Senior Pastor Sean Harris of Berean Baptist Church in Fayetteville, North Carolina has the solution for parents who suspect young children of being gay: beat it out of them. Attack them. Forget that “pray away the gay” nonsense. Prayer isn’t nearly a strong enough response for four-year-old boys who act “a little girlish” according this man of God. Physical violence is the only way to ensure that gay pre-school children can be transformed into heterosexual pre-school children.
“Dads, the second you see your son dropping the limp wrist, you walk over there and crack that wrist. Man up. Give him a good punch,” he recommends. Behavior that doesn’t fit his definition of traditional gender identity should be squashed “like a cockroach” according to Pastor Harris.
The senior pastor goes on to say, “And when your daughter starts acting too butch, you reign her in. And you say, ‘Oh, no, sweetheart. You can play sports. Play them to the glory of God. But sometimes you are going to act like a girl and walk like a girl and talk like a girl and smell like a girl and that means you are going to be beautiful. You are going to be attractive. You are going to dress yourself up.’”
Apparently, lesbians are the only females that play sports. Who knew?!?
There’s an audio version of this speech making the rounds on the Internet. The sermon was given by the good pastor in support of North Carolina’s proposed Amendment 1, which would outlaw same-sex marriage.
I wonder what other “offenses” would justify hitting a four-year-old with a closed fist? Stealing candy? Pulling the cat’s tail? Giggling in church? Spilling milk? Writing on the wall with a crayon? If this guy feels that punching people who are too small to defend themselves is okay when they act “girlish” or “butch”, then why not anytime they do something that parents find unacceptable?
I’m sure that Pastor Harris only recommends this course of action because he loves all God’s children so damn much. As the saying goes, nothing says love like a black eye or a broken wrist.
If this man’s ideas catch on, it would great news for child abusers everywhere. If they end up charged with injuring or killing a kid, they could simply say that the forty-pound-person exhibited signs of homosexuality and they were simply following the pastor’s advice. They were doing God’s will by knocking the kid across the room and fracturing his skull. Spare the rod and spoil the child will take on a whole new meaning. And if anyone dares question their “right” to do such a thing, they can scream that their religious liberty is being infringed upon and their accusers are engaging in the war on religion.
So, the next time you read a story about some gay teen committing suicide because he or she couldn’t stand the ostracism of being bullied a moment more and decided that death was better than living as a pariah, remember the pastor’s advice. It’s the parents’ fault for not punching the kid’s lights out when they were four.
Will the real cockroach please stand up?
