UPDATED::Two Philly Hate Attackers Will Serve No Jail Time – Kathryn Knott Rejects Plea Deal - The New Civil Rights Movement

UPDATE:: Judge won't reduce jail time in gay-bashing incident

Early in March Kathryn Knott submitted a resentencing motion because she was too stupid to realize her idea of privilege wasn't going to work:

The proceeding is not a resentencing hearing, but one in which the judge will consider the merits of the defense's request.

In the motion, Brennan argues there should be parity between the sentence Knott received and those given to her two codefendants.

Kevin Harrigan and Philip Williams were sentenced to probation before another judge in October as part of plea deals.

Knott rejected a plea deal offered by the Commonwealth and took her case to trial.

Thankfully Buck county "Common Pleas Court Judge Roxanne Covington called appropriate the five- to 10-month prison term she imposed on Kathryn Knott, and chided Knott for a "complete disconnection with the incident itself and a failure to take personal responsibility herself for the crimes she was convicted of."

UPDATE::  Kathryn Knott seeks resentencing hearing in gay-bashing conviction

Kathryn Knott is asking Judge Roxanne Covington to grant her a resentencing hearing.

Attorney Bill Brennan, who replaced Knott's former defense attorney Louis Busico, filed a motion for reconsideration Wednesday with the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas.

Covington sentenced Knott last week to 5-to-10 months in prison for her role in the 2014 beating of a gay couple in Center City. Knott also received two years of probation, a $2,000 fine and was ordered to attend anger management classes, keep out of Philadelphia County during her probation and stay away from the victims, Andrew Haught and Zachary Hesse.

Knott was taken to Riverside Correctional Facility immediately following her Feb. 8 sentencing hearing.

Brennan said late Wednesday afternoon that he is requesting the court consider alternatives to incarceration, contending that Knott's sentencing should be more rehabilitative and better attempt to heal the wounds caused by the assault.

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Kathryn Knott, Philip Williams, and Kevin Harrigan reportedly have been offered a plea deal that includes community service and probation but zero time in jail. The three were charged with the Sept. 11, 2014 anti-gay hate attack against a Philadelphia same-sex couple that landed one of the men in the hospital with a broken jaw that had to be wired shut for nearly two months.

The trio of accused hate attackers were arrested September 24, 2014 and charged with aggravated assault, simple assault, and recklessly endangering another person (REAP), for the attack. Williams and Harrigan were also charged with conspiracy.

Today in court Williams and Harrigan accepted a plea deal that, as Philly Gay News reports, includes community service and probation but no jail time. Kathryn Knott reportedly rejected the deal and will stand trial.
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Local ABC News Affiliate WPVI confirms those details, adding, "The plea deal was at the wish of the victims, according to the district attorney's office. The victims said they felt safe in Center City before the attack."


BREAKING: Two Philly Hate Attackers Will Serve No Jail Time – Kathryn Knott Rejects Plea Deal - The New Civil Rights Movement

UPDATED::U.S. Marine Claims 'Trans Panic' in Murder of Trans Filipina Jennifer Laude | Advocate.com

UPDATE::  U.S. Marine convicted of killing transgender Filipino files appeal

A U.S. Marine has asked a Philippine court to reverse his conviction in the killing of a transgender Filipino and sought a bail and a reduction of his six to 12-year jail term.

Attorney Rowena Garcia-Flores said she would insist that her client, Lance Cpl. Joseph Scott Pemberton, did not kill Jennifer Laude in a motel room after they met in a disco bar in October 2014 and that his sentence should be eased because he surrendered to authorities.

In December a judge convicted Pemberton of homicide, not the more serious charge of murder as prosecutors sought — and sentenced him to a lighter jail term than what the victim’s family sought.

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U.S. Marine Joseph Scott Pemberton admitted in a Philippine court Monday that he strangled transgender woman Jennifer Laude to death inside a motel room near Manila last October, Al Jazeera reports.

