Crazy person Sean Harris, senior pastor of the Berean Baptist Church in North Carolina, delivered a terrifying sermon on Sunday to his congregation suggesting that parents "crack" their fey sons' limp wrists, rein in daughters who appear butch, "punch" them if they act gay, and a slew of other child-abuse recommendations that are sure to horrify anyone with commonsense and a heart. Harris was speaking in support for North Carolina's Amendment One, the state's looming ban on gay marriage and civil union. Care of Good As You, who first reported the story, the transcript of the infamous sermon reads as follows:
"So your little son starts to act a little girlish when he is four years old and instead of squashing that like a cockroach and saying, “Man up, son, get that dress off you and get outside and dig a ditch, because that is what boys do,” you get out the camera and you start taking pictures of Johnny acting like a female and then you upload it to YouTube and everybody laughs about it and the next thing you know, this dude, this kid is acting out childhood fantasies that should have been squashed.Can I make it any clearer? 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. Ok? You are not going to act like that. You were made by God to be a male and you are going to be a male. And when your daughter starts acting to 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.”
You say, “Can I take charge like that as a parent?”
Yeah, you can. You are authorized. I just gave you a special dispensation this morning to do that."
For his part, Harris later said it was all in good fun. "If I had to say it again, I would say it differently, no doubt," Harris told the Fayette Observer. "Those weren't planned words, but what I do stand by is that the word of God makes it clear that effeminate behavior is ungodly. I'm not going to compromise on that." He also sadfaced on Twitter, "Even my apology is being judged by those who are supposed to be the most tolerant as insincere. At this point nothing seems sufficient."
Not true, Pastor Harris! Donating and/or volunteering to The Trevor Project (the leading national
organization providing crisis intervention and suicide prevention services to lesbian, gay,
bisexual, transgender, and questioning youth) would border on sufficient.
Via the church's website, Harris (born in the very liberal town of Newton, Massachusetts) lists his hobbies as reading, cycling, physical fitness, restaurants (Outback Steakhouse and Cracker Barrel are a few of his gastronomic favorites), snow skiing, NCCSA sports, and smiting homosexuals. Well, we made up that last part — we can only assume it would be one of his favorite activities — but it's nice to see that he keeps his body so tight and fit while spewing such unbridled hatred.
North Carolina is set to vote on the gay-marriage ban on May 8th.