Post by Logan on Jan 11, 2016 2:08:39 GMT -6
An anti-gay pastor won’t receive a ceremonial key to the city of St. Petersburg, Florida, after LGBT groups protested his selection as keynote speaker at an event marking Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday.
The Rev. Jamal Harrison Bryant (above), pastor of the 10,000-member Empowerment Temple in Baltimore, has called homosexuality “a sin” and an “alternative rebellion,” comparing it to drug addiction and gambling.
In response to objections from LGBT groups, Mayor Rick Kriseman declined a request from the event organizer to give Bryant a ceremonial key to the city, but says he’ll still attend the 30th annual MLK Leadership Awards Breakfast on Jan. 18.
“I think it’s an opportunity for me to state what our values are and to educate him to what our values are as a community,” Kriseman told The Tampa Bay Times. “I clearly don’t agree with what he has to say. Whether he takes to heart what I say or not will be for him to decide, but I want our community to know who we are and I want to reinforce that very loud and clear.”
Continued at www.towleroad.com/2016/01/jamal-harrison-bryant/ .