Reports from inside the courtroom indicate that Pemberton is advancing a "trans panic" defense, claiming that upon discovering the 26-year-old Laude to be a transgender woman, the 19-year-old Marine "feared he would be raped," according to Al Jazeera. That fear prompted Pemberton to fly into a violent rage, manually strangling Laude before dragging her lifeless body into the bathroom, according to tweets from Harry Roque, the attorney representing Laude's family.

U.S. Marine Claims 'Trans Panic' in Murder of Trans Filipina Jennifer Laude | Advocate.com

ADDENDUM::Judge rules on alleged gay-basher's tweets

REMEMBER THOSE alleged anti-gay tweets posted by Kathryn Knott, one of the three Bucks County defendants charged in last year's assault on a gay couple in Center City?

Well, they can be introduced at Knott's assault trial next month, a judge ruled Tuesday.

A Common Pleas jury is expected to hear that Knott, 25, of Southampton, had posted the following on her @kathryn_knott Twitter account,,,

[,,,]

Knott faces trial on a count of conspiracy, two counts of aggravated assault and related offenses in the September 2014 attack on a gay couple in Center City. Jury selection is expected to take place Dec. 9. Opening statements would likely begin the next day.

Michael Barry, chief of the District Attorney's Central Division, told Judge Roxanne Covington during a pretrial motions hearing that Knott had posted "a number of tweets which clearly indicate a general dislike to a disgust of gays and lesbians and people of other backgrounds."

Judge rules on alleged gay-basher's tweets

See also::  Kathryn Knott’s Twitter Feed Focus of Court Hearing

UPDATE::Court Date for Accused Philadelphia Gay Bashers Delayed | Advocate.com

Three suspects accused in last year's gay-bashing attack of two men in Philadelphia asked for a continuance in court Thusrday, as their attorneys work out the terms of a plea agreement with the prosecution.

Kevin Harrigan, Kathryn Knott. and Philip Williams will return to court September 17 to face charges of aggravated assault, simple assault and conspiracy.

Zachary Hess and Andrew Haught were walking in downtown Philadelphia in September 2014 when they passed a large group of people who began taunting them and acting aggressively. Egged on by the others, Harrigan, Knott, and Williams were caught on video attacking the gay men.

Court Date for Accused Philadelphia Gay Bashers Delayed | Advocate.com

UPDATE::Teen in Terry Bean sex abuse case has gone into hiding – LGBTQ Nation

A 17-year-old at the center of sexual abuse allegations against Oregon gay rights activist Terry Bean has gone into hiding with his mother and stopped using his cellphone to avoid testifying at an upcoming trial, prosecutors said.

The trial is set to start on Aug. 11, but prosecutor Scott Healy requested a delay as authorities try to find the teen and serve a subpoena.

Lori Deveney, the boy’s attorney, previously told prosecutors her client had agreed to a financial settlement with Bean and did not want to testify. A judge, however, rejected the deal and ruled criminal charges should be pursued.
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Charges could be dismissed if the teen doesn’t testify. If that happens, the judge could allow the state to refile charges against the 66-year-old Bean and his former boyfriend, 25-year-old Kiah Lawson, at a later date.

Bean and Lawson are accused of sexually abusing the boy at a Eugene hotel in 2013 when he was 15. Prosecutors said the teen was paid $40 for the encounter.

Both men have pleaded not guilty to two counts of sodomy and one count of sexual abuse.

Derek Ashton, Bean’s attorney, said he opposes any continuance of the case.

Teen in Terry Bean sex abuse case has gone into hiding – LGBTQ Nation

Candace Cameron Bure: Allowing business to discriminate is part of what makes America ‘wonderful’ | Gay Star News

Writer, The View co-host and Full House actor Candace Cameron Bure has reiterated her convinction that business owners with deeply held religious views should be allowed to turn away customers if they believe that providing service to them conflicts with their faith.

