Preacher: Beat Up Gay Kids

Pastor Sean Harris and his wife Pam (courtesy of Berean Baptist Church)

What to do with an effeminate boy? Well, according to one preacher, parents should beat the gay right out of him. A controversial (to say the least) sermon by Sean Harris, a senior pastor at the Berean Baptist Church in Fayetteville, N.C., is sending shockwaves through both the religious and gay communities this week. And for good reason.

Harris advocated from this past Sunday’s pulpit that not only should parents physically assault toddlers with “limp wrists,” but they should also consider punching and beating young children who exhibit gender-nonconforming behavior. At one point he even says that a boy who wants to wear a dress should be beaten and told to “dig a ditch” because “that’s what boys do.”

We’d like to take a poll among men – how many of you have ever actually dug a ditch? Yeah, we didn’t think so.

He didn’t ignore women either. Harris added that while girls playing sports is somewhat acceptable, they must still strive to “look pretty.” Presumably for the ditch-digging boys.

The vulgar fire and brimstone tactics – which admittedly seem out of place even in the most conservative discussions during this 2012 election year – not only send an incredibly dangerous message to anyone who was seated in his pews that day (and people wonder where bullies come from?) but the animosity and thumbs up to physical violence is particularly disturbing coming from a man who preaches (dare we say it) about the love of Jesus.

Does thou protest too much? If we’ve learned anything from blow hards like this in the past – probably.

We have no idea if this man has children with his wife Pam (pictured here), but we sincerely hope that the beatings he prescribes to parishioners are not handed out in his own home – or anyone else’s for that matter. It’s child abuse. Pure and simple. Is the state’s Department of Health and Human Services listening?

Here’s audio from the sermon: