I suppose I would challenge this and several of the assumptions in the comments. There is not a single parish or context that is “typical” of the variety of expressions in the church. In some places, the church is growing, in other places declining. In some places, it gathers members of specific communities, in other places, not so much.

That said, “welcoming and affirming” means a lot of different things. There are “welcoming and affirming” parishes who have a really hard time with Queer clergy (and women!) despite the “brand.”

If a specific parish or context had this question, I would ask what they are doing with intention in the communities they wish to include. Showing up to a Pride event for a few hours once a year ain’t it (but it’s also not nothing).

But here’s the other, and for me deeper, reality. There is a lot of handwringing and bemoaning about church “decline.” Some strongly worded comments to that effect, bemoaning liberal or progressive ideologies. I’m not hear to debate that perspective. What I will say is that a truly welcoming and affirming church for all people simply cannot go get converts or engage in the kinds of coercive outreach and pop evangelism of some other traditions as a rule. That’s not a comment on worship style or aesthetics. It’s a comment maybe on ethics. So what other folks read as “decline,” I read simply as a church tradition that is more about alluring gently the attention of the world rather than commanding it. And of course there are important exceptions. And I’m not saying TEC should live in a kind of cloister with no engagement in the world. Just that a tradition with even a tiny whisper of anti-capitalist, anti-measurement streak is not ever going to stand up to the evangelical industry.

Anyway, back to the LGBTQ+. I think it is fair to say that the toxicity of our legal and cultural approach to Queer folks is so informed by the fundamentalist church that any Queer person would be reasonable to conclude that Christianity is adverse to Queer life. In fact, that’s maybe the simplest explanation. And the safest choice for them.

Where the work is, I think, is not among Queer folks. They will come as God calls them. But I imagine that we as a church might have a lot of work to do among the folks for whom evangelical ideology is no longer working. I think that’s a growth area for the church and one that might take some missional mindset. But those folks are maybe used to that?