Cameron Bure – the sister of homophobic, evangelical Christian Kirk Cameron – made the comments in an interview with HuffPost Live.

Last month, Cameron Bure clashed with The View co-host Raven Symoné over the issue of bakeries that refuse to make wedding cakes for same-sex couples. Raven Symoné was critical of a bakery in Oregon that had refused to make a wedding cake for a lesbian couple, but Cameron Bure leapt to its defense.

‘I don’t think this is discrimination at all. This is about freedom of association. It’s about constitutional rights. It’s about First Amendment rights. It’s about having the right to still choose who we associate with,’ she said at the time.

‘[They] didn’t refuse to bake the cake because of [the couple’s] sexual orientation. In fact, they baked cakes for them previously. They had a problem with the actual ceremony because that – the ceremony – is what conflicted with their religious beliefs.’

Candace Cameron Bure: Allowing business to discriminate is part of what makes America ‘wonderful’ | Gay Star News

Jury rejects hate crime claim by Vonore couple in house fire lawsuit - News Sentinel Story

A federal jury in a lawsuit has concluded a Monroe County lesbian couple's claim their house was torched in an act of hate was a hoax.

A jury in U.S. District Court on Monday returned a verdict in favor of American National Property and Casualty Company in a lawsuit over the fire claim of Carol Ann Stutte and Laura Jean Stutte.

In the verdict, the jury specifically concluded the insurer had proved by what's known as a preponderance of the evidence standard that the Stuttes torched their house in Vonore, Tenn., and covered it up by spray-painting the word "queers" on a detached garage and labeling the fire a hate crime by their neighbor.

The Stuttes' house was destroyed by a blaze in September 2010. The couple at the time blamed neighbor Janice Millsaps in media interviews and a lawsuit filed against Millsaps in Monroe County Chancery Court.

Jury rejects hate crime claim by Vonore couple in house fire lawsuit - News Sentinel Story

UPDATE::Accused Anti-Gay Hate Attackers Offered Plea Deal By Philadelphia District Attorney - The New Civil Rights Movement

Lawyers for Williams and Knott confirmed their clients are considering an offer from the Philadelphia district attorney, though details of the offer were not disclosed by either side.

Cameron Kline, spokesperson for the Philadelphia District Attorney's Office, told Phillymag.com that the office does not comment on plea offers, but observed that if convicted on all charges, the maximum sentence could be as high as 34 to 68 years in prison. Though no one expects the three first-time offenders to be given the maximum, the specter of decades behind bars could be a strong incentive for the three not to roll the dice with a jury.

Chuck Peruto, a Piladelphia criminal defense attorney contacted by Phillymag.com speculated that the sentence could be in the 1-4 year range. 

Accused Anti-Gay Hate Attackers Offered Plea Deal By Philadelphia District Attorney - The New Civil Rights Movement

Woman who received $43,000 for her ‘relentlessly gay’ yard accused of being a hoax | Gay Star News

This is the incident as I first heard about it has morphd into something potentially ugly. What do you think?

Online sleuths have pointed out that both Baker and the letter she allegedly received appear to feature the same improper use of capitalization.

The letter features words such as ‘others,’ and ‘forced’ that are capitalized while her GoFundMe page shows words such as ‘home’, ‘relent’ and ‘hatred’ that are incorrectly capitalized.

Gay website Queerty reported that Baker consistently capitalizes words on her Facebook page, where she often goes on rants about Christian’s being opposed to gay marriage.

‘Myth-busting’ website Snopes contacted the police after reaching out to Baker.

It reported that when donations to the campaign reached US$43,000 critics began questioning why Baker was continuing to accumulate monies far in excess of her goal of $5,000.

Snopes then reached out to Baker asking if she could provide any information to readers to reassure them of the authenticity of her claims.
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Snopes said they were told by a detective that ‘Baker was either unwilling or unable to produce the letter in question, and that she had maintained it was no longer in her possession.’

