Anti-Gay Religious Leaders Pray for Legal Right to Discriminate Against LGBT People

Watch Meeting Live – Anti-LGBT Pastors in Kokomo, Indiana, Stage Rally in Advance of Final Council Vote

Anti-gay religious leaders in Kokomo, Indiana, are literally getting down on their knees to pray that they’ll continue to enjoy the right to discriminate against LGBT people. 

Last week, Kokomo’s Common Council voted 5-4 to approve an LGBT-inclusive nondiscrimination ordinance on first reading. The ordinance is a direct response to the Indiana Legislature’s failure to pass statewide LGBT protections this year. 

If the council approves the ordinance on second reading tonight, Kokomo would become one of about 20 Indiana cities that have passed LGBT protections. 

On Thursday, 100 religious leaders who oppose the ordinance gathered to pray that at least one council member will change their vote, according to The Kokomo Tribune, which published photos of people on their knees inside Mount Pisgah Missionary Baptist Church. 

But organizers of the rally insisted they were acting out of love, not hate, and merely following “God’s word.”  

“It is never right for a man to ever be in a women’s restroom, (or) in women’s locker rooms in Kokomo, Indiana,” said Eric Miller, founder of Advance American, an Indianapolis-based anti-LGBT group.  

Sadly, Tribune reporter Cara Ball didn’t bother to contact anyone who supports the ordinance for her story. She also did nothing to counter the false, fear-mongering assertion that the ordinance will somehow lead to sexual predators entering women’s restrooms and preying on young girls. 

After Advance America’s Miller addressed the council last Monday, officials began giving preference to speakers who actually live in the city.  

One of those speakers was Aleczander Dean, an 18-year-old trans student at Kokomo High School who poignantly refuted the trans bathroom myth. 

“I just want to know why you guys think we’re going to be predators, seeing as how the bathroom is our worst nightmare?” Dean told the council. 

Mount Pisgah Pastor L. E. Anderson insisted he doesn’t have a problem with LGBT people. 

“God loves them like he loves us,” Anderson told the Tribune. “It’s not about LGBT. It’s not about heterosexual. It’s not about homosexual. It’s about God’s word, and that trumps everything.” 

Tonight’s meeting begins at 6 p.m. EDT and will be streamed live on the city’s website. 

 

Image: Screenshot via Kokomo Tribune/YouTube