Eddie Long rumored to step down amid possibly more allegations of sexual coercion

It is usually here that I come out with my Know Your LGBT History segments, but due to the extreme nature of the following, it has been pre-empted. And by the way, let's have some feedback  on my Know Your LGBT History segments. Not only is it good for my ego to know that people are reading it, but it helps me in deciding whether or not I want to keep featuring them.

The walls seems to be closing on Bishop Eddie Long.

From Black Voices:

It has been reported that the Bishop Eddie Long is going to step down as pastor after his sermon set to be delivered on Sunday. Long is currently the pastor of the New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in Atlanta. He was recently challenged by three young men who filed suit against the pastor for allegedly coercing them into sex.

There are also reports that as many as 30 young men have contacted the plaintiff's attorney, BJ Bernstein, in an effort to file suits of their own or join the existing lawsuit.

Bishop Eddie Long's sex scandal has been in the headlines of national news for several days. Since the story broke, there have been suspicious pictures released that feature Bishop Long wearing muscle shirts and spandex, posing in the bathroom. Some have wondered why Long would send these images to his "spiritual sons."

On the Bishop Eddie Long sex fiasco, which I discussed this morning on MSNBC, there appear to be three angles of consideration: Legality, morality and hypocrisy. Legally, one has to determine if Long violated his fiduciary responsible to take care of the young men under his guidance. Secondly, there is the question of whether the men he may have slept with were of legal age and whether or not there was coercion.

I wasn't aware of the claims of 30 young man, but there has surfaced a fourth lawsuit:

A fourth young male member of Bishop Eddie Long's megachurch is suing the prominent pastor, claiming Long coerced him into a sexual relationship.

The lawsuit was filed by Spencer LeGrande, a member of New Birth Charlotte. New Birth Charlotte is a satellite church run by Long in Charlotte, N.C. The lawsuit said Long told LeGrande "I will be your dad" and invited the 17-year-old to journey to Kenya with him in July 2005. LeGrande said that Long gave him a sleeping pill on that trip and that the two engaged in sexual acts.

The Associated Press does not typically identify alleged victims of impropriety, but attorney B.J. Bernstein has said all four of the men who filed lawsuits consented to being identified publicly.

Meanwhile, pastors in Atlanta are gathering to pray for Long:



I predicted it a while back. This thing has hit like a nuclear bomb.


Hat tip to Joe.My.God. for the video

National Organization for Marriage refuted again and other Friday midday news briefs

But first, it would seem that what I wrote this morning had a negative effect on some of you. Most specifically:

Where the f#@! have you been for the last 40 years? You must have had your head up your a#!, because a lot of us HAVE been fighting the good fight against the evagleicals and the GOP. How dare you pretend that we haven't. Many of us raged against them as we watched our brothers and sisters die of AIDS, while they callously blamed them for their illness. We have fought long and hard, that is why it is now so offensive that those who promised to be our allies have turned on us. You accuse us of not standing up to the real enemy, yet you have the nerve to attack US, your own community? Are WE the real enemy? You should be f@%!ing ashamed of yourself. As far as I'm concerned you can go f&$;!( yourself.

My response:

You prove my point. Could you divert that energy and rage - sans the profanity- to groups like frc and afa. They are to blame for the calamities you described.

Now onto news briefs:

National Organization for Marriage refuted again:




Pawlenty Joins FRC's Watchmen to Fight Pawns of Satan - Another pathetic bid for the presidency by Pawlenty. I guess he got tired of fighting "crossdressing third grade teachers."

Anti-gay megachurch pastor denies seducing young men - Eddie Long makes a statement on the sexual coercion charges.

Dumbest homophobic mess EVER: Indianapolis bakery offended by rainbow cupcakes - You read that right.

Gay rights groups continue to miss the real enemy

I'm going to say something that will probably get some people angry.

All of this anger against the Democrats and the Obama Administration, while appropriate and on some levels very useful, also underlines just how much off the mark the lgbt community is.

The point came to my mind when I read the following piece about GetEqual, the direct action group getting a lot of attention:

GetEqual has a real problem with the Democrats who have introduced (and often passed in the House) these bills for gay rights but they never go after the Republicans who kill these bills in the Senate. In fact, they don’t even go after the few Democrats who helped to kill these bills. They would rather blame Obama… over and over and over again.

The video they released features Obama, Barney Frank, and the HRC and outwardly blames them for the failure of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell to be repealed… But Barney Frank is a member of the House – which did in fact repeal DADT. DADT was blocked from coming to a vote in the Senate. Two Democrats from Arkansas helped Republicans to block it… But Blanche Lincoln and Mark Pryor are missing from GetEqual’s video.