The detective also said that he had attempted to meet with Baker in person the previous day but was unable to do so.

Baker closed her GoFundMe page on 22 June. On the page, she thanked donors for their ‘extreme generosity.’

Woman who received $43,000 for her ‘relentlessly gay’ yard accused of being a hoax | Gay Star News

Atlanta Gay Man Bashed With Bat While Helping Man Change His Flat Tire | Advocate.com

Although I know some may say that Wilson "brought this on himself", no one deserves to have the shit knocked out of him.  Why must people always resort to violence?

He said when Johnson spotted him recording, he went inside his apartment, then returned for what Wilson thought might be a confrontation — but that Johnson simply asked for help changing a flat tire on his car.

Wilson said he offered to repair the damaged tire for money rather than replace it with a new one. Johnson then allegedly asked Wilson how much he would charge for the fix. Wilson said he quoted $10, but Johnson said he didn't have that much money. That's when Wilson made a joke.

"You already gave me a free peep show," Wilson told Johnson, telling WSB he was referring to how Johnson's pants sagged below his waist, exposing his underwear. "So I'll go ahead and do it for free." Johnson apparently didn't take well to the comment.

"During the time when I was fixing the tire he kept asking me what did I mean by the 'peep show,' and I kept telling him don't worry about it," Wilson told police, according to records obtained by Atlanta LGBT newspaper Project Q. "I finally told him I was joking about it and told him not to worry about it." But Johnson wouldn't let it go.

"He asked me if I'm straight and I said, 'No, I'm gay," Wilson recalled to WSB. "He went off telling me he wasn't gay, he was straight, he hated gay people." Wilson said he apologized for "coming at" Johnson, according to the police report.

But when he then collected his tools from his own car and turned around to leave, Johnson began hitting him in the head with a baseball bat. 

Atlanta Gay Man Bashed With Bat While Helping Man Change His Flat Tire | Advocate.com

WATCH: NY Gay Couple Shot at for Holding Hands Spread Message of Equality | Advocate.com

A gay teen and his boyfriend are victims of a hate crime, according to police in Upstate New York, as they were shot at for holding hands.

The Warren County Sherriff’s Office tells WTEN TV of Albany the two young men arrested in connection with the attack — 19-year-old Scott Bills and 21-year-old Bradley Moulton — admit to yelling antigay slurs and shooting at the couple with a BB gun that closely resembles a pistol. Lt. Steve Stockdale said the BB gun could have easily been mistaken for a real handgun.
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Stockdale said that after scaring the couple, Bills, who was driving the vehicle, drove back toward them a second time, and Moulton threatened them a second time.
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Bills and Moulton now face felony hate crime charges. WTEN reports they were released from jail and are set to return to court next week.



WATCH: NY Gay Couple Shot at for Holding Hands Spread Message of Equality | Advocate.com

Florida Cop Suspended After Allegedly Forcing Lesbian Teen to Strip, Making Sexual Gestures | Advocate.com

A Hialeah, Fla., police sergeant, the son of a former police chief, has been suspended following allegations of sexual abuse from a young lesbian couple pulled over at a routine traffic stop, reports Miami news station WSVN.

The couple, who have asked not to be identified, say that Sgt. Jesus Menocal, Jr. pulled them over for making a U-Turn near a police substation Saturday, and detained them for questioning. The couple say Menocal, Jr. told one girl, 17, to get into the back of his police car and the other, 20, to follow behind in her car.

When they arrived at the substation, Menocal, Jr. allegedly took the teen from his car inside to a private room and began asking inappropriate questions.

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Sunday, the day after the alleged sexual assault, Menocal, Jr. was suspended with pay while the Hialeah Police Department began an investigation into the couple's allegations. Hialeah Police Chief Sergio Velázquez and Hialeah police leaders met with the Miami-Dade State Attorney's Office Monday to coordinate the delivery of evidence for the investigation, reports the Miami Herald.

