In Brief

Staff Reports

North Carolina Pastor Wants LGBTQ People Put In Electrified Pen To Die Off

MAIDEN, NC -- Another alleged 'man of god' from a small baptist church in this North Carolina community has been caught on tape calling for the deaths of 'Queers & Homosexuals'.

The reverend Charles L. Worley of Providence Road Baptist Church in Maiden, N.C., was filmed on a YouTube rant reportedly filmed on May 13 condemning President Barack Obama's endorsement of same-sex marriage and calling for LGBTQ people to be put in an electrified pen and ultimately killed off.

"Build a great, big, large fence -- 150 or 100 mile long -- put all the lesbians in there," Worley said adding; "Do the same thing for the queers and the homosexuals and have that fence electrified so they can't get out...and you know what, in a few years, they'll die out...do you know why? They can't reproduce!"

Worley said that if he's asked who he'll vote for, he'll reply, "I'm not going to vote for a baby killer and a homosexual lover!" In the background a significant number of the audience can be heard cheering and saying, "Amen."

Worley added, “It makes me pukin’ sick to think about -- I don’t even whether or not to say this in the pulpit -- can you imagine kissing some man?”

WATCH:

NAACP Endorses Same-Sex Marriage Equality

MIAMI, FL -- The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) executive board, meeting in Miami, passed a resolution last Friday endorsing same-sex marriage equality on the heels of President Obama’s historic support for marriage equality, and subsequent polling on the issue among African-Americans. In the resolution the board stated that it was demanded by the equal protection guarantees written into the U.S. Constitution.

“The mission of the NAACP has always been to ensure political, social and economic equality of all people. We have and will oppose efforts to codify discrimination into law,” NAACP Chairperson Roslyn M Brock said in a released statement. 

NAACP president, Benjamin Todd, an outspoken supporter of LGBTQ rights, said “Civil marriage is a civil right and a matter of civil law. The NAACP’s support for marriage equality is deeply rooted in the fourteenth amendment of the United States constitution and equal protection of all people.”

Following President Obama’s historic endorsement of the issue, attitudes within the African-American community have become even more positive. A Washington Post-ABCNews poll showed that 54 percent of African Americans backed the President’s statement while a Public Policy Poll- also taken after the President’s announcement- reflected an 11-point increase among African Americans in North Carolina who support either marriage or civil unions for committed gay and lesbian couples.

Half of African-Americans, according to an NBC/Wall Street Journal poll conducted earlier this month, back marriage equality. The Journal reported, “Almost every demographic slice was more in favor of gay marriage than it had been in 2009.”

“We could not be more pleased with the NAACP’s history-making vote – which is yet another example of the traction marriage equality continues to gain in every community,” said HRC President Joe Solmonese. 

“It’s time the shameful myth that the African-American community is somehow out of lockstep with the rest of the country on marriage equality is retired - once and for all. The facts and clear momentum toward marriage speak for themselves.”

Observers consider this a positive step in bridging the apparent divide between ethnic minorities and the LGBTQ community, and reinforces previous findings from Pew Research Center that African Americans have become more supportive of marriage equality than even four years ago, though they still remain the ethnic group most opposed to the move.