One must really contemplate who GetEqual is really working for.

The piece was criticizing videos made by GetEqual attacking HRC, Obama, and Barney Frank for supposedly breaking promises they made to the lgbt community. Now I don't agree with everything in that piece. I totally resented the negative comments said about blogging buddy and mentor, Pam Spaulding. However, the piece got me thinking.

Earlier this year when Family Research Council spokesman Peter Sprigg commented on Hardball that he wants "homosexual behavior to be outlawed," where were we?

Or how about when he said he wanted us exported out of the United States?

And don't get me started on the many, many, many anti-gay comments of Bryan Fischer. Other than People for the American Way's statements, there has been no push back against Fischer or the American Family Association, his employer. At least not by the lgbt community.

In fact, when folks like Fischer, Sprigg, etc. say the things they say about us, where is our anger? Where are the vigorous statements from the Human Rights Campaign or those who consume themselves with labeling HRC as "Gay, Inc.?"

But yet some of us can heckle President Obama at a speech. And some of us can write pointlessly nasty comments on places like Facebook.

I think sometimes we are aiming our fire at the wrong targets. Groups like the Family Research Council, the American Family Association, etc hold a lot of power and I think it's because we haven't challenged them like we should.

These are the groups that have for over 30 years:

relied on the discredited work of Paul Cameron to smear the lgbt community,

truncated legitimate science to make us sound like the "diseased other" in American society,

took unfair possession of  the word "family" in an attempt to exclude us, and

exploited religious beliefs and fears to get away with all of this.

So while we raise holy hell with our allies for not doing what they are supposed to do, the question remains are we guilty of the same dereliction of action?

Don't get me wrong. No group has ever gained equality without exerting pressure on its allies, i.e. those who hold the keys to this equality. But at the same time, one has to ask why is the lgbt community leaving organizations like the Family Research Council, Concerned Women for American, Focus on the Family, etc. free and untouched to continue their mischief ?

This isn't a matter of changing minds. It's a matter of drawing attention to what these organizations have been doing under the guise of "family values."

You see, when people turn on their televisions and see these religious right spokespeople being quoted on news programs, they aren't aware of the levels of inaccuracy they have stooped in order to form their anti-gay talking points.

And they will never know unless the lgbt community call out these organizations with as much vigor as we voice our displeasure with Congress and President Obama.

In the long run, no matter how slow and sloppy they move, the Democrats aren't our enemy and neither is President Obama. It's those organizations who exploit religious beliefs through lies, distortions, and junk science. And as far as I know, we have YET to come up with a plan to put them on the defensive or to make them explain their behavior.

Until the lgbt community makes a concerted effort with combating religious right groups who filter lies against us, we will get nowhere, no way, no how.

Not even if Jesus Christ were elected President.

Eddie Long scandal now includes pictures

This situation with Eddie Long has just gotten more interesting, including pictures:

New details and scandalous pictures have emerged on the internet showing the once prominently viewed Pastor and Bishop Eddie Long who’s known from growing the church from 150 members when he was appointed as Pastor in 1987 to now close to 30,000 members, in a controversial position.

As previously reported on HipHopRx.com, Bishop Eddie Long, Pastor of New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in suburban Atlanta (Lithonia, GA), is accused of sexually abusing some of his young male followers who were teens at the time that the incident(s) allegedly took place.

Earlier this week, the three men who are now in their 20’s filed separate lawsuits against Eddie Long, a married man and father of four. The latest alleged victim filed a lawsuit against Long, the church as well as Longfellows Youth Academy Inc.

On Thursday, pictures hit the Internet like a whirlwind and no one knows how the photos surfaced which show the Bishop wearing spandex and workout clothes which is stated to have been sent to an accuser in November of 2008. According to attorney B.J. Bernstei who is representing the three men suing Eddie Long, they received dozens of emails from Long, but they are not overly sexual.

The same day, Eddie Long was expected to make an appearance on the Tom Joyner Show following the sex abuse accusations (Thursday morning), but he canceled his appearance which seemed to have occurred after the photos were leaked. Long’s attorney Craig Gillen instead took his place and spoke on behalf of his client stating that the young men were taken on trips as part of a mentoring program.

One of the young men is accused of breaking into the Pastor’s office.

The young men accused Bishop of Eddie Long of offering them gifts, money, luxury hotel rooms and more to lure them for sexual favors.