Florida Cop Suspended After Allegedly Forcing Lesbian Teen to Strip, Making Sexual Gestures | Advocate.com

ADDENDUM::Houston man trolls airwaves with anti-gay ads — Project Q Houston

Houston anti-gay crank Steven Hotze won't give up his quest to have Texas defy a U.S. Supreme Court ruling legalizing gay marriage, now taking his fight to the airwaves and asking for your cash to help.

Hotze and his Conservative Republicans of Texas unleashed a TV and radio advertising campaign on Tuesday to pressure Gov. Greg Abbott into calling lawmakers back to Austin for a special session to fight gay marriage. Hotze wants legislators to pass a measure from state Rep. Cecil Bell that would defy an expected Supreme Court ruling legalizing gay marriage in the 13 states, like Texas, that don't yet have marriage equality.

Bell's proposal flopped and in its wake, Abbott refused to call a special session to consider it again.

Hotze is incredulous that Texas lawmakers won't stand with him to oppose a "lawless Supreme Court ruling on marriage."

"Gov. Abbott and the Republican leadership caved to the homosexual political movement and its cheerleader, the Texas Association of Business, and failed to pass legislation to preserve state sovereignty and the marriage amendment," Hotze's 60-second radio spot says.

He keeps up the pressure on Abbott in a 30-second television ad.

Houston man trolls airwaves with anti-gay ads — Project Q Houston

North Texas man attacked in Austin

Andy Smith and Paul von Wupperfeld were walking south along Austin’s Colorado Street on April 18, at about 10:25 p.m., when a truck “came barreling out of the parking lot on our left, almost hitting us,” Smith wrote in his statement to Austin police. “I hollered out, ‘you nearly hit us.’ To which the driver replied, ‘Fuck you faggot.’”

Smith responded, “What did you say?”

“Fuck you faggot,” the man answered. He stopped his truck in a lane of traffic, got out and the exchange escalated.

Smith told him he couldn’t call them that.

“You make me stop,” he said. “I’ll kick your ass.”

Smith wrote that he thinks he said, “What are you going to do? Hit me?”

Before he was knocked unconscious, Smith wrote, he remembered seeing a mean look on the man’s face.

Von Wupperfeld, Smith’s husband, continued the narrative in a separate statement to police.

After hitting Smith, Von Wupperfeld wrote, the man ran to his car and drove off. But he stopped to see what happened. By the time von Wupperfeld reached Smith, he told police, Smith’s “face was swollen and bloody from where he had been punched, with cuts on his nose, right cheek and chin. He was unconscious for around 30-45 seconds. When he came around he was groggy and disoriented.”

A number of witnesses saw the assault and took video with their phones. Police were called and responded quickly.
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Pictures taken at the scene included the license plate number on the pickup driven by the man who attacked Smith, allowing police to trace the pickup to Anthony Fera, president of an Austin-based oil company. He’s best known as the father of University of Texas Longhorn football team’s 2013 star placekicker.

Fera has been arrested several other times in Texas and Pennsylvania.

Austin Police Det. Jason Barto said evidence has been sent to the district attorney’s office and it’s up to them to present evidence to the grand jury to decide whether to add hate crime charges.

Rafael McDonnell, Resource Center communications and advocacy manager, said this week he worries that this sort of thing might happen more as the U.S. Supreme Court prepares for its marriage equality ruling.

North Texas man attacked in Austin

Conversion therapy for LGBTQ youth to be banned in Ontario | CBCNews.ca Mobile

Ontario has given final approval to an NDP private member's bill that bans so-called conversion therapy for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender children.

New Democrat Cheri DiNovo says therapists should not try to "fix" LGBTQ kids or subject them to what she calls unethical and abusive conversion therapy.

