a religious and deeply divided town when it comes to 2SLGBTQ acceptance. Eighty-four per cent of the population identifies as Christian. Most of Winkler’s 19 churches teach that being gay is contrary to God’s design. 

But not Covenant Mennonite Church. On Saturday morning, the sanctuary was packed for the town’s first “Rainbow Church” service organized by local church leaders. All 70 seats were taken and people were standing at the back.

“This has never happened in Winkler before,” said Jonathan Dyck, a Winkler native who now lives in Winnipeg and who is the author of Shelterbelts, a graphic novel about queer people in a fictional town much like........

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