Silence won’t defeat hate

I’m trying to write down what I would say if I had to talk as a roman-catholic to the participants of Baltic Pride.

If queer people were silent, the very stones would cry out. That’s how I understand this year’s message “Silence won’t defeat hate”. This message is true and important.

It is clear that queer people may not be silent, that they must cry out,

because we avoid uncomfortable topics,

because we fear those who are different,

because we sweep problems under the rug.

That’s instinctive, that’s natural, that’s human. Also queer people happen to fear those who are different, to avoid uncomfortable topics sweep problems under the rug

If queer people were silent, the very stones would cry out.

So let us

grow our attentiveness to defeat disregard,

grow our confidence to defeat humiliation,

grow our forgiveness to defeat contempt,

grow our knowledge to defeat ignorance,

grow our dialogue to defeat silence,

grow our esteem to defeat neglect,

grow our trust to defeat fear,

grow our love to defeat hate.

Please don’t misunderstand our topic. It’s true that silence won’t defeat hate, but neither will pride do the job.

Hate is a poor reaction to hate,

mockery is a poor reaction to worrying,

provocation is a poor reaction to ignorance,

arrogance is a poor reaction to humiliation,

feeling offended is a poor reaction to mobbing,

attention-seeking is a poor reaction to contempt,

shouting louder is a poor reaction to feeling unheard.

The parents in Viljandi don’t hate you,

they don’t hate honesty but exhibitionism,

they don’t hate beauty but pornography,

they don’t hate fun but provocation,

they don’t hate gratefulness but attention-seeking,

they don’t hate pride but arrogance.

And there is hope that we will learn,

learn to speak fairly about emerging questions,

learn to accept each others emotions,

learn to respect each other’s convictions,

learn that queer people are people like you and me,

learn to be grateful for queer people among us,

learn that queerness is no sin.

Regarding the word “sin”, I want to say that the sentence “If these were silent, the very stones would cry out” comes from the Bible. Jesus answered this to the policemen of his time when they asked him to rebuke his disciples who made a proud parade out of his arrival in the capital. Most people in Estonia believes that a good Christian should rebuke queer people. But I am amazed where they got this from. Because definitively not from the Bible. The Bible has good news for queer people, not bad news.

Thank you for listening.

Luc Saffre, 2026-05-22 (last edited 2026-05-25)

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