DiNovo says not only did Ontario allow conversion therapies to go on too long, the province actually covered the treatments under its health insurance plan, a practice that ends now.

Conversion therapy for LGBTQ youth to be banned in Ontario | CBCNews.ca Mobile

Mozambique Decriminalizes Homosexuality | Out Magazine

One of the most tolerant African countries in regards to homosexuality, Mozambique will mark a major milestone on June 29, when homosexuality becomes legal. 

The criminalization of homosexuality —characterized as "vices against nature"— in the country stemmed from Portuguese colonial rule. In December 2014, former President Armando Guebuza signed a revised penal code into law, giving it 180 days to come into effect.

While technically punishable by up to three years hard labor, LGBT people were rarely prosecuted. This move brings Mozambique in line with the 20 other African nations that either allow for homosexuality, or do not legislate against it.


Mozambique Decriminalizes Homosexuality | Out Magazine

Oregon governor signs bill banning conversion therapy for LGBT youth – LGBTQ Nation

Oregon is now the third state in the country to ban so-called “gay conversion therapy” after Gov. Kate Brown signed legislation outlawing the practice.

The measure makes it illegal for social workers or licensed mental health professional to practice therapy treatments purporting to change the sexual orientation of children younger than 18.

The practice has been widely panned by critics who say it can lead to depression and anxiety in youths.
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The U.S. Supreme Court has previously rejected challenges to both the California and New Jersey bans.


Oregon governor signs bill banning conversion therapy for LGBT youth – LGBTQ Nation

Gay conversion therapy ban passes Illinois House – LGBTQ Nation

The Illinois state House on Tuesday approved a bill to prohibit conversion therapy for LGBT youth.

The bill prohibits licensed mental health care providers from engaging in sexual orientation change efforts with anyone under the age of 18. Sexual orientation change efforts are defined by the bill as any treatment or practice that seeks to change a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity.

There was no debate on the measure before it was approved by a vote of 68-43. The bill now goes to the Senate for approval.

Just last year, the House defeated a similar plan 44-51 — with 22 members not voting.

The legislation does not apply to religious leaders and would not impact the ability of clergy to practice their religion.

Gay conversion therapy ban passes Illinois House – LGBTQ Nation

ADDENDUM::Anti-Gay Pastor Caught On Grindr Told Gay Teen He Was Going To Hell, Should Commit Suicide, Says Mom - The New Civil Rights Movement

Lying about who you are is one thing.  Actively preaching against who you are is another. Telling anyone to go kill themselves, from a position of supposed moral authority, that is evil.

Now, a parishioner of Pastor Makela's is accusing him of telling her gay teen son that he was going to hell because he is gay, so he should kill himself.

"If he's going to hell for being gay then he might as well commit suicide," Jennifer Kish says Makela told her depressed son when he was 17.

Stunningly, Reverend Makela not only advocated for the suicide of Kish's son, but then took his battle against him to the public, attacking Kish as well, she charges.

"Kish said the pastor also became vocal on social media about how he felt her son being gay was wrong and that as a parent she shouldn't support him," WNEM reports. "She said she confronted pastor Makela about the message he was sending her son and every other young gay person."

Anti-Gay Pastor Caught On Grindr Told Gay Teen He Was Going To Hell, Should Commit Suicide, Says Mom - The New Civil Rights Movement

An anti-LGBT pastor’s Grindr outing: The church’s hypocrisy and denial are the real sins - Salon.com

I'm sorry but I have no sympathy for the Church as it breeds the type of deception prevalent in this incident.  It is the same mind set I grew up with as a member of a Missouri Synod based church.  They do not allow women to preach, much less ordain them.  Being LGBT, well, your on your own.

BUT,,,

If  Makela is now "out" I hope he will be happy and go on with the life he really wants and not pull a Ted Haggard.