Meanwhile, Bishop Eddie Long states that he would like to respond to the allegations which he states are false, but he is following the advice of his attorney and expects to address the sexual allegations against him on Sunday at his church during service.…

Where he no doubt will receive a standing ovation. Between you and me, I would like to here more details about these pictures. They are definitely causing discussion but they are no smoking gun.

Martin Luther King, Jr used to speak against marriage equality and other Thursday midday news briefs

*WARNING: No civil rights legacies were ably examined in the making of this ad - So those on the right get angry at what they feel is the unfair appropriation of Martin Luther King Jr or the black civil rights movement by the lgbt community. But they have no probelm exploiting the two themselves.

Minorities Standing Up For Each Other — It Goes Both Ways - Amen. Excellent post.

Cornyn and Sessions No-Shows at LCR Dinner, Receive Awards Anyway - For all of the hype that Sen. John Cornyn was going to appear at the Log Cabin Repulican Dinner, look what happened.

The Black Church, Homophobia, and Pastor Eddie Long - And now Newsweek is on the case. I TOLD you all that this would explode.

What will the Eddie Long scandal do in addressing black homophobia in the church?

Even though we still don't know the truthful particulars in the Eddie Long scandal, there is a lot of speculating as to what it means on so many ends.

And according to the Christian Science Monitor, one end is how will affect homophobia in the black church:

 . . . because Long through his ministry helped perpetuate homophobia, his critics say, the case could affect his career, challenge the antihomosexual stance of many black church members, and even offer hope to black gay men who struggle for acceptance and a role in black society.

"This might be a time of scandal [for the black church] ... but it will also spark a renewed dialogue," says Shayne Lee, a Tulane University sociologist and author of "Holy Mavericks: Evangelical Innovators and the Spiritual Marketplace." "The fact is, Eddie Long is one of the most respected black Christians in the country, he's very popular and very influential, and that's why this is going to get a lot of people talking about the issue of sexuality [in the black church]."

Homophobia in the broader black community – which some say is fed by the black church, as well as by prevailing views on masculinity and family – has in the past spilled into violence. In 2007 and 2008, Chicago saw a number of shootings and even killings aimed at gay black men, including a choir director who was shot shortly after coming out in a TV interview.

Longtime black gay activist Billy Jones, in an interview last year with the online magazine Blacklight, said many blacks see the gay movement "as a means of destroying the black family" and see gay black men as "unmanly, weak."

But many blacks take a different view when faced with a family member who comes out as gay. Black families, Mr. Jones said, tend to accept gay members and "really make an effort to try to understand them and the love stays there."

I'm cynical about the entire situation. If there is any discussions on the matter, my guess is that those who are lgbts of color won't be invited to the table.  And that is the problem with being an lgbt in the African-American community. It's not so much the ignorance, it's that us who are lgbts of color can't seem to get a word in edgewise in the black community when it comes to discussing our lives.

Related posts:

Eddie Long hit with third sexual coercion lawsuit but is defended by congregation members

Prominent anti-gay black pastor accused of sexual coercion

Eddie Long hit with third sexual coercion lawsuit but is defended by congregation members

Anti-gay pastor Eddie Long has been hit with a third sexual coercion lawsuit by another male ex-member of his church.  Long is continues to deny any wrongdoing and it has come out that one of the men filing the lawsuits has a burglary charge against him:

Bishop Eddie Long made a church summer camp counselor call him “Daddy” and coerced him into sexual acts, according to a lawsuit filed Wednesday against the mega-church leader.

Jamal Parris, 23, a former member of New Birth Missionary Baptist Church, became the third young male to file suit against the nationally known preacher and his church.

The suit, similar to two filed on Tuesday (Read a PDF of one of the earlier lawsuits), accuses Long of using his power to force the plaintiff into a sexual relationship. In exchange, Long placed Parris and the two other men on the church’s payroll, bought them cars and other gifts, and took them on lavish trips, according to the suits filed in DeKalb County Superior Court.

Long adamantly denies the allegations and has scheduled a press conference Thursday morning.
“It is unfortunate that these young men have chosen to take this course of action,” Long's attorney, Craig Gillen, told the AJC Tuesday night

And today, several church members came out in support of Long saying that the charges are lies:

Church members . . .  said they simply didn't believe the allegations, speaking of Long's love and passion for his wife.

Atlanta-area radio host Frank Ski, a 12-year-member of Long's church, told the Atlanta Constitution-Journal that he had "extreme support" for the man he's known for more than a decade.

"It's difficult for me because Bishop Long and I are very close," he told the paper. "I'm one of these people who's really old school. When you're a friend and I support you, I support you. Right now it's allegations."

Related post:


Prominent anti-gay black pastor accused of sexual coercion