A church in the Northeast Georgia town of Augusta was vandalized with anti-LGBT graffiti this week shortly after the gay pastor of the church received the first same-sex marriage license issued in the county.
Rick Sosbe, pastor of the pro-LGBT Metropolitan Community Church of Our Redeemer in Augusta, was on his way to the church when a parishioner sent him a photo of the church via text message.
The graffiti said:
?Burn Leviticus 18:22 Lies.??You’ll burn.?
Those verses of Leviticus are often cited by Christians opposed to same-sex marriage as proof that homosexuality is an “abomination” which means gays are supposed to face death for their actions.
Reverend Sosbe said he was deeply offended by the vandalism, adding:
?I was angry. I was very sad and I thought, ?Just why?? To me, it seems so interesting that they’re saying on there that you’ll burn ? in other words saying ?You’ll burn in hell,? I’m sure ? and quoting scripture. Is that what Christianity ? right-wing, fundamentalist Christianity ? has come to???
A few weeks back, a rainbow flag was stolen from the church. The pastor said this is the first time the church has ever experienced his kind of trouble with the community:
?We’ve occupied this building for 12 years, and this is the first (time) something’s happened.”
Tuesday evening, approximately 50 supporters of the church rallied in front of it. One of the speakers was?Augusta Pride Vice President Lonzo Smith. Smith urged the state to pass hate crimes legislation to address the kind of incident which occurred at?Metropolitan Community Church of Our Redeemer:
?(Tolerance) means you are accepting something that you find offensive, so I will no longer use the word ?tolerance? in my vocabulary. I do not want to be tolerated. I want to be liberated. I want to be accepted.?
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