After the scandal was publicized, Haggard entered three weeks of intensive counseling, overseen by four ministers. In February 2007, one of those ministers, Tim Ralph, said that Haggard "is completely heterosexual."^[3] Ralph later said he meant that therapy "gave Ted the tools to help to embrace his heterosexual side." On June 1, 2010 Haggard announced that he intended to start a new church in Colorado Springs.^[4] In a July 2010 interview with CNN, he confirmed that he has "completely shunned away any homosexual feelings he has had in the past."^[5] In the February 2011 issue of GQ, however, Haggard said that, "probably, if I were 21 in this society, I would identify myself as a bisexual."^[6]

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Well, well, well, what a surprise. Here’s the setup: Meet Reverend Matthew Makela of St. John’s Lutheran Church and School. Until very recently, he was an associate pastor whose church bio described him as a man “blessed” with a wife and five children, one whose interests include “family, music, home improvement, gardening and landscaping, and sports.” And, as Queerty reveals this week, he’s also enjoyed taking a clear anti-gay stance, writing in a now-deleted November letter to the Midland Daily News that “We don’t tell a person born with tendencies to abuse alcohol to keep on giving in to his innate desires because he can’t help it. We try to help him in his struggle.” He’s also spoken out on Facebook about how “The transgender movement is going to assist opportunistic sickos in preying upon children and others.” So anyway, guess who’s turned up on Grindr?

In screenshots obtained by Queerty and confirmed by Makela, the reverend is seen shirtless in a Grindr exchange, saying that “I love making out naked, oral and massage. And I top. Also love to cuddle.” He now tells Queerty he has recently “resigned” from his position but declines to comment further. As Queerty points out, what people do in private is their own business. But if you’re publicly promoting the idea that gay people are like alcoholics and that trans people are in line with “sickos” while you’re trawling for dates on Grindr, this is not quite in line with what you’re preaching about “taking the marriage union with the utmost seriousness.” And it’s genuinely sad and painful to imagine what this man and his family must be going through now because of the conflict between what he desired in private and what he promoted in public. This is what shame and secrecy — so often brought about by some spectacularly warped ideas about God’s will — do to people. Imagine how much turmoil could have been avoided by just being honest. Imagine, beyond the profoundly harmful hypocrisy here, the torment of a man who among other things wanted someone to cuddle. That’s goddamn heartbreaking.

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The viciousness of Internet mob justice is real and very scary, and unfortunately the trolls will take any opportunity that presents itself to be threatening and abusive. I wouldn’t blame the St. John’s community in the least for not wanting to expose itself to drive-by attacks by Facebook cretins. And there’s a measure of compassion to be found in the church’s choice to not embarrass Makela in a public condemnation. But for St. John’s to so actively discourage its congregants from knowing what went down sure seems to indicate a certain “Please just slink off and let’s everybody just forget this ever happened” attitude. That’s unhelpful and profoundly unrealistic.

An anti-LGBT pastor’s Grindr outing: The church’s hypocrisy and denial are the real sins - Salon.com

See also:

Midland pastor resigns after gay news site posts screenshots from his smartphone

EXCLUSIVE: Grindr Screenshots Reveal Antigay Pastor Is A Top Who Likes To Cuddle

• UPDATE: Church Warns Congregants Not To Read Rev. Makela Grindr Story, Deactivates FB Page

“To make matters worse,” he continues, “the details of sin that have been kept confidential are being posted online by those who seek to do harm to the Makela family and to St. John’s. This is taking an already difficult situation and making it even more painful… The facebook pages associated with St. John’s have been taken down in an attempt to remove the opportunity for malicious posters to have access to St. John’s members…”

Here’s the typical closed-door religious attitude that we find appalling. If Kempin had it his way, Rev. Makela would have broken ties with St. John’s congregation without ever having the “details of sin” made known to them.

His community would never have known that the man telling them being gay is a condition comparable to alcoholism and that gay marriage is just another blemish on the holy institution was in fact seeking the intimacy of men himself.