Pastor James McConnell during his offensive rant
Pastor of hate James McConnell has done it again.
Earlier this month he was in the mouth of a storm after labelling Islam as the ‘spawn of the Devil’ during a sermon at the Metropolitan Tabernacle in north Belfast.
First Minister Peter Robinson, who with wife Iris was a parishoner, sprang to his defence.
But now, we can reveal that the gay community in Ulster have gone gunning for McConnell.
For they have discovered that one of his taped and videoed Hellfire and brimstone sermons brands them as ‘perverse’.
And now they want an apology...just like he and Peter Robinson gave after the ‘Satanic’ remarks from the pulpit about Islam.
We can now reveal that the controversial Pastor brands gay families as “unseemly and against nature.”
To his packed out Tabernacle on Belfast’s Shore Road, the Pastor said that gay families were perverted and playing “let’s pretend.”
After McConnell made his vitriolic views known on Muslims, First Minister Peter Robinson weighed in to support him.
Robinson said that he stood by McConnell’s remarks, controversially proclaiming that he’d only trust a Muslim to “go down to the shops for him”.
He later made a clarification regarding his response to McConnell’s remarks, meeting with Muslim leaders and publicly apologising to them.
The whole episode, coupled with a spate of recent race-related attacks in Belfast, triggered two massive public anti-racism rallies at Belfast City Hall.
Now that the Pastor’s comments on homosexuality have come to light, he will face more questions over his controversial beliefs and ‘teachings’ at his north Belfast church.
In the recording of the sermon, which has been posted on Youtube, the Pastor begins a hate-filled rant about the gay and lesbian community.
He lambasted: “Calling a gay couple a ‘family’ doesn’t make it one – that is a perversion.
“Some public schools may even teach that Heather has two mothers, but two lesbians living together are not a family.
“They are sexual perverts playing ‘let’s pretend’. That’s why God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, and that’s why his will destroy this great society.”
He then went on to apparently give God’s opinion on homosexuality.
“Can anything be plainer? God condemns homosexual and lesbian practices,” said McConnell. “It is perverse and in his eyes it is unseemly and it is against nature.”
The Pastor then begins to lament about how believes that homosexuality is a result of the fall of the Garden of Eden.
He preached: “Homosexual orientation can only be a product of the fall in the Garden of Eden. Somewhere along the line, it is the result of sin.”
In the latter half of the video he labels homosexual people “perverts, homosexuals – abusers of themselves with mankind.”
Finally, he takes a pop at “drunkards and revellers,” labelling them “party boys.”
Speaking on the content of the video, Gavin Boyd, Policy and Advocacy Manager for gay, lesbian and trans Rainbow Project, said: “This is truly disgusting language, used to humiliate and intimidate.”
“We have witnessed, over the past number of weeks, Pastor McConnell issuing screeds against followers of Islam and now he has moved on to another vulnerable minority group.
“The attitudes espoused by Pastor McConnell have an enormous impact on the mental health of Lesbian Gay Bisexual &Transgender (LGB&T) people, particularly young people who are still questioning their sexual orientation or gender.
“The lies that this so-called man of God tells about LGB&T people and their families justifies homophobic and transphobic hate crimes, intimidation, discrimination and the abusive bullying of LGB&T young people. He must, without hesitation, apologise for the harm and fear he has caused.”
LGB&T volunteer, fundraiser and campaigner Laura McKee, 31, from Belfast, described the damage that McConnell’s comment have had.
“Many people in the LGB&T community know about this video,” said Laura, “but the comments Pastor McConnell made about Islam seemed to be big news at the time – and rightly so.
“Both issues are very important. It’s very unhelpful for Pastor McConnell to be saying these things. Lots of LGB&T families have struggled to come out to their own families.
“There are children of LGB&T families who I think the Pastor’s comments were aimed at.
“His comments about LGB&T couples ‘playing let’s pretend’ were just hurtful comments to make about anyone’s family. A family is not defined about the gender of the people in the family or their sexual orientation.
“A family is built on a group of people who live together and love each other and are bringing up their children. A family is whatever constitutes us on a personal level.
“To go around and berate people for that just fires up tensions. It doesn't help when there’s a lot of hate crime happening.
“To have a so-called man of God say things like this more or less tells people that hate crime is OK.
“And what kind of message does it send out to those in his own congregation who may be struggling to come out themselves?”
After the Pastor’s contentious remarks on Islam in May, the PSNI said that they would investigate a “hate crime motive” after complaints were made to them.
He was later questioned by police but released pending further inquiries.